Was diagnosed with AF about 2 years ago and after initial hostpital meetings etc.went onto meds, dabigatran 150mg twice a day for blood thinning and sotalol 80mg in morning and 40mg at night. My first af episodes were all heart beat going up to 190 and lasting 2 to 3 hours, the meds seem to have levelled it off , when an episode occurs ,my heart beat goes to about 90+ but over the past 3 months when i have an episode i have had pretty low heartbeat, sometimes as low as 34.My question is what is best way of measuring, am not great at taking my own pulse so i currently use a finger oxymeter. Are these machines accurate enough to measure AF ?
Got a cardio meeting in january if its not put off, which would be the third time, so i can ask them but in meantime Healthunlocked is my source😉.
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ninks01
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I'd invest in a kardia. I found oxymeters from shops to be well off. At least with kardia the information will be stored on phone and give you evidence for cardiology.
Kardia is about the only thing I would invest in IF YOU MUST. I know from personal experience how easy it is to become obsessed by checking pulse and caution people to go on how they feel rather than rely on machines which in such circumstances can merely serve to increase anxiety. Self restraint is vital.
BobD, this is such a good reply, right on target. Devices like the Apply Watch have so many measurement capabilities that one can get lost measuring stuff, and most of it increases anxiety. I am struggling with this now as I had a pacemaker implanted three weeks ago to address a low heart rate/pauses which sometimes led to Afib episodes. It is rate responsive, so when I exercise or even go up the stairs quickly, my H/R is much higher than in the past. It is/was very worrisome until I checked typical heart rates for things like brisk walks, climbing etc and realized I was now in a normal range. Still, it is hard for me to believe this is normal so I catch myself checking my Watch…even though I feel just fine. So I am trying like mad to ignore my anxiety and go on how I feel, but it remains a bit of a challenge.
I'd never trust any device using a little flashing light to check your heart rate. They are fine for pulse rate when in normal sinus rhythm, but only electronic measurement of the heart muscle signals can be relied on when in AF. The problem is that during AF, not all beats generate a sufficient pulse, and also the pulse meters filter out variations that are not in rhythm.
Last time at my GP, the technician got a pulse reading of 44 from the finger oximeter, and got somewhat worried. I told her it was not accurate, the FitBitSense I was wearing showed HR of 72, which was confirmed by my physically taking my pulse. She didn't believe me, and HR 44 went into the chart. When my doctor came in, I told him of the discrepancy, and he said they don't pay any attention to the HR from the oximeter, they're never right!
I use my oximeter that is what my doctor suggested. I can always tell it’s running right because it matches up to what my doctor gets for numbers. I know it’s different here if my numbers go off and I worry I can go either to my doctor or the ER immediately. I’ve considered getting the kardia but I don’t see the need. One thing here that I have noticed is that no doctor relies on even another doctor for information they do the test themselves. Sometimes it is annoying almost like a money maker but they are staking their reputation and our lives on machinery. You know when you feel badly and if you’re also seeing crazy numbers you know what you need to do. I have type two diabetes that I keep well below six as an A1 C. I do with my heart rate what I do with that. I think the more you have your numbers the crazier you can make yourself and you need to limit the number of times you take it unless you’re really feeling bad and don’t waste time get help if it’s that bad
Definitely a Kardia used with restraint. After prolonged AF I now take a daily reading. You can also print reports and ECG’s to inform any meetings with docs.
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Fitbit Irregular Heart Beat Monitoring
Stethoscope to check heart rate
skipping heart beats 
Sound of heart beating.
Random heart rate spike but no missing beats 
