Today I went for my 3 month follow-up appointment after my AF ablation surgery. The Kardia device from Alivecor I bought a year ago is well known by members on this site and the traces I took myself and gave to the doctors was very helpful to them as they could never capture my heart in AFib, even with a 48 hour monitor.
I haven't had a single instance of AFib since the procedure but many times when I take my BP my Omron BP monitor indicates an irregular heart beat even though when I check it with the Kardia device it shows up as normal, although I can see that there are delays between some of the beats.
At my visit today I had a full ekg, for the umpteenth time, and it showed normal and my appointment went well. I am now off the blood thinners - yay!
But before I left I handed over a copy of the spreadsheet I keep of daily BP readings and occurrences where irregular heartbeat is indicated. I gave her a printout of one of my Kardia traces and heard the dreaded words, "hmm, that's interesting". She was more concerned that some of the beats were missing an initial "p-wave" so I am scheduled to be fitted with a 24-hr monitor next week for a more detailed look. (It would have been tomorrow but we are going to Edinburgh for a few days visiting family)
I thought others here may be interested in more info on the device and when I Googled it I see that the NHS are adopting it as a cost effective tool in diagnosing irregular heartbeats.
NHS rolls out KardiaMobile to accelerate detection of arrhythmia - PharmaTimes
I haven't had a single instance of AFib since the procedure but many times when I take my BP my Omron BP monitor indicates an irregular heart beat even though when I check it with the Kardia device it shows up as normal, although I can see that there are delays between some of the beats.
At my visit today I had a full ekg, for the umpteenth time, and it showed normal and my appointment went well. I am now off the blood thinners - yay!
But before I left I handed over a copy of the spreadsheet I keep of daily BP readings and occurrences where irregular heartbeat is indicated. I gave her a printout of one of my Kardia traces and heard the dreaded words, "hmm, that's interesting". She was more concerned that some of the beats were missing an initial "p-wave" so I am scheduled to be fitted with a 24-hr monitor next week for a more detailed look. (It would have been tomorrow but we are going to Edinburgh for a few days visiting family)
I thought others here may be interested in more info on the device and when I Googled it I see that the NHS are adopting it as a cost effective tool in diagnosing irregular heartbeats.
NHS rolls out KardiaMobile to accelerate detection of arrhythmia - PharmaTimes
KardiaMobile could save the NHS an estimated £2 billion by cutting the costs related to diagnosis of AF, not including the longer-term benefits and financial savings of potentially preventing severe and costly AF-related strokes, the company notes.
The device is being rolled out as part of the NHS England-funded NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), which is delivered in partnership with England’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs).
“Using cost-effective technology, the NHS will now be able to identify people with irregular heartbeats quickly and easily. This will save lives,” said Professor Gary Ford, stroke physician and lead on the project for the AHSNs.
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