heart reading gadgets

[Sixtychick]

i have an oximeter and a mini portable ECG monitor. I have had the oximeter longer, but it doesn’t record the heartbeat so I decided to get the ECG monitor to try and record episodes of heart rhythm disturbances that I get from time to time, eg AF and SVT. I get ectopics as well.

When I’ve used them both, often the oximeter says suspected irregular pulse interval or suspected occassionalshort pulse interval, but the ECG monitor says no abnormalities. This is confusing. I don’t know which is right. It’s when I’ve got the ectopic beats, that the oximeter says that.

Don’t suppose anyone else has had the same experience and can tell me. Thanks.Sixty Chic

[CDreamer]

Oximeter check oxygen saturation and although they give a pulse reading I’ve found them to be widely out at times.

If you are checking for heart irregularities - use the ECG monitor, it will ignore the odd irregularity and take a 30 sec reading which will be more representative.

You may find this leaflet helpful healthunlocked.com/redirect...

[Sixtychick in reply to CDreamer]

thanks for that. Reassuring. It does make you anxious, having heartbeat problems. I’ve had hypnotherapy to help me overcome the anxiety.It works quite well, but when I get a heartbeat blip, you do worry about it a bit. I’ve had holter monitors on several times, but they never seem to catch any SVT or AF episodes. Sods law I suppose.!!!

[Ppiman]

I'm guessing the two work differently. The oximeter sounds like it is only able to pick up the gap between beats, and to report if this is regular or not. When it says "irregular", then this is going to be either AF or ectopic beats. If it is picking up ectopic beats, then these cause a mix of shorter ("premature") and longer ("compensatory pauses") beats.

Differently, the ECG monitor is looking at whether there's a "P" wave detected on the ECG, which is the atrium contracting normally to send a message to the ventricle to contract'; if this happens, then there's no AF, and the device will report as "NSR" or normal heartbeat. I'm surprised it doesn't report irregularities, but if you look at the trace these will show as something like the graph below.

Steve

ECG showing ectopic beats

[Sixtychick in reply to Ppiman]

Thanks Steve, that’s very helpful. Will get a photo of that and compare it when my heart has ectopics again. Touch wood it’s behaving itself at the moment.

[Ppiman in reply to Sixtychick]

Mine too this past fortnight for some unknown reason!

Steve

[Sixtychick in reply to Ppiman]

must be something in the Leicestershire air.!!!

[momist]

For monitoring your heart, especially with AF, you need something that reads the electrical activity from it, not something that monitors your 'pulse'. The large majority of pulse monitors, including the oxymeter on a finger, use the slight reddening of the skin colour, or the light passing through your finger, to see the pulse. This only happens when a _normal_ heart beat causes the tiny capillary blood vessels to swell up. This doesn't happen correctly when your heart beats a the wrong time, as in AF.

The electrical home measuring devices such as the Kardia Mobile, or the more expensive fitness watches such as the Apple watch or the high end Samsung ones, can record an ECG reading. The watches do a similar thing as the Kardia, but at greater expense. All need a connection to a mobile phone (cellphone) or tablet. The Kardia 6L model gives more detail, but can be used just for the single lead recording if desired.

[Sixtychick in reply to momist]

Thanks for the information. The Portable EMAY ECG monitor I have bought a short while ago, records the ECG and you can transfer that to an app you download onto your I-phone/I-pad, which you can then print off to show Dr, if needs be. It was about £25 cheaper than a Kardia. The Oxometer, I bought ages ago, when Covid first arrived, as they said it would be useful to check your oxygen level ,if you caught Covid. Didn’t know it checked your heartbeat at the same time, when I ordered it.