My Polar Ft6 Heart Rate Monitor Came Today

[lieze]

I can see that this can really be a tool to help me get some exercise.

I didn't set my setting to record an exercise session-need to do that next but....

just got up to do some dishes-the highest my heart rate got standing there was 102.

It stayed surprisingly low with standing with a rate of 87 and then slowly was rising as I did dishes to 102 and then quickly went down into the 70's as I went into a recumbent position here.

I'd say I was up for 5-10 minutes only and I probably could have done more but I'm just very curious to see this work.

I was freaking out at first because the chest strap is different than my husband's and I couldn't get it to work until I moistened two areas. I was just sure it was fried or so old batteries had worn out or something.

Loving it so far and it's not too uncomfortable.

[handmadebyemy]

I have the Polar F6 & I love it too. I sat down with the manual when I first bought it to put in all my stats and it customzies it for me. I have it set to beep if I go over 176 bpm or under 76 bpm (just because thats the lowest I've ever seen my heart rate. The highest I've seen is in the 190s. My average is 107.

[Simmy]

I've had my Polar (I think it's the F3) for two years now and it was instrumental in my diagnosis and in identifying triggers and countermeasures.

I have mine set to beep at over 120bpm and under 40bpm. My highest observed while wearing it was 186, and the lowest was 37.

After many hundreds of hours of use I finally had to change the watch battery. Unfortunately, the chest strap battery is not replaceable so I had to buy another one. I later realized that the chest strap that came with my elliptical trainer uses the same frequency and its battery is replaceable.

[lieze]

Cool Simmy-

Yeah I was worried because this chest strap is one solid piece of plastic does not look like batteries are replaceable in this and when I set the watch the date was on 07 so I didn't know how long this had been sitting on a shelf somewhere.

Handmadebyme-I think we do have the same one.

When I got on I wanted something smaller than my husbands.

I think his is a more expensive model but I didn't have to want to walk around with a huge man's watch all the time. I am a petite female. Also the chest strap was difficult as I mentioned earlier I see that I could have just ordered a smaller one? but oh well it was on sale.

I can see my heart rates in the morning are much higher.

As I got dressed (after bath) and put clothes on and brushed teeth I was up to 120.

This is usually when I would start feeling the stress if getting ready for work and it would increase or probably I would start to feel the fatigue and pressure as I would get everyone in the car and start to drive. Eeks I can see why that was hard for me.

The other thing I noticed last night was if I eat standing up my heart rate goes crazy. Zooms up to 118 and gets erratic. Where as if I'm sitting down I didn't see any change.

I know I'm getting very technical and OCD about this. I'll try not to bore everyone with too many details, but maybe I can further adapt my lifestyle to not wear myself out so much. (exactly as Simmy said)

[potsgirl]

Good for you! I hope it helps. Sounds like something I should look into....Where did you get yours?

Cheers,

Jana

[lieze]

Just type in polar watch.

I clicked on the first option.

It was on sale for $88 with a 2 day free shipping.

I just happened to get called in one day last week and used that as an excuse to husband that I wanted to work so I could buy the watch. He just said okay.

I'll look it up too just to verify that you get the right place.

My interest is to help calm myself-my gut feeling is my heart rate isn't as high as what I think it is and as I see that I'll calm down and start to worry less about it.

Also to be able to safely and cautiously increase activity to allow myself to gain strength and endurance and know when to just sit down and regroup as I did after brushing my teeth. Wow I didn't realize how strenuous that was! It may be the arm movement that sets us off. Ah ha! peeps we need electronic tooth brushes!

And Jana here's the link http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/polar-...CFYp95QodjXsjxA

[nmorgen]

The arm movement really sets my tachy off. I think my body says "Oh brother, heart you need to pick up the pace because she is trying to use her arms and you know it's hard enough to get oxygen up here to us in the brain", lol.

I'm glad your getting good use out of your hrm. I started using one before I was put on medication and it gave me anxiety, but I can also see that the medication has really worked to calm things down. Really good tool to use to change your habits. It really is the best way to figure out what triggers your symptoms.

[lieze]

Well the other thing is maybe I can use it as a guide.

Right now with activity I'm getting up to 120 where as last night it was 102.

I have some outings I would love to get done but........is it wise to try to take it up a notch now? When just getting up to do a few dishes gets me up to 120?

I think I should wait until I can do it with less demand on my heart.

I don't know why my body is doing this but maybe I can learn to work with it.

[lieze]

Remember the lady on Seinfeld that didn't move her arms when she walked?

She must have been onto something!

[Simmy]

Lieze, it's not at all obsessive to learn your new body, it's wise. As far as taking it up a notch, now you have the ability to numerically quantify your limits, but remember that it is both heart rate AND duration that cause the nasties, so once you learn them you can begin to stretch your limits without guessing and document your progress.

Even with all my meds, washing dishes gets me to 130bpm quickly. Any time your arms are outstretched or above your head, especially while standing, it takes that much more effort for your heart to get blood out there. You'll also find many other activities that cause tachy, one of which being, and I apologize in advance to those of you who might be offended by my upcoming statement, don't be surprised when you hit 140bpm from the act of wiping after taking a dump

[lieze]

Okay well I just had a pre syncope epsiode.

I was talking on the phone and our kitten was attacking my daughter so lots of quick arm movement to try to subdue kitten and it set me off (and stress as I tried to respond to daughter's screams and crying out)

Heart rate went down not up and was around 80 or 81. But the reason why it went down was I went from a stooped over position to sitting 113? and then lying on the bed so the heart rate decreased with the position change.

I was lightheaded thinking beat faster beat faster but it didn't.

I can't tell you how long the episode lasted but it's over now.

Yuck I hate it when that happens.

Will watch the arm movement in the future that is definitely a trigger.

I think that set of my anxiety cause now I'm getting the feelings that make me jerk to make it go away.

[nmorgen]

120 washing dishes doesn't sound that bad to me. Mine is about that sometimes a little higher cooking dinner and washing dishes with medication. My hrm gave me anxiety before I was on medication b/c the alarm was constantly going off ie. walking to the bathroom 165. I have noticed that if I keep on doing things my heartrate will eventually go down and so will my blood pressure. That is why now I really try to push myself.

I think that I have had this most of my life. I used to have a racing heart and fainting when I was younger. My internist told me to drink a lot of fluid and increase my salt intake. It helped, but as I got older my blood pressure got higher and the spikes I get from the hyper POTS just got too high. I think that was when a lot of the other symptoms showed up like the tremors/muscle spasms, which really bother me. I've accepted that I have this "thing", but I'm not going to let it run my life anymore. When we went to Disneyland Paris I still rode the roller coasters and had a great time. I do have to say that The Tower of terror was horrible and I wouldn't recommend anyone ride that thing.

[potsgirl]

Thanks, Lieze!