I’ve got the Kardia one else machine , and I have serve anxiety regarding my heart I’ve had many ECGs and also a Eco & stress test all come back normal! But I tested myself on the Kardia machine last night as I was feel bit dizzy & it said I had sinus rhythm with wide QRS I went into panic mode and sent the ECG to one of the paid cardiologist and they said it was nothing to worry about as it wasn’t a real reading “RECORDING ARTIFACT prevents reliable interpretation. Consider repeating EKG.”
So I did it again and it was a normal sinus rhythm.
But I’m still so freaked out and thinking I’m something is wrong with my heart .. has anyone had this happen to them with the Kardia Machine ? Should I what the doctors are saying and calm down?
Thank you!
Written by
Htye1992
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If you're not going to accept the readings on your Kardia and the interpretations you sent for there's really not much point in using it! I'm sorry if that sounds blunt but it looks like it is causing you more anxiety.
My advice to you is to put the Kardia away and stop worrying. If you really feel you must test then do so once a week or fortnight when you are feeling a bit calmer.
These devices are an excellent piece of kit but do more harm than good if you are severely anxious about your heart as you say you are.
You've had ECGs , stress test and Echo and all normal. Count yourself lucky and forget about all this testing.
Stop winding yourself up , put the kardia in a drawer. lock it and throw away the key. Then get on with your life.
I write from personal experience, having had one of the first kardias into UK and I often tell people how I only started to be normal when the battery went flat. They are great used properly but not if you allow them to make you anxious.
Yes - happens for various reasons. Whilst I love my Kardia I recognise that if you already have anxiety it’s probably not useful to you if you are going to worry about everything. Wide QRS is only a difficulty if it sustained and it is quite common to have the odd artifact which will upset the accuracy of the reading. Take some deep breaths and go do something you enjoy.
When I asked my Cardiologist to recommend a Psychiatrist for my anxiety he said no, just take your anti-anxiety medicine (I take Alzam - have been taking it for 17 years and have never felt I should increase the dosage, mine is prescribed on an 'as needed ' basis') and meditate, which I do, mostly with Mozart playing in the background, it really helps with the anxiety,
The Kardia device sometimes makes the wrong analysis. It was corrected by the cardiologist you spoke to. That should put your mind at ease.
And yes, I've had similar happen. It's quite common.
Given your EKGs always come out normal, and your anxiety about it, it may be counterproductive to keep monitoring your heart, unless your doctor recommends it.
I also use an old Kardia. I have just had a phone consultation with someone on the Cardiology team and I discussed some of the readings I had from my Kardia. He listened patiently then explained that Kardia’s are most valuable when they are used to detect irregular heartbeats in someone who has not yet been diagnosed with a problem. If an irregularity is found, then that sets the ball rolling for addressing the issue. Once you know you have an irregularity, like Afib, he said the Kardia is less useful. He said there are many variables that it cannot isolate and interpret and we the patients just get a ‘generalised’ possible result. Also, a home environment in which the trace is taken can interfere with the trace and can ‘throw’ the interpretation. When he listed all the little idiosyncrasies of the heart’s electrical system, I realised at last that a Kardia wasn’t something to use frequently. He also said even echocardiograms often show the heart ‘at those few moments in time’, and sometimes, things like ejection fraction can change depending on heart rate at the time, stress etc. I have had the same reading you describe and my consultant was quick to dismiss my concerns, saying it means nothing unless it is very frequent, and he would not rely on a Kardia to determine that.
I agree with much of this. I'm a long time user of Kardiamobile....occasionally over enthusiastic. In fact I'm on my second device I wore out the first one 😬.
I've learnt to ignore random unusual readings and would only take action if they persist .
I think Kardia would come in very useful for those who are unable to differentiate between ectopics and AF. This would have been me circa 30 years ago when I often thought i was about to go into an AF episode and it was most probably ectopics. I knew nothing about such things at that time!
If the device makes you stressed out, it's best not to use it. I have a "wide QRS" and it is a common finding, more so with age, until, eventually, I would think many have it. It refers to nothing of consequence most of the time. It's a measure of the timing of the conduction between the heart's lower chambers. In my case, it's caused by a "bundle block" on the left side. Most have a right side bundle block, but not me.
Your doctor would have said to you, "That's nothing to worry about"! The echo you had would have shown if there were any other reason for the wide QRS, for certs. Stop stressing by focusing on the fact that these test showed your heart was healthy. Hearts don't change at all quickly, so you are still just as well now as you were when you were checked.
Hey! Thank you for your reply! I was just worried as I was googling if you have wide QRS when younger age it could be a sign of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which is a lot of cause for sudden death for young adults! Just really worried me.
