Smart watch to monitor heart

I bought the Apple Watch 9, with the ECG feature along with Oxygen levels, heart rate etc. I had my new watch a a few months before it alerted me that I was in A-FIb for the first time. (I took ECG readings for the time between when I woke up in A-Fib until the ambulance arrived. They confirmed that I was indeed in A-Fib with a very high heart rate.) I was taken to the Mayo Clinic ER where I was put on Eliquis and Metropolol; I am now followed by a Mayo Cardiologist and am considering the Watchman procedure. I would not have known that I was having anything more than a scary dream which awakened me, without the Apple Watch 9. (The ER & my Cardiologist was thankful for the PDF’s of my Apple Watch ECGs…and a few that I sent then during the weeks later showing lots of PVC’s and irregular heart rate.). I highly recommend!

My Apple Watch is helpful in running ECGs that I can upload to my cardiologist just to double check that I am ok, despite any A-fib readings by the watch. The watch has limitations on what it can read—so in my case, in addition to AFib I also have two different arrhythmias that cause rapid beats and skipped beats. Sometimes the extra beats cannot be measured by the watch so it reads I am in AFib when it’s actually only a bad run of PVCs. However, if my HR is over 140 for over an hour (thankfully only about once a year), and multiple readings show Afib, that’s when I either take my pill in a pocket or head for the ER.

So while yes, it’s helpful, it also has limitations in what it can read.

I am not living my life by the results of the watch ecg but it does coincide to when I don’t feel right. So for me it helps me know what is going on.

I agree. It does reflect on what I’m feeling symptom-wise. And sometimes it is a godsend to be able to download the files and get them to my patient portal. Even if I can’t decipher the reading when it’s showing “inconclusive,” my cardio can.
It’s a very good tool most of the time.

I can empathize with having heart issues and not being able to get answers. I’ve also had about 100 episodes of very low heart rate in the last 9 months (most 30-34 BPM) and have suspected signal blockage might be the cause. How did they test for blockage? I don’t have any symptoms when I’m in low bradycardia (though a fainting episode started the testing for possible heart problems). Might have caused the fainting but if so, why am I not fainting more often since I have lots of very low heart rate. Also a former runner but not marathons. My hat is off to you folks.

Just curious why you say that your Apple Watch doesn’t record your extra beats or PVCs sometimes. How would you know if it’s missing some unless you simultaneously ran clinical grade EKG and EKG on your watch? I actually wanted to do that in the ER for comparison but was told to take watch off as it could possibly interfere with the readings.

What does your cardiologist tell you about the ‘inconclusive’ readings? I’ve had quite a few but never have asked a professional what it means or why inconclusive.

I should clarify: the ECG does capture the extra beats. It’s readable on the strip. Just not to my untrained eye, or the watch’s ability to identify what’s going on.

The cardio tells me the premature beats are visible on the PDFs I send him- just that the watch’s ability to decipher several forms of arrhythmia is limited, so it will either mistakenly say I’m in Afib or give me an inconclusive reading.

Thanks for your reply. Now, I’m wondering what my inconclusive really indicates. My cardiologist is very dismissive of Apple Watch data so not much help from him.