Post ablation afib apple watch

Hi! I had an ablation in June, 2021, and have been afib free until the past few days. I am getting skipped beats constantly, either 2 beats and skip, or three beats and skip. I always thought this was irritating but not afib but my apple watch is saying that some of the time it is afib, sometimes inconclusive, and sometimes NSR. It all feels the same to me and does not feel like afib. (I was always able to tell pre-ablation) Heart rate is 70-80. I am going in for a ECG but am wondering about the reliability of the apple watch.

I've never used an Apple Watch but I've used a Kardia since 2015 and I doubt they're all the much different in how they interpret the things they see. A Kardia will tend to label any rhythm that's irregular as possible afib (the language is similar for both Apple and Kardia). It's just saying it's seeing abnormal beats but it's not seeing sustained afib.

I think you're most likely experiencing increased PACs and that's what the watch is reporting. A single ECG in the doc's office probably isn't going to tell you or them much. You might want to ask about wearing a monitor for a week or two to see if you can catch one these episodes.

jennifer,

From what you describe, it does not sound like afib. I concur with Carey that getting a longer monitor from the doc makes sense. I also concur that the watch likely will interpret any irregular rhythm as possible afib.

At the risk of posting something confusing, I will post some links to heart rate vs. time graphs. These are NOT ECG's. The hallmark of afib is that the beat lengths are irregularly irregular. You alluded to this when you said you could always tell prior to your ablation. What you can notice in the heart rate vs time graphs, is there are a number of rhythms that have irregularity, but there are also beats that come back to what I'll call an NSR baseline. This baseline rate or beat length is pretty consistent, just as NSR beats are (some minor differences). However there can be one or more irregular beats (PVC"s or PAC's) in between the NSR beats. It is work, but you can create these graphs yourself from a printout of magnified view of the ECG produced by your watch (never used one, but I do believe they have this capability).

Here is a link to many of these heart rate vs time graphs with many different rhythms (in one poor soul who donated them to us). [www.afibbers.org]

I posted a bit about this in this thread. If you care to try to do the graphs yourself, I can give more detailed instruction.
[www.afibbers.org]

Thank you GeorgeN. I think I know what you are saying and I really think it is not afib but I will have it checked out.

My cardiologist and my local Cleveland Clinic ER consider the iWatch ECG results as valid, but they always follow up with a full 12 lead ECG. The Apple watch does normally distinguish between Afib, bigeminy, trigeminy and other ectopic patterns. If it can't distinguish, it usually lists inconclusive. If the result is questionable to you, seeing your doctor is always the best way to go.