A b it tongue in cheek but whatever do they use to attach electrodes on heart monitors? I was in hospital two weeks ago attached to a monitor. I've been home now for two weeks, had several baths and last night after wondering for ages why my ribs hurt and itched furiously at the back, I discovered an electrode still s t uck there; too far round for me to reach it. I had to get my husband to rip it off and try to wash it . He got the pad off but still can't get the glue off. Can't scrub it because I've tiny blisters among it. What the heck to they use? Superglue?
Whatever do they use?: A b it tongue in... - British Heart Fou...
Whatever do they use?
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Qualipop
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MilkfairyHeart Star
I know what you mean.
I was in hospital for 12 days in February on continuous cardiac monitoring. I was covered in rings of adhesive from the ECG leads.
I find putting a warm damp cloth softens the glue and you can then gently peel the adhesive off or use a soft towel to carefully rub the glue patches off.
😂 I'd the same problem, Qualipop - it didn't seem to matter how many showers I had, you could still see a bit of glue - a bit less every day I have to admit. In the end I put the shower gel straight onto it, sort of rubbed it in and gave it a wee light buff with a shower puffer thingy. It was so good to see the back of them! 😂
Yeah does make you wonder what they use to keep the electrodes on they leave a nasty rash when you have had them on for a few days aswell very sore! 😕x
hi the adhesive is awful, my daughter works in a&e and tells me that they use medical adhesive remover wipes to get rid of it. I bought some from Amazon and they did the trick. I also get blisters from the adhesive so now they use a wipe on my skin before they apply them which stops them irritating my skin too much. The one they used on me was Medi dermatix s. It’s like a barrier solution. You can ask for them to use it. Hope you are feeling better xx
I'll remember that if it happens again thanks. I was just so exhausted after being up all night in A&E and in so much pain from the wheelchair that I just let them slap the electrodes on before I fell asleep.
When I had a holter monitor on last October just for one day,that all fell off after 8 hours but the nurse did use the hypoallergenic ones because I usually blister. I didn't think to mention it with this but I was surprised the glue hadn't softened when I had baths. Thanks ANon, yes it all settled down; I've had several texts f rom my GP who contacted cardio direct ( one of them at 6pm Sunday!!!!!) and BeKind, dog is fully recovered.
my experience too. After OHS when I got home I was covered in sticky patches that I couldn’t shift. I bought medical adhesive remover wipes from Amazon and then tackled one or two a day before I showered!
I think this is a very important post, having had many tests done using pads it is only now that I know that not only is there different types of pads but also a form of barrier cream.
Some of the pads left me with very sore raised welts in the shape of the pads, they itched so much that I made them bleed and the marks lasted for weeks.
But I didn't say anything I was just grateful for having the tests done, but now I do and touch wood the last scan didn't leave a thing, no glue or residue nothing after the technician rub the areas down with a cream.
They said just make sure you tell them your reactions before the treatment starts.
Hope this helps
Anon2023• in reply to
I’ve got a marker on my records noting that I’m allergic to the glue. I don’t think I am but I do have sensitive skin but at least it alerts them. X
• in reply toAnon2023
I must get it put on, good idea, properly still best to remind them as well.
Qualipop• in reply to
Me too; I'll try to remember is there is a next time. I've always told them with holter monitors but I just didn't think about these. I don't really remember anyone putting them on.
Anon2023• in reply to
hi. They can also stick a red wristband on you which highlights it if you ask them. Btw welcome to the forum. Xx
TheBoys• in reply to
like you this is really important. I ended up with welts on my side and tummy which bled . These wipes sound very useful and I ll get some
Use butter -my mother used to use it on the old fabric plaster marks that left glue residue on you(and produced an allergic reaction in me so sounds the same) You won’t be eating it so it won’t do you any harm!!
Worth a try, thanks.
Good idea, Jeremiah! Now that you mention it, I use oil for removing sticky labels etc. Any oil you have handy would probably do the trick, olive oil or similar, or if you have an oil-based cleanser or eye makeup remover.
My Mum always used butter to remove any sticky plaster residue left on us when we were children. Quite often actually, we were always tripping over and scrapping knees and elbows! 😄
They make me itch like crazy. I’m allergic to plasters. I don’t know if that’s why I’m sensitive to the adhesive on those pads.
Oh I'd love to be in your world. I've been begging for HRT for the past 25 years but back then you got 10 years at most.. (Hysterectomy at 40) Oddly they never affected me. I'd give anything for them now.
GP just says I'm too old now. I'm sure it would repair a lot of damage.