With luck, this stressful episode will maybe have helped you to realise how foolish the mind can be thinking that a mouse click can replace what it takes a doctor many years to achieve. 😳
I bet you’ll live into your 90s and look back rueing the way your mind caused you all this unnecessary anguish! 😉
Now I understand exactly why you might feel anxious. In general terms HCM is outwith the expertise of this forum and you have sensibly posted on the BHF forum. Do you have other reasons to suspect HCM, particularly a genetic predisposition?
Have you discussed your anxiety about this with a Cardiologist (privately?) If for no other reason that for a cost of £250 for an opinion only, you have probably got to the stage where a face to face consultation with a doctor who will be mindful of her direct responsibility is the best and quickest way of achieving a good night’s sleep.
No anonymous online forum can, or should attempt to, replace the expertise of a highly trained physician.
No I’ve had an Echo done and a stress test 8 months ago and it was normal apparently. I was getting a lot of chest pain and dizziness hence why I had a echo done and stress test and a 24hr holter neck they only said I had etopic beats pvcs but I was feeling bit dizzy the other night after a bike ride and I tested on my Kardia machine and come up with Wide QRS tested again after 5mins and said I had a normal sinus rhythm. Just so odd!
An erudite but perhaps slightly harsh response Chinkoflight.
My contribution is that anxiety must be a diagnosis of exclusion. It is apparently the case that 90% of patients diagnosed with anxiety are eventually found to have a physical cause underlying their anxiety.
A significant proportion of doctors in my experience as a patient, are negligent in managing patients who present with anxiety.
Hi Porageface. An interesting statistic. Not one I've come across. I think I was making the point that answering some of the questions may have thrown light on the symptoms. In the absence of any light, that is the physical underlying causes you talk about, you're left with the anxiety. So to ask about underlying anxiety is a legitimate question, I don't think harsh, direct may be, is not unreasonable in the context of a forum. After all we ask about metrics and physical stuff, do we approach anxiety which is something we all experience with serious heart conditions, with a peculiar 'sensitivity' or even avoid.Now to say a significant proportion of Drs are negligent is a tad harsh. I don't disagree that the people skills of cardiologists cover the whole range of competence, and when I'm under anaesthetic do I care? Their brilliance with a knife is what I'm hoping for. But in reality I think they see it and feel it almost all the time in my experience but managing anxiety is a specialism in itself when it becomes debilitating and a symptom in its own right.
When I answer a question at length I do try hard to write in a way that it will be read and helpful. I removed the response and replied to Hyte1992 who was nudged by your response!
Thank you for mentioning this Porageface, doctors are of course highly intelligent and well trained however like any of us they can be prejudiced and sometimes not have time to listen.
Last year I spent eight increasingly anxious months with frequent nighttime 'palpitations', seeing the GP several times, his diagnosis was 'anxiety' and his prescription was CBT, and anxiety medicine, which I turned down and insisted on a private cardiology appt. (NHS cardio referral obviously wasn't going to happen.)
The cardiologist put me onto Kardia and in the follow up appointment diagnosed PAF from readings on my phone and prescribed anticoagulant.
Recently a clinician working with AF patients said to me that in her experience women with AF are often not taken seriously and simply considered 'anxious', this means prescription of anticoagulation is delayed and the risk of stroke is unnecessarily increased for those women.
yes very harsh response, mental health is a real thing and not nice at all , and when it comes to your heart you shouldn’t take any risks and I didn’t use NHS resources I went private and paid my way.
Well I didn't mean to offend and had hoped to help. I've removed the post. I think the questions were helpfully relevant. But this forum is very oriented to confirmation bias. I did check with your bio and previous posts to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I only posted because in response to replies to your initial post you provided a lot more insight which would have I'm sure impacted on responses you may have received. I'm left wondering why you posted at all.
So to answer your original post I have a 6l Kardia and if they were a diagnostic tool Drs would be using them and saving the health service a lot of money. No, they are not always accurate for a whole set of reasons. Blood pressure readings would be a better focus I suggest.
You fear a very specific heart problem without any evidence but that wasn't clear in your initial post. I have had an exercise related sudden cardiac arrest of the sort you fear but a slightly different equally rare cause. For reference the SCA in my case had no symptoms. Here's how it went, 'Somethings wr.......' lights out. Whereas a stroke , dizziness was a symptom, before complete right side paralysis.set in. Afib may have been the precursor to the stroke, and an embolism may have caused permanent heart damage, LVT etc and the risks of another SCA which if the ICD fails will be my last! Anxiety is never not with you but has to be managed. Nothing to do specifically with age or general cardiovascular health which is good still.
You read a lot in to a little especially age!!! I don't think generational at all. I'm also short, bearded and bald 😂
EPs, Cardiologists and now GPs are increasingly relying on Kardia. They are accurate if used correctly and reported properly.
I agree that in theory BP is more important in screening large random population groups. Unfortunately in this digital age the ability to use an old fashioned mercury column thermometer has been lost.
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