What home equipment do people like, eg heart moniters, nightime O2 meters

[Weary]

I notice people have mentioned doing their own EKG recordings and overnight pulse ox  at home. I would be interested to know what peoples fave equipment is.

Ive considered a fitbit, but that would just be heart rate and i woukdnt even get heart rate variability data. Ive considerd a polar hr moniter, but a constricting band around my chest i would find unwearable. For pulse ox, i think i tried one brand that stored data but was too tight on finger to wear more than 30 seconds. 

So suggestions welcome 

would be great if we had a general sharing equipment ideas registry. Lets see- id vote for my bp  device. So far the only bp device i can tolerate is the Panasonic portable (upper arm). It works differently by starting with  low inflation and gradually increasing the pressure. The other machines including the most popular brand. start from other direction and my arm finds them too painful, even if i use them with a small cuff attachment. 

[StayAtHomeMom]

I have a basic blood pressure machine, and I wear the Garmin HR. (Kind of like the fitbit but water proof) At my office I have access to a pulse oximeter and a handheld EKG (it is very cool) but I generally don't use that. 

I only check my blood pressure if my body is freaking out badly. With my medications it is pretty stable so I don't worry that much about it. My garmin takes my HR about every 2 minutes on its own and when I feel crappy I can check it in real time and it gives me a ballpark to tell me if I am overdoing it or not. My Garmin has helped a ton with anxiety. And with it being waterproof I can shower and swim with it. It is not perfect (especially in the water) but it is always with 5 bpm of a pulse oximeter. So close enough for me.

For blood pressure machines you should use the cuff that fits by the measurements on the cuff. Not all cuffs are the same. And if it doesn't fit right it can skew your results. You can try to learn how to manually read blood pressure as well. I have noticed a lot of manual cuffs don't have the metal bar (usually pinches me). Also depending on the machine and the person a wrist cuff can be accurate and can hurt less. 

[Weary]

I'm more or less happy with my panasonic bp machine- was sharing in case others were dissatisfied with theirs and looking. Also am fine with my daytime pulse ox, spot check, meter which is very accurate and has lasted years. (name isn't on the unit; i can look it up but likely most people have found an equivelent easily).

Thanks on garmin suggestion for heart rhythm recording. will look it up. if its like a fitbit though, then that's not what i'm looking for. I want to get continuous reading of wave form, i guess it would be like at least a one lead EKG. And for pulse ox, one I can wear for at least a couple of hours during th enight nd, store the data, and easily inspect the next day.

[StayAtHomeMom]

1 hour ago, Weary said:

I'm more or less happy with my panasonic bp machine- was sharing in case others were dissatisfied with theirs and looking. Also am fine with my daytime pulse ox, spot check, meter which is very accurate and has lasted years. (name isn't on the unit; i can look it up but likely most people have found an equivelent easily).

Thanks on garmin suggestion for heart rhythm recording. will look it up. if its like a fitbit though, then that's not what i'm looking for. I want to get continuous reading of wave form, i guess it would be like at least a one lead EKG. And for pulse ox, one I can wear for at least a couple of hours during th enight nd, store the data, and easily inspect the next day.

It automatically checks HR every 2 minutes. It misses short bursts of tachycardia. I am looking for something that continuously checks as well but this has been the best so far. In theory you could broadcast it and it may do continous but I am not sure. It does show you real time numbers though. 

[bombsh3ll]

I wear a polar watch with a wahoo chest strap. You mentioned not liking a chest strap but really it feels no different from a bra (if you are female!). I don't often wear a bra as I am small chested so just have the strap around my chest. 

I have had two previous polars but the polar straps always stopped working after a couple of months so I switched to a garmin vivo smart which takes your heart rate at the wrist. This looked slicker than the chunky polar watch but it wasn't very accurate when checked against BP machine/pulse ox. This seems to be a common complaint with wrist based monitors, and probably even more so in people with dysautonomia whose peripheral pulses can be quite weak. 

I was really pleased to find a different brand of strap compatible with the polar watch. My current strap has a small watch like battery that can be easily changed. I don't swim so I don't know about its suitability in water. 

I am also interested in the home ECG devices, cost, accuracy, ease of use etc and would like to hear people's experiences.

B x

[Peter Charlton]

5 hours ago, bombsh3ll said:

I am also interested in the home ECG devices, cost, accuracy, ease of use etc and would like to hear people's experiences.

B x

The NHS couldn't find anything wrong with me in two years, as my symptoms never co-coincided with their Holter monitor tests, so I bought a Prince 180B ECG, I see they are £92 now on Amazon, its written interpretation is rubbish, but the actual graph is the same as I see in the ambulance. Its a bit convoluted to print, but I can walk you through it. Best thing I ever ought as the NHS couldnt detect my VT in over two years. I attach one of my ECGs from it.

