Kardia Mobile

[KiminOrlando]

Has anyone tried the Kardia Mobile gadget they advertise on TV?

[vepa]

I think it's useful if you have abnormal heart rhythms or reason to think you're at risk for scary arrhythmias, like long qt syndrome. But for just basic POTS and tachycardia or bradycardia, a pulse ox is cheaper and just as useful. 

[HangingByAThread]

I have it and love it!  I got my first one (an earlier version) about 5 or so years ago when my electrophysiologist prescribed it for me (as a way to save money on costly 30-day event monitoring because I had to be monitored so many times).  At that time it wasn’t advertised and was only available by prescription.  Recently it broke (I dropped it a million times) so I just bought the new version.  It is great because it records and saves EKGs that can be read by my doctor when I go to see him (they can be emailed to anyone as well as printed out).  (Often I don't have symptoms in front of doctors and all my EKGs in a doctor's office are always normal.)  Besides the Dystautonomia/Orthostatic Intolerance/Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia/POTS symptoms, I had to have an ablation in the past for a totally unrelated electrical problem (that has since been 100% cured) and Kardia was instrumental in confirming that, yes, I no longer have this issue.  The issue that I had years ago was actually very hard to diagnose and nobody took me seriously for quite some time (everyone kept saying I was nervous and the event monitors didn't show anything because the issue would only happen once a month or so).  At that time I went from doctor to doctor and once I was even rushed to the hospital in an ambulance after nearly collapsing at work.  Looking back, if I would have had the Kardia back in 2001, I would have been taken seriously and it would have saved me a lot of time, money and worry.

 

There have been multiple times where I’ve had to call EMS because I had a major episode of immobilizing tachycardia (like on public transportation) and when they first arrive they usually tell me to “calm down” and ask if I have “anxiety” (because I do look like a nut and can’t stop shaking or chattering my teeth by the time they get there) but then I whip out my iphone and show them the EKG recordings and they all take me seriously because I have accurate readings of what’s going on.  If they take me to the hospital, I whip out my phone and show them as well.  I took my readings to Cleveland and Vanderbilt a couple of years ago as well and that helped not only with the diagnosis but with fine-tuning the medications that were recommended for me. 

 

I took a recording recently because I just didn’t feel right and couldn’t put it into words…………I was extremely tired and felt like my heart was suddenly skipping beats while sitting down so rather than waiting until I see my doctor next month, I sent the recording to one of the Kardia techs who read it and sent back a report saying “Sinus Bradycardia, PVC(s), Non-Conducted PAC(s), PAC(s)” so now I have something concrete I can show my doctor about how my issues are progressing and changing over the years.  Also, if I’m not mistaken, it is supposed to flag A-fib and that is important to me because my grandparents had it and both of my parents so I do fear that I may one day develop this as well and this gives me peace of mind so I don’t have to keep running to the doctor and fearing I’m going to die. I really would recommend it and I would assume that you could put in for reimbursement for it through a health savings account, if you have one.

 

[cmreber]

I hadn't even heard of it, but it sounds like a pretty cool device.  It is sometimes SO hard to differentiate between "normal" POTS symptoms and really having a medical emergency, and I've always been afraid that I'll ignore an actual problem because I think it's "just me" lol!  Having something like that would be nice for judging whether or not it's something new!

[KiminOrlando]

Yeah, my cardio mentioned that I should get one because he was trying to track down what my BP cuff was calling an arrhythmia, but we didn't know what the parameters were for their equipment to label something an arrhythmia. I was having some symptoms, but never followed through with buying anything. I don't even know if he was recommending this particular brand. I just saw it on tv and remembered I never did anything about it. I didn't know if it could tell physicians anything diagnostically relevant or if it would be more stuff that would need further study. They never seem to catch this stuff when I'm hooked up to their machines.

@HangingByAThread it seems like your doctor was able to use it to help with a diagnosis, so maybe I should follow up with it. Thanks for the info.