I'm greatly helped in following my AFIB by an up to date Apple Watch and an iPhone which (with the watch) can provide a read-out of sleep and round the clock heartbeat feedback through both a Cardiogram and Sleepwatch app.
Re triggers, I too have noted late eating (especially if more than I ought to) is a major trigger.
Recently I've also become aware that alcohol is a main trigger even in small quantities, and late exercising increases the likelihood of nighttime AFIB with tachycadia too.
Really weird isn't it, about the eating and alcohol? The alcohol especially seems to have come on quite suddenly. No champagne for New Years, I guess, and I'd gotten a magnum bottle to share. Much too much for my son!
It's also super handy to install special apps (I use Cardiogram and SleepWatch) to give you read outs of your heart function while you sleep and exercise.
Bought an apple watch and sure enough had a hit right from the get go. Notified cardiologist, ordered zio, overnighted placed 2 days ago. in the interim today i had 7 afib notifications on demand from the apple watch in the space of about 3 hours.
HA 12/19, stented. I am very aggressive in treatment of my bp and lipids. ldl-26, chol-83, bp 110/70 thru medication including repatha. I expect to attack afib in the same manner but seems ablation is the way to go? or not.
In the interim I go on vacation in a few days and am wondering with all these incidents should I be pressing for immediate medication?
Thank to all who have gone before me down this road, looking for direction.
Quacks (vitamins, herbs etc.) feel free NOT to respond thank you.
I am wondering if anyone uses or has used the features on your Apple Watch to document times when you are not feeling good and abnormal heart Rhythm. I know it is no substitute for real medical care but I feel it helps me see patterns of problems. I recently had full labs and everything looks really good that way but my blood pressure is back up to 152/97. My weight is the problem. I know it. I have a very hard time losing weight. My heart rate drops in the low 40’s. Tell me if you use your watch at all as a tool to help you monitor your situation.
I am wondering if anyone uses or has used the features on your Apple Watch to document times when you are not feeling good and abnormal heart Rhythm. I know it is no substitute for real medical care but I feel it helps me see patterns of problems. I recently had full labs and everything looks really good that way but my blood pressure is back up to 152/97. My weight is the problem. I know it. I have a very hard time losing weight. My heart rate drops in the low 40’s. Tell me if you use your watch at all as a tool to help you monitor your situation.
I got my iwatch6 at the request of my electrophysiologist who was the consultant to apple for the ECG app on the watch when I was having periods of afib. You can set upper and lower heart rate markers to alert you when your heart rate is above/below these markers for 10 minutes when you are at rest (mine are 120 and 50). You can also see and record a 30 second ECG which is sent to your iphone and saved. These can then be sent to your doctor. I had my cryoablation in 2019 and had no afib episodes until last July when the watch, then my iphone alerted me I was in afib. I never can feel these events happening. I recorded 5 minutes of ECG's and was able to send them to my cardiologist and get them on my chart. Appropriate measures were then taken, echo, zio patch, eliquis. Also have had a high heart beat alert, watching the super bowl. Echo found my dilated ascending aorta @ 3.8mm. Never wore a watch before, it does many other tricks also, hope this helps.
I am wondering if anyone uses or has used the features on your Apple Watch to document times when you are not feeling good and abnormal heart Rhythm. I know it is no substitute for real medical care but I feel it helps me see patterns of problems. I recently had full labs and everything looks really good that way but my blood pressure is back up to 152/97. My weight is the problem. I know it. I have a very hard time losing weight. My heart rate drops in the low 40’s. Tell me if you use your watch at all as a tool to help you monitor your situation.
I am wondering if anyone uses or has used the features on your Apple Watch to document times when you are not feeling good and abnormal heart Rhythm. I know it is no substitute for real medical care but I feel it helps me see patterns of problems. I recently had full labs and everything looks really good that way but my blood pressure is back up to 152/97. My weight is the problem. I know it. I have a very hard time losing weight. My heart rate drops in the low 40’s. Tell me if you use your watch at all as a tool to help you monitor your situation.
Hi @realitytest, Thank you for the insight into what is helping you track your AFIB and what some triggers are that people should be mindful of.
You will see that I moved your post to an ongoing discussion about monitoring with a smart device. I did this so you could interact with members that are doing the same thing and so they can benefit from your post.
I was diagnosed with AFIB about four years ago (paroxysmal) and prescribed Xarelto to ward off strokes. Definitely hereditary (along with other cardiac issues - such as "familial
hyperlipoproteinia . What a mouthful, don't know how I remembered it!). Diagnosed by the head of the Johns Hopkins lipid department some 15 years ago.
One brother died in his sleep two years ago only a week before having a second stent put in place, and the other takes beta blockers in addition to his Xarelto (his AFIB is constant rather than paroxysmal ) as do I, but only PRN .
