Apple watch ecg

I don't post on here very often but read a lot. I have had AFIB for several years. It's almost always short amounts of time, a few hours. I know that you can have an irregular heart beat and it not be afib. I think that is what is happening to me right now. I have always had lots of skipped beats, etc but this is a "regular" irregular heart beat. Beat beat skip beat beat, beat-beat-beat. My heart rate is in the 70s. I can almost always tell immediately if I am in afib but this is different.It's been going on for about 5 days. My Apple watch says it is normal sinus rhythm. My mother died of hemorrhagic stroke from blood thinner for afib and although I know that eliquis is safer I have avoided it, but I don't want to be stupid. I have read that apple watch tends to over identify afib, more false positives so I feel like these beats are not afib. Any advice? I am on sotalol, 40 mg, twice a day. Thanks!

What you describe isn't AF or flutter. AF is by definition irregularly irregular, so the regularity of your rhythm rules it out. And flutter is by definition very regular, so the irregularity rules that out. What you're probably feeling is PACs occuring in a bigeminal and/or trigeminal pattern. The feeling of skipped beats are the PACs. There was a time I would spend weeks at a time in a bigeminal pattern like that, so I know how annoying it is.

Bigeminy goes like this:

beat, PAC, beat, PAC, beat, PAC

Trigeminy goes like this:

beat, PAC, PAC, beat, PAC, PAC, beat

The two patterns can also mingle and vary from one to the other.

I tried sotalol and several other things and the only drug hat would stop them for me was Tikosyn, which is a pretty heavy hitter drug that has to be started in the hospital. Ultimately, an ablation put an end to them. But there are still other drugs that might work for you. Might be time for a conversation about that with your EP.

Frankly, you're 70 years old, you're taking sotalol presumably to control your AF, and you're experiencing significant ectopy. I would be more afraid of embolic stroke than Eliquis if I were you. You could always ask your EP for a half dose if it really freaks you out.

Thank you so much. If I am not in afib or flutter, am I at risk for stroke? I am trying to download my ecg but have not figured out how to, yet. I am willing to go on eliquis if my afib gets worse, and at that point would go for an ablation. My afib is usually every two or three months for a few hours but this has been going on for about 5 days. And yes I started on sotalol after becoming dehydrated due to ehrlicihosis from a tick bite and dehydration, etc when my afib got worse for a few days.

Can anyone tell me how to download an ECG reading?

I can give you one bit of advice. NEVER ever call up Apple tech support regarding your IWatch and mention you were diagnosed with Afib. You will be directed to their legal department in tech support and they will read the same script (I called twice) stating the iWatch is not intended to be worn by patients diagnosed with afib plus some legal mumble jumbo and legally they must cease advise about the afib support and end the call. It’s kind of stupid because they do advertise their iWatch can diagnose afib.

The reason I called tech was because I couldn’t get the afib alert to pop up stating that for the past amount of minutes I was in afib but I was able to get the low heartbeat alert.

I get false positive afib readings on the watch but it’s so quick to take a reading compared to Kardia in launching the app and such. I tend to use my iWatch for peace of mind and the Kardia for accuracy. I get too false potential afib warnings as well with Kardia too but I prefer the 6 lead strips for pvc.

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jennifer92151
Can anyone tell me how to download an ECG reading?

Download the health app. It’s a red icon. After a reading tap the strip and in the middle of your iPhone screen you will see an “export to your doctor “. Click it and you will see the strip and in the top right an icon if a square with an arrow up. Click it and you can save, text, email etc.

I did that and now it's on my lap top but I don't know how to get it on here.

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jennifer92151
I did that and now it's on my lap top but I don't know how to get it on here.

If it is an image, not a PDF, you can upload https://imgbb.com/]here[/url], then paste the link.

If you have trouble, PM me your email and I'll give you mine. You can email me the PDF & I'll post for you.

For Jennifer:



Looks to me like what Carey said - NSR with PAC runs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2021 07:28PM by GeorgeN.

Thank you so much for posting. Can this cause clots, or harm the heart? It's been going pretty consistently like this for the past few days, although right now it is almost PAC free.

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jennifer92151
Thank you so much for posting. Can this cause clots, or harm the heart? It's been going pretty consistently like this for the past few days, although right now it is almost PAC free.

Thanks, George, for helping Jen get it posted.

Jennifer, you ask a hard question.The short answer is yes, it can cause clots. I have to assume you have the underlying pathology of AF or you wouldn't be taking sotalol and having these ectopics despite it. My guess is if you stopped the sotalol you'd be in AF within days. So that means you have the stroke risk that AF presents whether you're actively in AF or not. You're 70 so that's at least one CHADS point. What is your full score? (You can subtract the point for being female)