Has anyone had an insertable Cardiac Monitor?

Larry -- I'm curious. Why did you have this placed? I've had mine for almost 1.5 years now -- no major events have occurred. Ah-- I see the thread below with this answer.

I had near syncopal episodes and my doctor was checking for afib since I have congestive heart failure, that's how I ended up with a reveal loop recorder.

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Hey Jiggle, since you have seen one of my posts (below), I guess you have the answer. All I can do is add that no matter what sensations I explain to the Cardiologists they don't seem to understand. Intermittent AFIB started about four years ago, anywhere from 5-12 hours (180-200 BPM). When it would let up I would feel great, with the exception of several tolerable PVC's during the day. After awhile, the AFIB started coming more frequently (every 2-3 weeks), and the PVC's have gotten progressively more "weird." I will get every type of skip, flutter, jump, pause, etc. that you can possibly think of or feel. Recently, the AFIB has had longer intervals in between episodes, which is a good thing, but the palps feel worse (go figure). Also, some days I keep going in and out of AFIB for short durations with weird palps before and after for awhile. I can have several hours sometimes during the day and feel pretty good then suddenly out of nowhere I will feel down and out with all these symptoms. Considering ablation, but want everything fine-tuned before that happens. Have worn several holter monitors which have shown variations of palps from hundreds a day to thousands a day and of course I feel every one of them. Have had 3 or 4 ultrasounds and a recent nuclear stress test and everything looks okay. So, bottom line, there is something wrong somewhere and I'm just trying to pinpoint the problem. I do a lot of research and read a lot of testimonials, but I use common sense when I ingest the information. Just want to get my confidence back. I can live with all the palps I used to have before they started getting worse. If I could get back to that point I would be satisfied.

Hi Colleen. Thanks for the information. I will look into it. At this point however, I don't know what good it would do. In a way, I kind of hope that smoking is causing some of the palpitations. If I quit and nothing changes, that would be a real let down for me. The mind works in curious ways. I am the type that looks at all kinds of different scenarios for everything, while trying to reason them out one by one. However, many times when I think I have solved something, or come close, the bottom falls out. Again, thanks for the info.

I get that, Larry. The mind does indeed work in curious ways.

Larry -- I feel for your situation. It can be so frustrating sometimes. Back in 2013, I went to a Christmas sing and by the fifth song I was gasping for air. My heart started doing some really strong palpitations and I couldn't catch my breath. There were some EKG abnormalities and my doctor ordered a pretty thorough cardiac work-up. The Holter revealed lots of PVCs, PACs and some ventricular tachycardia which was probably the most concerning to them. I had an echocardiogram which was essentially normal. Also a stress test which had ST wave abnormalities but which was apparently a false positive (happens 50% of the time for women). I was sent onto a cardiologist who did a nuclear stress test which came out beautifully. At the cardiology follow-up, the cardiologist told me that I just have a "special" heart. Aw, ain't that sweet....several thousand dollars later. I'm a medical mystery on many accounts and so hey, just add it to the pile. It wasn't until spring of 2016 when I saw the cardiologist again that he tried an event monitor because the palpitations I was having were different, more fluttery, higher up and took my breath away. Of course, the event monitor showed basically nothing besides the usual PVCs, PACs. So he decided to have the Reveal LINQ placed. I wish it had been explained to me a little better though. I thought for around $2,000 my cost that that was a pretty good price to have 24/7 heart monitoring. But what he didn't tell me is that it doesn't really monitor all the PACs, PVCs but is programmed to catch atrial fibrillation, tachycardia or bradycardia. I guess if I hit my Patient Assistant, it will mark the read-out, if I am having symptoms -- and then would show an arrhythmia. So I just find that I'm a little disappointed in what this Reveal LINQ cannot do. I haven't had that weird rhythm return either. Not that I want it to return because it was terribly uncomfortable but I certainly hope that it does while I have this thing in so that maybe it can all be figured out.

Hello again Jiggle. Interesting post. I had a few days back in 1972 when I was being discharged from the Army where I kept having to gasp for breath like I couldn't take any air in. It would come and go and was extremely scary. When I got home my family doctor said it was just anxiety and prescribed valium for me which I took very sparingly. It kept happening off and on for the next few years and finally went away. I think about that often and wonder if any of it relates to any present problems. I have had PVC's for over 40 years. Many times very scary and bothersome but I would have to say that most of the time they were tolerable. Developed the intermittent AFIB 4 years ago and the PVC's and other strange sensations have progressively gotten worse. The last four months things have really hit me hard to the point of being confused about what exactly is going on. Get a little bradycardia when going in and out of AFIB where the heart feels like it's just floundering around not knowing what to do at a slow pace, with some instances of longer pauses and feeling of lightheadedness and feeling like I might faint but never do. I still try and truck on and do normal activities. No rhyme or reason to any of this so I hope I get some answers with the linq implant.

I'm getting the Reveal Linq put in this upcoming Monday, Dec.18th, and I am starting to get scared. I have read a lot of reviews about the Linq becoming very painful for a long period of time after insertion. Some even say it's unbearable and they can't even sleep. Also, it's painful to move your arm, sleeping position, reaching, etc. Has anyone experienced pain after having it implanted?

Hello, I wanted to let you know I've had my reveal link for almost three years, there was only slight discomfort at first then over a few days time I forgot it was even in my body! Hope your procedure goes well! Take care!