Does your Smart watch reassure, or frighten you?

[little_blue_jay]

A friend got me a Smart watch for Christmas...  he thinks it should reassure me that my heart's not going as fast as I think..   I wore it a few hours but took it off as I was getting high BP readings (135/80ish,  high for me) 

I'm not sure if it has an alarm for high or low HRs and until I figure that out I think I'm too anxious to wear it.   

I'm in a bad flare right now as well so don't really want the extra anxiety..

Curious about others' experiences,  do your Smart watches reassure you, or frighten you worse?

[MomtoGiuliana]

Mine has on occasion frightened me (when in a flare).  I don't know that a smart watch is considered medical grade.  I wouldn't rely on it to be entirely accurate.  I would talk to your dr about whether it's useful for you to use it for the purpose of tracking hr and bp for POTS.

[Jyoti]

I know what you mean, @little_blue_jay.  I have a love/hate relationship with my smartwatch.  As long as I can heed its warnings, it is good.  It can get me down and resting if my numbers are high and that is a good thing.  I hate to see those high numbers, but I like being able to use them to guide my actions.  On the other hand, when I am in the middle of something I can't control (unable to stop and lie down, e.g.) I have learned to ignore the watch till I am horizontal.  I know--it is going to show me stuff that I don't want to see, can't act upon and there is absolutely no reason to know what is going on when I am stuck in traffic, tending to a kid in distress, etc.  It just freaks me out and that doesn't help at all.  

I take @MomtoGiuliana's point as well.  I have found that my watch (I now have a cheap Garmin with a Body Battery feature, but I used to have an Apple Watch) is an approximator.  It tells me if things are trending up or down, it tells me when things are waaaay out of whack.  But I try not to give too much weight to the specific numbers.  I know my 'range' and what matters is noting when I am straying beyond it.  

And once in a while, when I am in a flare or a crash, I take it off and leave it off for a day or so.  I guess we all have to figure out how much it helps vs how much anxiety it can cause.

[MikeO]

4 hours ago, MomtoGiuliana said:

Mine has on occasion frightened me (when in a flare).  I don't know that a smart watch is considered medical grade.  I wouldn't rely on it to be entirely accurate.  I would talk to your dr about whether it's useful for you to use it for the purpose of tracking hr and bp for POTS.

Good advise....

[Sarah Tee]

@little_blue_jay, this blog, written by a cardiologist, has several articles about smart watches that measure blood pressure.

https://theskepticalcardiologist.com/category/medicalfitness-devices/

When I read about this topic some years ago, I believe it was the case that they were not as reliable as your basic home blood pressure cuff. This may have changed.

Can you switch off the blood pressure function, or check it against a cuff monitor?

[Ginger_]

I only check my HR if I’m feeling symptoms or just did an exercise and am comparing results to what I used to have.  I don’t find that it causes anxiety for me.  Sometimes I will go by number if I’m feeling better but my number is still high I’ll hold off going to the next exercise but otherwise I go by symptoms and not numbers 99% of the time 

[runningshoe]

Mine told me I was in afib, I wasn't. That was not helpful! I love when it tells me my energy score is low and I need to "move it." Screw you I say to it! Lol