Hi, sorry I’m new to this forum and not sure if anyone can provide some insight into the Kardia device. I bought my device three months ago as I have had intermittent episodes of AF over a ten year period - three episodes in total. As I’m sure many would agree AF leads to lots of anxieties and in my case palpitations/PACS/Atrial tachycardia etc. My question is on the device there is a red heart that pulsates as a reading is taken, in my case this frequently stops/starts (flickers) and then will often resume to pulsating, this absolutely sends my anxiety through the roof as immediately think it’s my heart playing up but when I later take my pulse it’s steady and hiccup free? Does anyone know - is the movement of the red heart indicative of your actual heart rate at the time?
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It could mean many things - most likely - the contact isn’t good enough or there is interference if the pauses are more than a second or two. It’s the ECG trace which will tell you what’s going on so ignore the red pulsing heart & if it’s raising your anxiety - stop using it - period.
It’s not measuring your pulse - it gives an average heart rate at the end of the measurement - that’s really the only significant number of interest. I find that there is always a lag on the HR measurement as if you are in AF your pulse will be irregular and it needs to calculate the average.
I would also go by how you feel more than anything - unless you are asymptotic.
The app will say Possible AF if you are in AF, Unclassified if there are anomalies or Normal when normal. Don’t take notice of anything else.
I go along with all that CDreamer has said , particularly if the device is causing you such anxiety put it away for a bit. Hopefully you have now been reassured though.
As someone who gets quite manic about measurements if I am not careful. I agree totally with the previous answers. The little red heart is not the thing to focus on ( nor is the often changing heart rate shown as he measurement is in progress) the number to look at is the one shown after the measure finishes .
I find that it helps to take a reading regularly ( I take one each day in the morning ) not just when you feel there is a problem this builds up a picture of how normal looks not just snapshots of when you have probs.
Finally are you on an anticoagulant? I found that when I went onto apixoban my worries were reduced hugely . The main risk of afib and similar is stroke. Taking medicine that significantly reduces that risk is reassuring when your heart is rattling away . And for me side effects were absent
The issue of an anti coagulant is an ongoing issue for me, I take Bisoprolol only and have done for many years, over the past ten years I have seen four cardiologist and wore an implanted device to monitor my ectopics (and AF) for three years during that time.
The reason I have seen so many cardiologists is because they have either dismissed my concerns as ‘something or nothing’, “something I have hundreds of times a day myself” or “if you’ve had AF once it’s probably AF so here take this Fleconide and Apixaban“ eventually I found Dr Sanjay Gupta who continued to monitor the implant but agreed with me that as my ChadVasc score was low it was my choice about the anticoagulants. As a retired district nurse (I’m 65) and really very active I find the prospect of taking anticoagulants really worrying, I have spoken several times to my ex GP colleagues about their thoughts on this issue and to be honest this has confused me even more, they range from “well yes why not?” and “I wouldn’t take anything that would make me bleed” - not helpful at all!
I spoke to Sanjay Gupta recently and he feels I should take them and I now feel it’s something I really should do as my risk has now increased due to my age, plus although my episodes of AF are infrequent and last no longer than four hours I am aware that the episodes are likely to become more frequent plus as Sanjay Gupta explains it’s not necessarily the AF that causes strokes but a persons overall risk factors.
So when this lockdown is over I will go to see my GP to sort this out but I have to admit I find it a terrifying prospect! (Ridiculous I know!)
Sorry it’s such a long post but it takes some explaining!
It was interesting to read your post. I too share your misgivings about anti-coags. I think there are very good reasons for taking them (I am 67 shortly and haven't so far!), what holds me back is the lack of convincing statistics on preventing major strokes for those in their Sixties with an active healthy diet lifestyle.
The often quoted stat of x5 less likely to have a stroke on ACs may not be as relevant as it seems to some folk. On ACs I have also read you are not guaranteed to stay stroke free but it reduces the risk by 60%. I will probably start them before I am 70 and after more research. Good luck, it is an individual by individual decision and no one knows whether you will be right or wrong i.e. I could have a stroke tomorrow (possibly not preventable by ACs), equally I could have had a major bleed/other complication if I had started ACs earlier. Good luck.
Sorry you are suffering such anxiety. I love my various gadgets, I view them as an aid to give me knowledge and a record of my condition but I must admit if any of them really alarmed me or I became obsessive about checking I would put them aside for the time being. With your Kardia, the only important reading is the one at the end.
Personally, I feel very strongly about the benefits of anticoagulants, having lost my sister to a stroke a couple of years ago. If you are interested you can have a quick look at my posts. Sanjay Gupta is one of the best, why not listen to him?
There is a very useful guide to understanding the ECG trace recorded on the AliveCor website. I have always ignored the instant result label, unless it says "Normal", and gone to view the tracing to see what's going on. The only thing I watch while doing a recording is the timer countdown, so that I know when it has finished, or if it is having trouble recording.
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