Yep, I had electrodes too under my boots. I had an itchy rash for around two weeks, came up in.little red bumps, so sore and itchy. God knows what is in that gel!!!
baby oil will get it off 👍
When I came home after CABG I was covered in black stick from the electrodes. I used zoff sticky stuff remover worked a treat
Don't scrub it with water - you'll just take the skin off! Nail polish remover works instantly.
Yes!! Thank you for the morning laugh 🤣 I spent nearly a month in 2 hospitals in 2018 with my heart attack, and was smothered in dirty rings for several weeks afterwards.
Oh, I was in the same boat 😔I really don't know what would have become of me without my patches. I had to wait 6 months or so before my female gp would prescribe them to me, while she arranged for other tests to be carried out. And when the day came when she agreed that I could have them, she handed them over with a... "yes, you can have them, but it won't be this...". Now she is a fab gp, it was her that suspected that my dizzy spells were heart related, and I thank her hugely (I was given a pacemaker), but she is younger than menopause age, and so isn't "there" yet. But when my brain fog was completely gone in 10 days, the "stuffing" is back on my arms, I'm not blinking over a dry, red eyeball, my feet are not so sore and "pad less", the physical anxiety doesn't have me feeling wrung out like a dish cloth, I know that I needed those hormones... I've no idea what life will be like after 60 (currently 55) as she says that's the oldest she will prescribe 🤷♀️... Sorry for going off topic ♥️take care xx
Hi, I’m 76 and have been on HRT for over 30 years. The gynaecologist told me I was the same age as his mother and he would advise her to stay on it for life. The benefits outweigh the risks.
Bless you 🙏I hope that when the time comes for me I encounter a gynaecologist just like yours x
Some people sail through, others suffer terribly.
My mother (now 82) started with her "virus" at exactly the same age as I did. To give them their due they performed every test available back in 1995, and found nothing wrong. She hasn't had a life, has lived on "pain pills" for the creeping sensation under the skin at the top of her back (within bra gap area) and other pills which are antidepressants used for nerve pain 🤷♀️. She would mark "up" days and "down" days on her calendar and have us stand there and look at it when we went to visit. Even now she will refer to the time when she got her "virus", it's so sad, Dad hasn't had a life since either, as he's pretty much her carer, though on record she has nothing wrong. My symptoms were the same, even the crawling skin, my brother was the one who spotted the connection... But now he has nothing to do with me 😔. Sorry all, I've gone even further off topic xx
Take care all ♥️
I haven’t mentioned the many arguments with the medical profession about HRT. When I insisted on going onto the No bleed ones I had a nurse say but doesn’t it make you feel more of a woman to bleed every month, NO!
Absolutely!! And so brilliant of you for persisting... The more we strive for it we are helping the next generation of women who won't have yo endure years of unnecessary symptoms.
I used to flood awfully, just couldn't use enough protection... Eventually I was offered the mirena coil, and didn't look back. I had no idea that the flooding, and crippling anxiety could all have been symptoms of peri menopause. The fact that we speak about it now helps others ❤️
I had my first mirena coil fitted a few months after my youngest was born, 20 years ago. I haven’t had a period since. No more heavy periods No more anaemia.
No major symptoms. during the menopause.
My Cardiologist has now referred me to a Menopause specialist. His view is that oestrogen may help improve the function of my endothelial, the inner lining of the blood vessels.
Endothelial dysfunction is thought to be partly responsible fir my vasospastic angina and as he says also protective against heart disease.
He doesn't take his women patients off HRT when they have had heart attacks.
I wish there was more quality research about HRT and heart disease in women.
We need to be able to quantify the possible risks against our quality of life.
Only we can judge our individual quality of life.
Makes sense to me. My pain specialist would like to improve my quality of life but there simply hasn't been enough research into the effect on the heart.
Thank you so much for sharing 🙏, and I wish that I'd known about the mirena coil sooner, as I endured years of flooding, anaemia and palpitations, unnecessarily, as it seems 🙄
I'm going to look into what you have shared, and try and have as much info together before I see my cardiologist the first week in September.
Onwards and upwards I say 😁... Thank you so much ladies for sharing all of your stories, successes and struggles. I went for a walk with my friend last night, one year younger than me (54), who was "sailing" through the menopause, while I was on my knees.... Until she wasn't. She is now on hrt, started 1st July, and is educating herself on these life changes (without a heart issue)... And I told her about our conversation yesterday, and what a coming together it has accidentally become, and she was completely thrilled by it!!!
