I have had PAF for a few years and have no treatment but am thinking about a review of my options with doctor(s). Historic tends could be worth reviewing and I’ve been happy with the info my Apple Watch provides in the 10 months I have had it.
I tried to export the data from it for more analysis and found file handling tricky. There may be an app out there that will do it for me instead. Any recommendations?
My main aim was to plot an offline graph aimed at showing the frequency and maybe duration of attacks during the year. I could judge how it has changed. I get occasional AF warnings from the Watch, but it sometimes misses events. A combination of resting HR and HR Variability would show each AF event. It would be nice to also overlay those occasional AF warnings I get (they are never false-positive).
My sinus RHR is 40-50, whereas in AF it isn’t below 70, so easily distinguishable. Similarly during AF my HRV rockets from about 30 to about 200 in AF.
I typically have 1 or 2 AF attacks a week lasting a day or two each. I’m in one as I type!
Written by
Decaf_Andy
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Sorry but I can't help with the techie side. Just a couple of points though. You need to be on an anticogulant - I would be amazed if your not. If it were the case though contact a medic asap.
From what you say a cardioversion is not the right treatment for you. I'm not a doctor and you would need to speak to a medic to confirm this. A heart rate of 200 bpm is very high - personally I would be off to A&E if it didn't pass quickly.
It could be an ablation is worth considering in your case. I'll put a link below which is worth you reading and discussing with your doctor.
Sorry I can't help with the techie side. I'm working on an online 'funnel' at the moment - There's enough techicnical stuff to learn to last me a life time !
Thanks Paulbounce. The 200 was heart rate variability (it’s in ms). I’m not on any medication as my Chad score is only 1 (for AF), so I go on thinners when I’m 65.
My heart rate variability rockets in a similar manner - well over 200 at times, not the rate of course, just the variability! It also did it when I had a lot of premature ventricular contractions, but wasn’t in A Fib.
Apple Watch doesn’t show the warning until it’s detected the irregular rhythm at least 4 times. I’ve started to use a Kardia device to confirm that I’m in A Fib - mainly as I was going on a ‘pill in the pocket’ method. It’s not really worked out for me, back in A Fib and back to the drawing board. I’m likely to be put on daily meds again now
Like you, usually have a low resting heart rate unless I’m in A Fib.
I’m on the waiting list for a catheter ablation. So far the anti-arrhythmic drugs have not worked well for me, and I can get stuck like this for days. Each time worrying that it won’t revert.
I can’t really help with the tech side - it all shows on my phone. I think that if I had the top level watch with ECG then it might export it, but the SE doesn’t.
The Kardia does keep a history, and you could export from that I think.
Thank you Gumbie Cat. I’ve got the top watch. I can export an ECG if I want but I can’t export a year’s worth of HRV or resting rate data. That’s what I want to get into Excel.
I have an applewatch too, but I’m afraid I don’t know of any app that would do all what you want it to, you may just have to trawl through the heart apps. If you get a Kardia machine it can produce reports, but the detail is purely from the ECGs you take from it, captured when you’re in Afib. The Kardia ECGs better replicate hospital ECGs and some medics prefer to read them, though most are happy with applewatch. I just wouldn’t pin too much hope on your Applewatch providing the very most for you, regards everything you want it to do. You are much better getting a monitor from the hospital to record your episodes so they can be reviewed - or go to A&E when you next have an episode.
What does your afib HR go up to? You say it’s usually over 70? Have you formally been diagnosed with afib?
With HRV, I also noticed that my applewatch didn’t pick up my last Afib episode and my HRV remained normal ( I’ve had my watch about 18 months) so I’m not sure whether you can rely on it picking up every Afib attack you have. Incidentally, Apple advise that the watch isn’t always constantly checking for afib and I know that the HR recorded by it isn’t recorded every second, so it can miss things.
Thanks Teresa. I’ve been diagnosed with PAF a couple of years ago. I wore a 48 hr monitor and they caught an episode. What I’m interested in analysing is how my AF has progressed in terms of frequency and duration of episodes during the last year and I do believe that the data is there in the Health App on my iPhone, I’m just struggling to access it conveniently.
I can see most episodes on the ‘last month’ or ‘last week’ view of either resting heart rate or heart rate variability on the app, but of course all resolution of the view is lost if expand to 6 months or beyond. That’s why I first tried to export all the data to Excel from the Health app. However, it’s a massive file in a pretty raw form.
I get what you’re saying about the Apple Watch potentially missing some episodes. I’ve been in AF since I got up and put the watch on this morning and I’ve had no alarm yet. There’s also not enough data to show a heart rate variability rise yet (it struggles to assign a pulse frequency to my pulse …). However, my resting pulse is 70; that’s much higher than normal. That is enough to tell me I’m in AF (I know I am anyway - I only have to feel my pulse or run an ECG). This episode would be captured if I had easy access to the data too. All I need is a table of time-date against these 2 parameters (HRV and resting rate) and I can create a plot of them against time. Periods in AF will stand out visually.
Ah, I understand a bit more now…I don’t know if you know but you can see your heart rate stats in the health app, day by day ( as best as the watch can capture) and if you’ve been in AF all day, it should be recording it very regularly and probably ‘streaming’ a lot of it, as it records a lot of the beats per minute….it took me months to find this, but you may know it already, but if you look at your daily heart rate graph and scroll down ( past all the “learn about” stuff) , click on ‘ show all data’ & you can see your heart rate in more detail, day by day? I know that doesn’t help you with any reports though, or exporting stuff, but you can hopefully see how much your heart is jumping about?
