My mother is 85, had a pacemaker inserted a year ago for sick sinus syndrome with a very low heart rate.
The irregular heart beat symbol has been showing up occasionally on her BP monitor during measurements.
Previous use of holters to diagnose AF has not recorded any. Since the holter is used only for 24 to 48-hour periods, which may not be long enough to capture the AF, is it possible to use an Apple watch instead to try and catch the AF?
Thank you very much. Any advice deeply appreciated.
The New Apple Watch TV advert certainly states it can capture AF and then take an ECG. The following is from Apple and the reviews are good.
" The Apple Heart Study, conducted by Stanford University researchers and sponsored by Apple, evaluated the ability of the Apple Watch to detect atrial fibrillation, a common heart disorder also known as A-fib, in an astonishing 400,000 participants. 17 Jul 2020 - The irregular rhythm notification feature on your Apple Watch will occasionally look at your heartbeat to check for an irregular rhythm that might be suggestive of atrial fibrillation (AFib).
Good luck
Thank you very much for your reply.
"your Apple Watch will occasionally look at your heartbeat" - so it isn't monitoring the heart beat all the time?
In the past several years, my mom had been on the holter up to 48 hours each time for a few times but no AF has been recorded. She either doesn't have AF or its so infrequent it's difficult to catch on record unless one is under constant monitoring.
But her symptoms are what concern me most. Very unusual fatigue with or without physical activity, loss of some stamina, and a kind of sudden falling asleep and waking up as if she had not fallen asleep.
I am wondering if it has an alert on it, I will have a further read as my chiropractic is looking to get one as since having Covid has developed AF, and the info will also help her. I use a recently purchased a £99 Kardia which is truly amazing and caught my AF and did an ECG before the PIP reduced the AF ( 190 bpm all over the place) to flutter ( 130 bpm static ) ) so I was able to show them in hospital and email a copy to my Cardiologist.
Thank you very much.
The kardia sounds like the very device for the task at hand.
Depends which model you buy as not all have the ECG facility.
The Kardia is a lot less expensive and in my experience, more sensitive but obviously not a watch.
Thank you very much for your reply. Definitely will consider that if it's easy to get a reading when there's an episode. Usually it would be when she's suddenly fallen asleep.
Took a quick look on the net, not familiar with the kardia. Sorry to trouble you, but how is the measurement taken? Read something about resting your fingers on the device and it records one's ECG?
Does the kardia affect the pacemaker operations in any way? Any idea?
Yes, you rest 2 fingers on 2 electrodes, you need to keep as still as possible & Kardia (widely available through Amazon & the like). To get a good reading it needs to be on a table or solid surface. Both my husband & I have PMs & we get get good readings BUT you may get interference if the PM steps in - a spike which you need to learn to ignore. It clearly picks up AF though. I would suggest the 2 lead version.
The Apple Watch May detect AF but you still need to touch the electrode at the side of the watch to get an ECG trace.
I can’t wear my Apple Watch at night as it disturbs my sleep with the light strobes & it’s so big it’s uncomfortable for me but my husband has no problems with sleeping with his on.
Thank you so much : )
Is yours an Apple watch 4? Read somewhere this could be used for AF detection.
Yes, the Apple watch 4 and 5 can do ECGs and report AFib. That's if the heart rate is below 120. After that it doesn't need to because the AFib is obvious. I was going to add some pictures but I'll have to start another post to do that.
It also monitors my heart rate about 13 times an hour or about 300 times a day. You can scroll down and see how it's varied over the day. I wouldn't be without it.
I bought it after I had a fall last year because it has got a fall detect feature. Fortunately, I haven't had a fall but for my AFib it's been invaluable.
Tessa
Hi CDreamer, sorry to trouble you.
I just wanted to confirm - by PM u mean pacemaker?
What is a 2 lead version?
Thank you.
Thank you very much for that info!
Yes, was wondering if the pacemaker could track irregular heart beats? Was intending to check with her cardiologist end month, that's when the next pacemaker check and doctor review is. My god, if the pacemaker can record any heart irregularities, that would make things so much simpler! Thank you for the info : )
It does & if it’s a modern PM & your clinic is signed up to a programme it will monitor remotely so you don’t even need to go into the clinic, a phone app connects through Bluetooth to the PM & then remotely downloads data to the clinic for review.
Thank you : )
These symptoms are not new. They were there before the pacemaker as well. But back then, we couldn't tell if the symptoms were due to the very low heart rate or the irregular heart beat or maybe something else. The low heart rate's been ruled out now and the irregular heart beat symbol has showed up again on her BP monitor after disappearing for a year after the pacemaker insertion, around the same time the symptoms started again.
Can I ask what symptoms your mom had?
I have both the Apple Watch 4 and Kardia. I would not be without my Kardia. The ecg readings are accepted by my EP/cardiologist. Very reassuring.
Best wishes
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