I apologise again for maybe encouraging the off topic, but really can't thank you all enough ❤️
I'm 75 and they won't even consider it. I had early menopause after hysterectomy at 40 ( no symptoms at all) but hey would only give me HRT for 10 years because of the breast cancer risk. Everything's gone downhill since then. I have the body of a 90 yr old; horrific dry skin, baggy arms and legs, ache everywhere.
The current thinking on how long a woman should be on HRT has shifted and it’s more a case of if the individual woman avoids developing the classic risk factors then there is no reason why their HRT can’t continue. The only caveat is that HRT has to commence in the 50s, and they are reluctant to prescribe systemic HRT over 60. But as someone else has mentioned, it’s no help to you now. You can still use local HRT for the dreaded VA and to prevent associated problems like recurrent bladder infections.
Yes that's all I've been given, topical messy things to prevent VA.
Hi Qualipop, there are Menopause clinics on the NHS, you could be referred to one or you could see a sympathetic Gynecologist privately. I could buy my HRT on line, the local chemist is very bad at getting my NHS meds on time so I bought a spare box of HRT. It's important not to take no for an answer, it's your body, there are many forms of HRT some of which may suit you, I honestly think the general gp doesn't really have a clue about HRT, only personal views.
That's my problem. I'm well over 60. They made me stop taking it at 50.
They don't have to live in our bodies, or suffer with the mental health issues 😔
I'm sure that things are changing for the better, but that is no benefit to you.
I'm sorry, thank you for replying to me ♥️
Take care xx
Baby oil is the way forward for this! X
I feel your pain, in fact as I am slightly hirsute I may even exceed it.😂After lots of research I have come to the conclusion that it's a two pack polyvine adhesive, or else it's just really sticky as though they want a good fixing.
Have you had the one were they use the little bit of sandpaper? That is definitely just a bit special.
Use baby oil or olive oil on a piece of cotton wool to remove the sticky, and pro tip just keep a count of anything that they attach to you, subtract a from b and if you get X ask someone have you forgotten anything.
Dan
I'm sure they didn't stick one round the back, side of my ribs though. I think this one must have migrated in the bath. Sandpaper? Good grief. Thankfully no hair there because husband had to literally rip it off.
Yes, I think that generation were failed, I'm so incredibly grateful that we are benefitting from all the new info regarding hrt and it's protection, frightening to think that I was on the way to living a life like hers😢
Thank you for the book recommendation, I'm reading and learning all that I can about it 😊
Absolutely 👍
Thank you all for replying to me ❤️
Makes you feel less alone, and much more understood xx
There used to be a liquid called Zoff which was good for removing the glue from electrodes and sticking plasters. Unfortunately it was quite addictive and medical students used to get caught sniffing it. You can still get Zoff wipes, I bought some from Amazon a few years ago. They work really well (used in moderation of course).
We use Zoff wipes still at work to help people remove the sticky stuff when they have had wound dressings on for a long time
Not according to my 'male' GP
He’s a bit out of date, then.
Oh yes, menopause does a number on women’s bodies in more ways than you’d expect. I have the gel version to avoid any plaster allergy reactions.
This made me laugh, I totally agree, it feels like superglue! 😁
I also have a daily nitro patch, which leaves sticky stuff on and showering really doesn't wash it off unless I scrub at it, which makes the skin red and sore. Recently I found that alcohol wipes or adhesive remover wipes work well.
I often wonder, Qualipop. Also I think I've got them all off, but inevitably find one the next day when I'm in the shower.😲
not according to my cardiologists.
Ah that's top secret special formula glue!Sorry couldn't resist a tongue in cheek reply.
I'm not sure and never thought to ask. I've recently had a 7 day holter monitor and I found it hard to get them to stick as it was during hot weather. I'm sensitive to the glue too, but antihistamine cream did the trick and the redness went quickly. Just be gentle and pat the area dry, don't rub!
My husband managed to get the remainder off today with olive oil thank goodness. I had the same problem with a holter monitor last October. They all fell off by around 8 hours and I react badly to those too but I had asked for the hypoallergenic ones. Obviously not as sticky.
OMG your post really reminded me of my dear dad who would be 90 on Monday so is in my thoughts lots at the moment.
We use to really love pulling the sticky pads of him when we were younger!!! He was very hairy and used to make soooo much fuss but still let us ❤️ Now I know it wasn't just a guss for us they really are stuck on with superglue! The longer on the longer to get off I think! I feel your pain 😉
Have you tried surgical spirit?
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