The Oximeter I use is a Contec CMS50F £80, even though I have fat fingers, I can wear it all night, this also compares well to one the NHS gave me to wear for a couple of days, I also attach a chart of mine from this.

 

[StayAtHomeMom]

5 hours ago, bombsh3ll said:

I wear a polar watch with a wahoo chest strap. You mentioned not liking a chest strap but really it feels no different from a bra (if you are female!). I don't often wear a bra as I am small chested so just have the strap around my chest. 

I have had two previous polars but the polar straps always stopped working after a couple of months so I switched to a garmin vivo smart which takes your heart rate at the wrist. This looked slicker than the chunky polar watch but it wasn't very accurate when checked against BP machine/pulse ox. This seems to be a common complaint with wrist based monitors, and probably even more so in people with dysautonomia whose peripheral pulses can be quite weak. 

I was really pleased to find a different brand of strap compatible with the polar watch. My current strap has a small watch like battery that can be easily changed. I don't swim so I don't know about its suitability in water. 

I am also interested in the home ECG devices, cost, accuracy, ease of use etc and would like to hear people's experiences.

B x

Did you wear the Garmin above your wristbone?

[bombsh3ll]

12 hours ago, Peter Charlton said:

The NHS couldn't find anything wrong with me in two years, as my symptoms never co-coincided with their Holter monitor tests, so I bought a Prince 180B ECG, I see they are £92 now on Amazon

Thanks I just looked up this device and might get one for when I am having a lot of irregular beats. It looks as if there are multiple ways to use it, which do you use? Do you ever use the leads with pads? Do you hook it up to a computer screen to see the actual ECG?

 

12 hours ago, StayAtHomeMom said:

Did you wear the Garmin above your wristbone?

Yes, I just wore it like a normal watch. Looking at my watch just now it is above (proximal ie elbow side, not hand side) my wristbone (ulnar prominence on pinkie side). Sorry it is hard to describe without a picture! Is that not where you wear it? I don't think I could wear a watch, even a slim one, in front of (below) this. It did always get a reading on my pulse but it was usually quite a bit out when compared to medical equipment and slow to reflect changes eg if I went up stairs. I'd feel my heart hammering away and it would still be saying 68.

I do have poor circulation to my hands, feet (& unfortunately head!) though so it might work better on someone with better blood flow. 

Pretty much all of the reviews I read on this type of product were by healthy people using them for sport, but the general consensus even in that population whose hearts are presumably un-grinchlike and hands toasty, is that the strap ones are better, but they are more cumbersome and high maintenance so if you've got a good wrist based one that's great, it was much slimmer and nicer to wear. 

PS  ironically for someone hardly off the couch I think it was actually a garmin vivo "sport" rather than "smart" if that makes much difference.

B x

 

[StayAtHomeMom]

48 minutes ago, bombsh3ll said:

Thanks I just looked up this device and might get one for when I am having a lot of irregular beats. It looks as if there are multiple ways to use it, which do you use? Do you ever use the leads with pads? Do you hook it up to a computer screen to see the actual ECG?

 

Yes, I just wore it like a normal watch. Looking at my watch just now it is above (proximal ie elbow side, not hand side) my wristbone (ulnar prominence on pinkie side). Sorry it is hard to describe without a picture! Is that not where you wear it? I don't think I could wear a watch, even a slim one, in front of (below) this. It did always get a reading on my pulse but it was usually quite a bit out when compared to medical equipment and slow to reflect changes eg if I went up stairs. I'd feel my heart hammering away and it would still be saying 68.

I do have poor circulation to my hands, feet (& unfortunately head!) though so it might work better on someone with better blood flow. 

Pretty much all of the reviews I read on this type of product were by healthy people using them for sport, but the general consensus even in that population whose hearts are presumably un-grinchlike and hands toasty, is that the strap ones are better, but they are more cumbersome and high maintenance so if you've got a good wrist based one that's great, it was much slimmer and nicer to wear. 

PS  ironically for someone hardly off the couch I think it was actually a garmin vivo "sport" rather than "smart" if that makes much difference.

B x

 

I don't know if the type would make a difference. It takes about 60 seconds to start reading once you swipe to that screen. There is a heart in the corner that flashes when it stops flashing I count to five and that is the number. It is not perfect but it is convenient. No way could I personally wear the chest strap ones. There are days my breathing is so bad that I feel like anything on my chest or neck makes it impossible to breathe properly. 

[Peter Charlton]

7 hours ago, bombsh3ll said:

Thanks I just looked up this device and might get one for when I am having a lot of irregular beats. It looks as if there are multiple ways to use it, which do you use? Do you ever use the leads with pads? Do you hook it up to a computer screen to see the actual ECG?

 

 

B x

 

I did buy the leads, but have never used them as just putting my dampened fingers on one end, and the single end to my chest tells me all I need to know.

You can see the actual ecg on the devices own screen, it can store a lot, if I want to, I connect it to my computer from where I can store it and print it.