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ER Monitor scared me!


potsiebarbie

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So I was at the ER (again!). I got a diagnosis of gitelman last week from nephrologist. I have my doubts, but I'm known for soaking in denial. Anyway, the ECG monitor I was hooked up to kept going off and I'd look at it and these are what I would see...

Cannot read ECG

Pacer nt pacing

Pause

Pair pvcs

Vtach

...During some I had noticeable symptoms- some not so much. The nurse and doc kept telling me it's no biggie, but I'm not convinced. Thoughts? Reassurance? Anything?

 

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From some one who works in the ER, if I saw any of those on the monitor I would not be concerned about any except the vtach, but that can also be artifact from moving.  Moving around causes lots of funky stuff and those monitors are not stellar. Hard to say without being there but  as an ER nurse, I would have reassured my patient as well and not been concerned, but it really is hard to say for sure without seeing the monitor! 

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Transcutaneous pacing involves electrically stimulating your heart to beat faster through small shocks and electrodes.... I'm quite sure you'd know if you had that! And, it's unlikely you'd get to leave without an implanted pacemaker unless you had some other cure for the need for a pacemaker.

 

My guess is what is called artifact, lines on the EKG from movement or other external factors, that caused a line that looked like a paced beat to the monitor. It can be confused.

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I had a gastric endoscopy once.  While waiting my turn to be scoped I had to sit on a gurney with an alligator clip HR monitor on my finger.  Every 5 minutes or so it would start beeping because it couldn't find a pulse.  This was caused by my long skinny fingers.  They get cold, veins constrict, pulse gets fainter.  The nurse on duty showed me how to turn off the warning, after it was clear what was going on.

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