KardiaMobile ECG interpretation

[Crimson2020]

I have had a KardiaMobile 2 lead device for about 4 years. In that time I have relied on the determination of Normal, Afib, Bradycardia, inconclusive and very occasionally PVCs along with my 30 second heartrate.

However, I have not really paid much attention to the trace pattern. I have seen some somewhat complicated descriptions of the various waves, but haven’t seen anything that indicates palpitation intensity.

I have read here that some people have been to A&E with Afib symptoms. But my palpitations with thumping heart and occasional breathlessness have never prompted me to consider this.

My question is if there is anything on the ECG trace that would indicate the severity of an Afib episode?

[mjames1]

Yes, there are clues in an EKG tracing that might suggest "severity", but other than heart rate, I would leave that up to an electrophysiologist.

And even with higher heart rates, some people are more symptomatic than others

As a general rule, you want to keep your heart rate under 110 when you're in atrial fibrillation and get back to normal rhythm as soon as possible. There are different ways to accomplish this which should be discussed with your doctor.

Btw there is no "2 lead" kardia. Just a single lead and a six lead model.

Jim

[Buffafly]

No, you go by how you feel. Usual rules, chest pain, dizziness, fainting, severe breathlessness - A&E regardless of rate or ‘squiggles’. Otherwise it’s more a case of ‘how much are you distressed?’ Some people also have nausea and /or diarrhoea which is very unpleasant and even more so in A&E. Same with frequent peeing. There are people who have pauses when converting from AF to Sinus, which if you catch them on a Kardia which I did during a run of them causing semi blackouts, look like a long straight line and should be reported asap but that’s very very rare.

[108cat in reply to Buffafly]

I also use KardiaMobile 1 lead, and when having a PAF episode I go by the rate and the length of time it's going on, I'm not able to read the details of the readings.

But as Jim says the main thing is if the rate is above 110 for an extended time while in AF, that's not good for the heart. So can you talk to your cardiologist about how best to reduce the rate and get the rhythm back to normal.

[Crimson2020]

Here is a recent Kardia advanced chart showing an average 30 sec. bpm of 75 and a range of about 40 to 140 bpm. I know a cardiologist or GP could advise me on this and the accompanying ecg trace, but if anyone could give me a basic indication that would be great.

Advanced Kardia chart

[Crimson2020]

Further to my previous post here is the accompanying ecg trace.

ECG trace

[Buffafly]

Speaking only from experience that looks like ‘normal’ AF with a couple of ectopics thrown in just for fun. They are the spikes below the line. If you did a longer trace - up to five minutes - you would see if there are more ectopics. They would be felt as an alarming thump thus making your palpitations more noticeable. Hope that helps.