My step son and granddaughter are visiting at the moment . She is 14, very curious and tech savvy. She asked what I did when I went into afib and I said I had a natty piece of tech that does an instant ECG and tells you your heat rate. She wanted to try it out . We could not get it to work . It kept saying it was unable to give an interpretation due to interference. After trying it twice -second time I made her take her mobile into another room- same result. Then I used it with no problem NSR 76bpm. I noticed when she used it that the trace was nothing like an NSR trace should be and that the heart icon was pulsing irregularly. 3rd time the heart rate measure was 149bpm !!! We tried again 48hrs later same result only at least the heart rate was only 87bpm and this matched the heart rate on the finger oxygen monitor. Again mine was normal. But still the same message for her. I don't understand why if this was another arrythmia it didn't give an unclassified. I have told my step son he really needs to take her to the doctors when he gets home with the view to getting her a 12 lead ECG so as to find out what is going on. Any ideas as to why the Kardia is behaving like this?
Help please! : My step son and... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Help please!
Usual problem is bad contact. Try using hand santiser before use with dampened fingers is what kardia told me yeasr ago.
But would the signal icon not say poor signal? It says great signal, the heart pulses and there is a trace albeit a weird one. We'll try that .
Update. We don't have any hand sanitiser (soap and water household) but tried with the dampened fingers. No joy.
I tried but I could not find it in her wrist. To be honest I am pretty useless at taking my own pulse in my wrist or neck. I always take it at the point above the left ear tragus. Also I did not want to alarm her too much. What worries me is that she is on Sertraline which can cause arrythmias and fast rate. The heart icon on the Kardia was pulsing in a similar manner to mine when I'm in afib and what I could see of the trace on the phone that was not obscured by the Kardia looked crazy - jagged spikes . The Kardia is not retaining the traces- only my NSR ones and one my husband did this afternoon - presumably because it hasn't been able to give an interpretation.
Definitely needs medical evaluation. I hope she will be OK.
I thought Kardia stored all ECG's.
I've not used mine recently.
Well it has stored all my past ones showing afib ( I only use it when I go into afib to see how high my heart rate is). It stored my husbands NSR one yesterday as well. I think it's because it can't give an interpretation it is not storing it.
Possibly battery replacement.
But it worked fine for me and my husband.
Sounds to me like she was close to a computer or other metal/electronic device. I just used my Kardia for the first time for ages sat in front of my computer in my office and the trace/data was crazy. Moved into the bedroom all fine.
No - the only place my Kardia will work is in the dining room where there are no electronic devices. We sat next to each other at the dining room table. Mine was fine. My husband did one sitting in the seat she had sat in . It too was fine. So not an environmental problem.
Info on your issue: alivecor.zendesk.com/hc/en-...
Children typically have a faster heart rate than adults. A babies heart rate, as an example, can be as fast as 160 beats per minute.
Thank you . It's not the heart rate that bothered me - especially as the second occasion we tried it was normal. It was seeing the heart pulsing irregularly and the crazy trace
Thank you . I have eliminated all the reasons the Kardia gave for noisy unreadable results except muscle noise. I am reluctant to ask my granddaughter to have yet another go as she has a tendency to anxiety and if after following the instructions on relaxing the hand and arm muscles it still does not work I think this would make her anxious.
I had a similar experience with my granddaughter, not the problem with contact but a very high heart rate and an unclassified diagnosis. As it happened I had an appointment with my Cardiologist who looked at the readings and said it was ok and that it often happened with young people, I queried the extremes involved but he repeated that a dramatic fluctuation was quite common in youngsters. A visit to the GP a few days later and the same response but a 12 lead booked. Following 12 lead, no problem confirmed. So, whilst I would definitely encourage a 12lead, it may well not be as worrying as you think. I know I was desperately concerned and still find the outcome puzzling.
Thank you . That is very reassuring.
I forgot to say my grand daughter is 15
Mine will be 15 in Nov.
Did she have a smart watch on? The crazy spikes sound like interference. I had a similar episode with my daughter, took us moving around the room and away from the wifi router to get her ecg to go. At the same time, if she's on setraline, no harm to run ecgs. Maybe she has a smart watch capable of doing it.
I don't think so. But as we sat next to each other at the dining room table would that not have interfered with mine as well? The dining room is the only room in the house that I can get my Kardia to work as there are no electronic devices - a bit of a pain if my afib comes on during the night and I want to check my heart rate! I will check her wrist for a watch when she comes down . I never thought of that as apart from the Kardiawe have no smart devices.
iv had similar experiences with my Kardialive. It’s been fine since I changed the battery. Check the battery or replace it then go from there👍
I don't understand why it would work fine for me and my husband but not for my granddaughterif it was the battery. Looking through the link sent by Ennasti I am inclined to think the most innocent explanation is muscle noise..
