Monitoring HR while in Afib

A month back I sought advise here on monitoring my afib, since its onset is recent and I am asymptomatic. Thanks for all the advise: I got and am using a Kardia. However there is another aspect of monitoring very much of concern to me since I am very active (run, bike, swim, etc). How to
best monitor my HR while actually running (say)? I control HR with Metoprolol, but would like to have an actual accurate record of how high my HR can go during exercise. Of course there are a lot of "fitness tracker" monitors available now. Which could you recommend as most appropriate for Afib induced high rates (being that these may be irregular, weak, or far higher rate than encountered in normal exercise)? I have tried a few (Polar OH1 and H1O; Scosche Rhythm24, Garmin VHR, et) with some puzzling results at the high rate end (I have pushed measurements of >210bpm!).
In principle some sensors can measure RR (directly the time between beats), which would reveal Afib. Any experience with such analysis of Afib with HR monitors?

An Apple Watch, maybe? It’d be expensive and so don’t have any experience with it, though. It actually isn’t easy to get a rhythm strip while exercising. A heart rate, yes. You can just stop and take a quick radial pulse if nothing else.

I have used Polar watches that record r to r. In my case the now ancient Polar S810 and S810i. They report an average on the watch face, but will record the beat to beat time im ms, which can be uploaded and viewed. I can do the same thing with a Polar H10 strap and this app <[www.marcoaltini.com] I export the rr file from the app through Dropbox, put that data in an HRM file the Polar training software will read and view it, generally in a 20 minute window. I've posted details on this before and can again, but don't have time now.

Wrote on interpreting the output around 2007 here <[www.afibbers.org] and <[www.afibbers.org].

I got one of the new model Polars that replaced the 810, but never had good luck getting it to charge or transfer data. The 810's were solid. The app & H10 work well, as well, though it s a bit techy to use as i run the program in Windows on my Mac. Would be a little more straight forward on a pure Windows machine.

George

I am not trying to be a smart a%%, but I just put my finger on my carotid pulse for 15 seconds - times 4. I occasionally check my pule when doing workouts when my O2 debt is peaking to see how high my heart rate gets. Been doing it for decades.

I always knew when I was in afib, but didn't work out when in afib, because I just couldn't do much without significant O2 debt. Successfully ablated 12 years ago.

I know it's not that easy for some folks to know when they are in or out of afib, but for some, it's night and day.

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wolfpack
An Apple Watch, maybe? It’d be expensive and so don’t have any experience with it, though. It actually isn’t easy to get a rhythm strip while exercising. A heart rate, yes. You can just stop and take a quick radial pulse if nothing else.

If you're already in the Apple ecosystem, the AW might do the trick. An iPhone is a pre-requisite for an AW. There are several developers that offer good heart rate exercise tracking, and the excellent built in AW Workout app/complication records and displays your heart rate and other data continuously during exercise and for 2-4 minutes afterward. I use it everyday, and I'll compare the AW reported rate with the Elliptical or whichever machine I'm on at the moment, and they are +- 1 beat. The AW EKG is a nice feature, if not a little controversial, since Apple has stated it is designed to aid in afib/arrhythmia diagnosis/detection and NOT monitoring. There are also other exercise/heart rate/rhythm features that can be utilized.

Because I don't have active afib episodes (thanks Shannon and Dr. Natale and TCAI/St. David's), I can't speak to the effectiveness of the AW while exercising during an episode. My guess is that it wouldn't report well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2019 03:38PM by AB Page.

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Ken
I am not trying to be a smart a%%, but I just put my finger on my carotid pulse for 15 seconds - times 4. I occasionally check my pule when doing workouts when my O2 debt is peaking to see how high my heart rate gets. Been doing it for decades.

I always knew when I was in afib, but didn't work out when in afib, because I just couldn't do much without significant O2 debt. Successfully ablated 12 years ago.

I know it's not that easy for some folks to know when they are in or out of afib, but for some, it's night and day.

Your approach works well for me in NSR. In afib, the variability is so great that an accurate count is difficult. I can tell if I'm in aifb with my finger on my radial pulse, or just putting my attention on my heart.

I agree, but I didn't really care how fast the pulse was while in afib. 180 without meds and much lower with them. I always self converted.

I just use a Pulse Oximeter and Pulse Check with a finger. The finger check tells alot, not all AFIB is the same. Evenly spaced and rate controlled AFIB is more conducive towards exercise than high rate and high variability AFIB. I am unfamiliar with the other methods listed above, but nothing may be real accurate short of an EKG, or exercising with a real Heart Monitor, (as like when doing a Stress-Test). Some of the very small or faint Beats are not picked up by these other methods, so the HR measured by a real EKG is usually higher than measured by other means.

Pretty new to the forum and will post here but maybe not the proper thread so apologies ahead of time. Briefly, diagnosed with afib about 18 months ago and to my knowledge have had only this one event and cardioverted. Now on eliequis and flecainide. I typically have blood pressure in the 120/60 range and pulse rate in the upper 50 low 60 range. Have been monitoring myself by simply checking my pulse rate (wrist) and my resting rate has always been around 60. Tonight I woke up about 5 am (nothing new, sleep apnea, insomnia, etc.) Decided to check my pulse rate manually and I was getting readings in the high 80's low 90. We have an Omron pressure cuff so decided to use that and got an average 141/73 with pulse rate average of 87 (three readings). Obviously high for me and wonder if the 30 point spread is a signal of some sort of event. Been to the doc. twice within the last month (different reasons) and was in my normal range at the office both times. So, is the pressure cuff a good way to monitor my afib or potential afib compared to other devices? Also, in my particular case, while the monitor icons do not show an irregular heartbeat symbol (based on their criterion) my pulse rate and BP reading are also higher than normal but perhaps still not that bad. Gonna keep an eye on things but perhaps do nothing else for the moment. Have been thinking about an apple watch, kardia etc. But, based on tonights event, my manual pulse rate measurement fell right in line with the measurement on the cuff. I recall that I have read several other posts from individuals who monitor there afib by simply measuring their pulse rate manually. As I said, relatively new here and am learning so much. The "device measurement" discussions are always so interesting for me as I move forward in trying to take care of myself. Thanks to all who share such good stuff.

We are all different as to how we feel/sense afib. Some don't know when it's happening and for me, before meds, my heart rate jumped from 50 to 180. NO QUESTION that something was going on. I actually had short episodes for 5 years before it was caught on an ECG. Before the ECG, I was told I had an irregular heart rate on occasion because of mitral valve prolapse (miss diagnosed via an ultrasound test).