I use not only the Apple Watch to keep informed about my arrhythmias but now also a Kardia device - a six stranded EKG monitor. (Note FWIW that the newer model Apple Watch same generous son purchased for me, also gives info on my oxygen levels during sleep. With it, I and can also check on it when I care to during the day). It even checks snoring!
The Apple Watch proved more useful than the pricy subscription fall detector he got for me (living alone, he feared I might fall without its being noticed) but it was just way too sensitive. The the police were at my house several times for false alarms. Another plus from it , is that it can even car accidents.
Not long ago, it detected a "crash" in a highway car accident and called the highway patrol by GPS. It wasn't actually a collision but a scary loss of steering control, which ended in a severe shock when I dropped down on the berm after I had (just by luck).
managed to escape from traffic and get off the road.
I was amazed at this capability I hadn't even known it had - it even records your trajectory before you stop from whatever cause. In this case, the sharp drop from the berm was what triggered the alarm (narrowly escaping falling down a cliff just a tad further to the right!).
I must sound like an ad for Apple, but it really has been a huge help to me though the extra apps are a bit finicky in recording both falls and the two extra paid apps (sleep and heart beat when awake, for instance, at the gym).
I was diagnosed with AFIB about four years ago (paroxysmal) and prescribed Xarelto to ward off strokes. Definitely hereditary (along with other cardiac issues - such as "familial
hyperlipoproteinia . What a mouthful, don't know how I remembered it!). Diagnosed by the head of the Johns Hopkins lipid department some 15 years ago.
One brother died in his sleep two years ago only a week before having a second stent put in place, and the other takes beta blockers in addition to his Xarelto (his AFIB is constant rather than paroxysmal ) as do I, but only PRN .
I use not only the Apple Watch to keep informed about my arrhythmias but now also a Kardia device - a six stranded EKG monitor. (Note FWIW that the newer model Apple Watch same generous son purchased for me, also gives info on my oxygen levels during sleep. With it, I and can also check on it when I care to during the day). It even checks snoring!
The Apple Watch proved more useful than the pricy subscription fall detector he got for me (living alone, he feared I might fall without its being noticed) but it was just way too sensitive. The the police were at my house several times for false alarms. Another plus from it , is that it can even car accidents.
Not long ago, it detected a "crash" in a highway car accident and called the highway patrol by GPS. It wasn't actually a collision but a scary loss of steering control, which ended in a severe shock when I dropped down on the berm after I had (just by luck).
managed to escape from traffic and get off the road.
I was amazed at this capability I hadn't even known it had - it even records your trajectory before you stop from whatever cause. In this case, the sharp drop from the berm was what triggered the alarm (narrowly escaping falling down a cliff just a tad further to the right!).
I must sound like an ad for Apple, but it really has been a huge help to me though the extra apps are a bit finicky in recording both falls and the two extra paid apps (sleep and heart beat when awake, for instance, at the gym).
Note, though I. was censored in a previous FYI post on CONTACT about saving money on the very pricy Xarelto by ordering from Canada, I highly recommend going to the trouble. Sorry that this time, I don't dare include more specifics about pricing and how to go about it for fear of another censorship.
(It's a peculiar situation legally, as technically, this IS illegal, but all the same, it's not enforced. The US govt even collaborates with the Canadian one to screen their enormous number of exporting pharmacies, to come up with a much reduced list (it's called CIPA) of strictly approved pharmacies . It's still a nuisance for consumers desiring to save money by price matching between them, but I can't go into more detail this time. It's saved me thousands at this point. Good luck all, in managing your health and budget this way!
Ordering from Canada is one of the few workarounds to the disgraceful monopoly of Big Pharma which enables them to price-gouge Americans so that our meds cost us multiples of the overseas prices of most prescription drugs . That's because their governments are allowed to negotiate the costs with the manufacturers.
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Me too on the late eating and alcohol (even really small amounts).
Really weird isn't it, about the eating and alcohol? The alcohol especially seems to have come on quite suddenly. No champagne for New Years, I guess, and I'd gotten a magnum bottle to share. Much too much for my son!
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1 ReactionIt's also super handy to install special apps (I use Cardiogram and SleepWatch) to give you read outs of your heart function while you sleep and exercise.
They give you the read outs on an iPhone.
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Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsBought an apple watch and sure enough had a hit right from the get go. Notified cardiologist, ordered zio, overnighted placed 2 days ago. in the interim today i had 7 afib notifications on demand from the apple watch in the space of about 3 hours.
HA 12/19, stented. I am very aggressive in treatment of my bp and lipids. ldl-26, chol-83, bp 110/70 thru medication including repatha. I expect to attack afib in the same manner but seems ablation is the way to go? or not.