If you can stretch to it, it’s worth getting a Kardia to capture your ECGs as well as the watch. With the HRV, have you scrolled down to ‘Options’ , then you can see further data about HRV….though not sure if what you want is in there….it mentions too, allowing other apps to read the data, so it looks like there are possibilities of other apps.
Sorry I’m not much help really, apart from the above. I do hope you get it sorted out though.
Do you have checkups with a cardiologist? Have you had an echocardiogram etc? There is medication they can give you for paroxysmal, even to take just when you have an episode to help stop it?
Thanks again Teresa. Yes, I had an echocardiogram when I was diagnosed 21/2 years ago. All fine. Pill in pocket not really an option as I have multiple episodes per week. I’ve not spoken to any specialist since then, but considering making an appointment. My wife is a doctor though …
Will look further into your Health app suggestions.
Yes, I suppose a PIP isn’t best for you…I just thought you might be trying to avoid medication fir whatever reason. It does sound like you need to be taking some form of medication to help alleviate your symptoms, so hopefully you’ll be able to get further help from a cardiologist or someone soon.
There is an app that I have been using for the last year or so called "Heartwatch". I found it through its sister app called "Sleepwatch" which I use to keep track of my sleep quality. They are both available on the Apple store at a relatively low price. If you want a plot of HRV (heart rate variability) then it should give you what you need. It synchronises automatically with the Apple watch and is not difficult to use. You need to keep your watch on at night to track the sleep data, so this requires a the watch to be fully charged before going to bed. I tend to use the Sleepwatch app more since it really does give a good overview of your sleep quality. I used to think that I had hardly slept some nights, only to check the app to se that I did in fact sleep a lot more than I thought. Worth checking out. I was going to include a screenshot of the Heartwatch output, but apparently I'm not techy enough to figure out how to paste a photo into this blog 😬. Good luck. Peter
Edit: Bug146 was correct. The sleep app is called Autosleep. thanks for the correction.
I can't help with Apple Watch except to say I love mine and find the ECG taking helpful, being able to send it to the Cardiologist. But for a 4 week tracker I have a Zio monitor pad stuck on near my collar bone that records all heart activity. One forgets the tracker so no problems with the comfort blanket effect of the usual ones that for me never seem to any thing any thing. I had AF for 12 years with a fairly successful ablation in 2020. If I feel I have had a few fast episodes or lots of ectopics are happening the patch can be stuck on that identifies any problems or not easily which gives huge reassurance too which always helps settle me too.
you didn’t ask this question but based on what you said I would not be waiting until I was 65 to go on anti coagulants. Obviously I am not medically trained etc etc
I got my Apple Watch in April after going into permanent AF. I was so ill then I got it more for if I was on my own and I fell so it would call emergency numbers and NOK
I found it to be very accurate with the HR and gave the readings to my cardiologist who said for its limited 1 lead ecg it was fairly consistent against ones he’d done but occasionally it said NSR but when he looked at the trace it was still AF.
However, I’ve had 2 previous ablations and in April was put on Flecainide with my other meds Bisoprolol £12.5 and Losartan 100 (with Apixaban) but then my HR changed to AFlutter which he feels that it is an atypical flutter perhaps caused by the combination of previous ablation scaring together with Flecainide. The Apple Watch started to read the new HR as inconclusive as it only picks up Fib and NSR (I did have 2 cardioversions this year which the Watch read as NSR which was correct and also as soon as it went backwards it read as AFib
I am awaiting a 3rd ablation which he feels will be easier to find and treat than the AFib
With regard to getting the info for Dr I would do the recording then email it to myself and print to take to appointment
Have you done a recent software upgrade? If still having issues reset the Watch by holing in the long power of button found under the functions app button - powere off then it resets when turned on
If still issues go to apple store who will check and advise you. Hope this helps
hi , there are several apps out there.. I use heart analyzer, heart hive, heart watch. All of them give you wealth of information, Unfortunately, they do not have great ways to export data. When I need that for my cardiologist, I take print screens and email or print them to him . support.apple.com/en-us/HT2....
Another tool is to take an ECG with your watch. Upon completion it stores it in the health app. You can open the results and click the “>” on the upper right side of the chart when will give you an option of exporting to PDF, These were the most useful to my cardiologist.
I too use my Apple Watch, but generally I feel myself go into AF around the same time the watch reacts to it!
But in response to your question, i do use another App that stores any ECGs that I performed on the watch, which you can then readily produce in PDF report or a CSV file with the metrics and the ECG graphs for medical use by mailing direct from the app.
The App is called Cardiogram and I’ve gone for the premium (£23 per year), which allows me to store the recorded data and any notes, events (bi/tri-geminy beats & ECGs that the watch has picked up.
I suffered like yourself, but then had an Ablation, I’m now on a very small dose of Bisoprolol & Flecainide and it’s under control.
My sister-in-law, who also has a-fib, told me to download an app called Cardiogram. You can make make graphs and chart things. I use the free version, but there is also a premium version available that may do even more. Good luck!
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Alcohol post ablation
The joys of P-AF (not)
11 weeks after ablation …. HR, exercise and ectopics …..
Bisoprolol. How long does it keep the AF away for, until returning back as an attack...?
