It appears that I have developed AFIB

[dreamshark]

I've had a very irregular heartbeat for many years now, but up until now it was just due to a multitude of PVCs and PACs, which are relatively harmless. About 2 weeks ago my Apple Watch Series 3 (which I have had for 9 months) suddenly started giving me Atrial Fibrillation Alerts. First it was just one every two or three days, but it quickly increased to 1-5 alerts per day. No symptoms, or symptoms too subtle to be sure of. My heart is not racing, I am not feeling faint or notably out of breath. Am I feeling a little light-headed? Maybe, or maybe that's just the adrenaline surge every time my watch sends me those scary alerts. 

Naturally this started while I was out of town and then it was a holiday weekend so I couldn't get hold of my Cardio caregiver. Called yesterday and got an appointment today for an EKG and a little monitor that I need to wear for two weeks. Nobody seemed to think this was an emergency since I don't have symptoms, but it's scaring me. 

Anyway, I went in today and got the little monitor taped to my chest. The EKG results were in my online account when I got home. 

"Atrial fibrillation with premature ventricular or aberrantly conducted complexes

... When compared with ECG of 14-OCT-2016 13:45, Atrial fibrillation is new"

The premature ventricular complexes are the PVCs I already knew about, but as the report says, the Atrial Fibrillation is new. 
Haven't heard back from cardiologist, but I imagine she'll just say to wait until the results of the monitor are in. That can take up to 4 weeks. 

Also, my left hip, which has been gradually recovering from some unknown trauma for the last 6 months, is hurting more again. 

All in all, I am feeling rather fragile. 
 

 

Comments

[dreamshark]

If you are talking about the Apple watch, that is not true. It's probably fair to say that consumer health tracking devices are controversial, but there is nothing approaching consensus among cardiologists or other relevant experts. You can find articles claiming that devices like this "do more harm than good" (but with remarkably little data to back up that claim) and other articles claiming that they are major lifesavers (also probably an exaggeration).

My cardio team seems perfectly happy to consider data from electronic devices, but of course they want to confirm any such information with more accurate testing, which is exactly what Apple suggests. I just talked to a cardio nurse on the phone, and she spontaneously mentioned that they are identifying many more cases of AFIB these days because of early warnings from devices like Fitbits and Apple Watches. She did NOT say, "Oh yeah, we are overwhelmed with false alarms because of those devices!"

Probably the most ridiculous argument I found in the "more harm than good" camp was the declaration that because most Apple Watch users are young adults they are not highly likely to have AFIB, so it is pointless for Apple to have developed a technology to check for it. As an older adult, I do not appreciate this type of glib generalization.