In the interim I go on vacation in a few days and am wondering with all these incidents should I be pressing for immediate medication?
Thank to all who have gone before me down this road, looking for direction.
Quacks (vitamins, herbs etc.) feel free NOT to respond thank you.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsI am wondering if anyone uses or has used the features on your Apple Watch to document times when you are not feeling good and abnormal heart Rhythm. I know it is no substitute for real medical care but I feel it helps me see patterns of problems. I recently had full labs and everything looks really good that way but my blood pressure is back up to 152/97. My weight is the problem. I know it. I have a very hard time losing weight. My heart rate drops in the low 40’s. Tell me if you use your watch at all as a tool to help you monitor your situation.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsI got my iwatch6 at the request of my electrophysiologist who was the consultant to apple for the ECG app on the watch when I was having periods of afib. You can set upper and lower heart rate markers to alert you when your heart rate is above/below these markers for 10 minutes when you are at rest (mine are 120 and 50). You can also see and record a 30 second ECG which is sent to your iphone and saved. These can then be sent to your doctor. I had my cryoablation in 2019 and had no afib episodes until last July when the watch, then my iphone alerted me I was in afib. I never can feel these events happening. I recorded 5 minutes of ECG's and was able to send them to my cardiologist and get them on my chart. Appropriate measures were then taken, echo, zio patch, eliquis. Also have had a high heart beat alert, watching the super bowl. Echo found my dilated ascending aorta @ 3.8mm. Never wore a watch before, it does many other tricks also, hope this helps.
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Like -
Helpful -
Hug
4 ReactionsThank you. My cardiologist is not a fan of Apple Watch ECG but when I sent him the PDF he suddenly wanted to order some tests.
Health - David Miller - ECG 2024-05-20 at 12 (Health-David-Miller-ECG-2024-05-20-at-12.34.pdf)
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1 ReactionHello @wyomingmiller208, I combined your discussion with an existing discussion titled, "Smart watch to monitor heart" - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/apple-watch/.
Here you can meet the many members discussing smart watch devices that they use to monitor their heart rhythms, including the Apple Watch.
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Helpful -
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3 ReactionsI was diagnosed with AFIB about four years ago (paroxysmal) and prescribed Xarelto to ward off strokes. Definitely hereditary (along with other cardiac issues - such as "familial
hyperlipoproteinia . What a mouthful, don't know how I remembered it!). Diagnosed by the head of the Johns Hopkins lipid department some 15 years ago.
One brother died in his sleep two years ago only a week before having a second stent put in place, and the other takes beta blockers in addition to his Xarelto (his AFIB is constant rather than paroxysmal ) as do I, but only PRN .
I use not only the Apple Watch to keep informed about my arrhythmias but now also a Kardia device - a six stranded EKG monitor. (Note FWIW that the newer model Apple Watch same generous son purchased for me, also gives info on my oxygen levels during sleep. With it, I and can also check on it when I care to during the day). It even checks snoring!
The Apple Watch proved more useful than the pricy subscription fall detector he got for me (living alone, he feared I might fall without its being noticed) but it was just way too sensitive. The the police were at my house several times for false alarms. Another plus from it , is that it can even car accidents.
Not long ago, it detected a "crash" in a highway car accident and called the highway patrol by GPS. It wasn't actually a collision but a scary loss of steering control, which ended in a severe shock when I dropped down on the berm after I had (just by luck).
managed to escape from traffic and get off the road.
I was amazed at this capability I hadn't even known it had - it even records your trajectory before you stop from whatever cause. In this case, the sharp drop from the berm was what triggered the alarm (narrowly escaping falling down a cliff just a tad further to the right!).
I must sound like an ad for Apple, but it really has been a huge help to me though the extra apps are a bit finicky in recording both falls and the two extra paid apps (sleep and heart beat when awake, for instance, at the gym).
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
3 ReactionsNote, though I. was censored in a previous FYI post on CONTACT about saving money on the very pricy Xarelto by ordering from Canada, I highly recommend going to the trouble. Sorry that this time, I don't dare include more specifics about pricing and how to go about it for fear of another censorship.
(It's a peculiar situation legally, as technically, this IS illegal, but all the same, it's not enforced. The US govt even collaborates with the Canadian one to screen their enormous number of exporting pharmacies, to come up with a much reduced list (it's called CIPA) of strictly approved pharmacies . It's still a nuisance for consumers desiring to save money by price matching between them, but I can't go into more detail this time. It's saved me thousands at this point. Good luck all, in managing your health and budget this way!
Ordering from Canada is one of the few workarounds to the disgraceful monopoly of Big Pharma which enables them to price-gouge Americans so that our meds cost us multiples of the overseas prices of most prescription drugs . That's because their governments are allowed to negotiate the costs with the manufacturers.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 Reactions