Blood pressure monitor with afib alert

[20WildRose19]

I'm wondering whether to splash out and purchase a blood pressure monitor that alerts when atrial fibrillation starts up. Boots sell a couple of these one for afib and the other just for irregular heart rate. Has anyone else purchased this type of monitor?

[Hidden]

Many have monitors which detect an irregular heart beat but not too sure about ones that work for folks with AF. I know things progress, but we have always been told that all modern monitors are unable respond accurately to the way the heart beats for people wit AF due to the variations in rhythm. Suggest you double check with the pharmacist before parting with your hard earned cash. A couple of things to consider if you buy. Don’t do what most of us did and become obsessive, limit readings to once or twice a week at most and always take the average of at least three readings with a 15 minute gap between each reading.....hope this helps....

[20WildRose19 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for info. Yes must stop myself from becoming obsessed with readings!

[Barb1 in reply to 20WildRose19]

A thought....if you are not symptomatic when in AF, why would you want to know? I use my BP monitor when I feel that something is not right. It reassures or tells me to keep an eye on things.

[20WildRose19 in reply to Barb1]

Yes I think I know when I have Atrial Flutter, rapid palpitations, extreme tiredness and depression. Think its more of a comfort thing to know I am ok.

[Barb1 in reply to 20WildRose19]

Yes, can understand that.

[Vito-Iolo in reply to Hidden]

Hi, I have a blood pressure monitor that takes your blood pressure 3 times and then works out the average and gives the one reading.. This I find is the best way to take a true blood pressure reading with someone who has AF.

The BP unit is called Omron M10-IT....

It also links up with a computer using its software and if you want give you a graph to record how your BP is going...

My own AF at the moment beats ok for about 10 beats then hesitated and then comes in with one strong beat that seems like it’s compensating for the slight gap in beats, then the cycle starts over again...

[Buffafly]

I have an Omron that shows a shaky heart when you are in AF but as you'd already know you are in AF and the blood pressure reading isn't very accurate if you're in AF it isn't terribly useful.

[CDreamer]

The trouble is that when in AF your BP will be all over the place as well so any readings will be out of your norm and of no use. My BP would always fall abnormally low - but again I knew that from my symptoms. What is more useful is to monitor your BP over a period of 2 weeks at the same time each day and keep a diary so you can acquire a mean average - that is often what the doctors ask you to do as when BP is taken in clinic it can often be out of your norm. Controlling unusually high or low BP can help avoid AF so personally I think it a very useful thing to do but I don’t even bother when in AF.

I think it is a useful alert for someone who cannot tell when they are in AF though.

[Hidden]

I have an Omron BP monitor which will detect AF. However, as this can be determined by simply feeling the pulse, it’s not especially useful. Monitoring blood pressure, however, is one of the best things you can do if you have AF according to my EP, so it’s well worth buying the monitor for that reason. Omron is the best make to buy according to my GP surgery, although they always say they are not really supposed to recommend a particular brand.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

does it detect AF? I have an omron but it will detect abnormal pulse, and therefore will alert when I have palpatations.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

It detects irregular pulse but has a higher sensitivity for detecting AF than some monitors which claim to detect AF. See: ajconline.org/article/S0002...

[seasider18 in reply to Hidden]

I tell them that I have a better model than theirs

[Ianc2]

Make sure you try it out before you buy any machine.

I have permanent, mild AF in which the variation between heartbeats varies slightly, just enough to throw every electronic machine into one of two useless responses.

First response:- EE error message. You can while away many a happy hour doing this.

Second response:- alternatively the cuff inflates, measuring starts and then it has a crisis of confidence - error- better pump some more air into the cuff - still not right - error - pump more air in. Repeat until patient's arm goes blue/purple and he or she starts to complain that it is getting painful. Take the reading which is usually impressive, 240 over 180? Go into cardiologist's office, show him the readings and watch as he has a laugh.

Eventually someone goes to get an old 'pump it up and listen' machine that tells me my BP is reasonable. It is all good fun but a complete waste of time.

[KMRobbo]

I have an omron m6 comfort IT. DECENT kit but can't measure pulse when in afib or flutter - it can record down to half the pulse rate that my garmin running watch with chest monitor advises! This omron does indicate arrhythmia but I am not sure it is reliable. I had an argument with omron as they told me it does not indicate afib only arrhythmia. So I said but afib is an arrhythmia so surely it must do? No and was pointed back to the manual where it states it detects arrhythmia. Was a stupid conversation! However I still used it for this purpose by using my garmin and the omron together. If the omron measured 70 bpm and the Garmin 140 bpm then I am in some sort of arrhythmia whether the omron flags it as such or not!

What are you trying to ascertain? If you just want to know if you are in AFIB then surely you would be better with a Kardia?

[20WildRose19 in reply to KMRobbo]

Had cardioversion four weeks ago for atrial flutter. Still get occasional palpitations so guess I'm just worried I go back into flutter. If so I've something to show my GP. Don't know what kardia is or where to purchase?

[Hidden in reply to 20WildRose19]

kardia is a mobile device that you link to your smart phone , it is a single lead ecg machine and is used by some doctors and hospitals as evidence of AF.

The new one, only available in the USA at the moment can detect flutter, the older version does not

alivecor.com/

I have one, and became obsessed with it. It is now sitting at the back of a draw with dead batteries

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Actually, I have just read about the Kardia6L and I'm not totally sure that it does detect flutter

[baba in reply to Hidden]

Kardia is designed to capture AF, but it records whatever the heart rhythm is, if you know what Atrial Flutter looks like on an ECG graph it will be recognisable, but Kardia will probably say "unclassified".

If you show the recording to your doctor/EP they will know what it is

[KMRobbo]

shop.gb.alivecor.com/produc...

amazon.co.uk/SnapECG-Portab...

i thought you said originally AFIB?

There is a new version Kardia out in the USA which has more functions. Sorry I do not have either as since my ablations I don't have afib or flutter.

[KMRobbo]

healthunlocked.com/afassoci...

if you look down this post one is from Dr.Dave01 . It explains how to detect Flutter on a Kardia. I believe he is the Kardia's inventor so he should know! The "leads" he refers to are the leads used on an hospital ECG. He is mimicing this on the 1 lead kardia

[Octaviascout]

I'm lead to believe that the standard BP monitors cannot give an accurate result, in terms of heart rate, if you have AF. I use an American device .. Kardia by AliveCor. £99 .. its two small flat electrodes that in conjunction with a smartphone app will produce a single trace ECG. Through embedded algorithms it will tell you if you are in AF. It is one of the few medically certified devices out there, I have found consistent results with the hospital ECG's. It will not read your blood pressure, just heart rate and rhythm.