Yes it could be of course. I was getting some wired readings from myself compared to my partner and I just couldn’t explain it.
Sounds like muscle interference, unless you are completely still and relaxed even the tiniest bit of tension can interfere with the trace and cause large spikes.
Yes I think this must be the explanation as Tricia had a similar experience with her granddaughter but it gave an unclassified rather than unable to interpret. I have eliminated everything on the list on the Kardia troubleshoot for this result except muscle interference.
Sertraline (Zoloft) is known to sometimes cause irregular heartbeats. Relatively rare, but happens sometimes with all SSRI’s.
JimF
Thank you. Yes I looked it up when her father said she was on it. Frankly I am appalled that teenagers are prescribed SSRI s given the problems people can have coming off and the blunting of sexual response side effect which apparently affects a large proportion of those who take them.
Is your Kardia an older model that uses high-frequency ultrasound to communicate between the device and the App? This hardware historically caused all kinds of interference issues, but the newer Kardia models use Bluetooth to avoid these problems. Your Post didn't indicate which model you had.
I have this older type of kardia and never had interference issues. I use it in a room with TV, WiFi etc.
I also have a pacemaker. (pacemaker not always active but I have on occasion recorded paced beats).
I only ever got a weird trace when the battery needed changing.
I have no idea. I bought it in 2018 . I hardly use it myself and have only needed to change the battery once. But it worked perfectly for my husband and myself. I have to use it in the dining room which has no electronic devices and is furthest away from the study where my husband's laptop sits .
If you turn "off" Bluetooth on you phone before you take an ecg, and it still works, that would mean your Kardia is using high-frequency ultrasound. Also, if your device needs Bluetooth but it is turned "off", the App will then ask you to turn it "on" before it is able to record an ecg. I think it's important you know which type of device you have before trying to understand the source of irregularities in your recordings, although I understand your concerns are centred on your granddaughter.
I'm not sure whether bluetooth has ever been "on" on my phone. I only use my phone to WhatsApp friends and relatives . I much prefer my tablet for the internet.
Perhaps then you've got an older model that uses high-frequency ultrasound, which is why additional concerns about interference were raised in relation to your grandchild's unusual ecgs. I myself only turn Bluetooth "on" when using my Kardia 6L to record an ecg. Otherwise it's "off". But it seems the younger generation have it "on" much more to use phone swipe payment systems, not to mention listening to music via Bluetooth headphones.
honestly I don’t think you have anything to worry about. These medical devices are never used for diagnosis. Try not to stress about it all you have to do is measure the pulse manually. I never had a regular scan on Kardia.
I can't use the Kardia when we have the computer on or the mobile phone close. So either turned off or in another room. Now we also turn the TV off just in case that starts interfering with it too. Hope you can sort out if there is any problem with your grand daughter. My niece's step sons are continually checked as their Mum died at 32 from some weird and unusual heart problem that they seem to know very little about and they are great with checking the children and teenagers out. I hope you will find that it is some other problem with the kardia contacts or something else more normal rather than something more serious but good to be made aware early on if it is.
I have suggested to her father that the next time they go to the doctor he asks the doc to listen to her heart. I was shocked to learn from some posters here that this was not routine practice at all GPs.
No it's not any more. I remember when as soo as you sat in the GP's surgery they took your pulse. Don't know when was the last time my GP took my pulse or BP when I wasn't there for something to do with my AF or BP. When I had to go to a GP in America when I was working there the nurse took BP and pulse before I even got in the GP's office and I took that in with me.
Here when we visit our doctor it is usually twice a year for our prescription renewal. Even if we do not report any illness he listens to our heart and lungs, checks pulse and BP and for me examines my abdomen . He always asks my husband questions about digestion, bowel habits and sleep- I expect he thinks I would complain if I had any symptoms in these areas! Sometimes we get weighed and measured .I am sure he would not dream of not checking these things. He regards them as essential parts of his job. You cannot get a prescription renewal without the consultation so he gets to check all his patients who have regular medication twice a year. It is probably the shortening of visit times in the UK that has led to GPs missing out these procedures.
Yes. you are right we can even be checked for our repeat prescription annually by a pharmacist - who we could ask to do these things but had not thought to. They do have a BP machine in the pharmacy so they probably would do this - though don't know if these machines are calibrated regularly or if they are as good as the machines I now have at home. As for taking a pulse I don't know if a pharmacist could - some could do it correctly I am sure. Not sure if they are trained to or even if they were if they still could after training and not taking a pulse for years. Of course now I have AF I have a kardia and such like which we use at home so personally have no need unless I see something new when checking myself out.
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