Arrhythmia

[UrBaN963]

How frequently do you get this arrhythmia and how long does it last, if I may ask?

It doesn’t get tested per se. It got picked up when I got my appendectomy in 2015 in the US. It was a training hospital so about 8 different docs hooked me up to the ODB port and did some diagnostic scanning. No error codes.

Since then the docs have a listen, check my BPM etc. but 3 different docs since have all agreed there’s nothing to worry about, it’s not an issue just a slight abnormality they can hear.

As for me, I wouldn’t t have known if the doc never said anything, I don’t have any symptoms or side effects or anything other than what they can hear in the stethoscope.

 

[cguy]

So you will come away with an exaggerated sense of the probability that you need cardiological intervention, a Holter monitor, etc. given what your watch has said.

A Holter monitor is a non-invasive diagnostic device that your wear for 48 hours or a month (different versions) you would have to be a complete idiot to not go for this simple check if you have a non-permanent arrhythmia (permanent ones can be detected by an ekg at any time).

 

[cguy]

It doesn’t get tested per se. It got picked up when I got my appendectomy in 2015 in the US. It was a training hospital so about 8 different docs hooked me up to the ODB port and did some diagnostic scanning. No error codes.

Since then the docs have a listen, check my BPM etc. but 3 different docs since have all agreed there’s nothing to worry about, it’s not an issue just a slight abnormality they can hear.

As for me, I wouldn’t t have known if the doc never said anything, I don’t have any symptoms or side effects or anything other than what they can hear in the stethoscope.

If they’ve captured it (which they must have if they’re the ones who found it), you should be good.

Many people have arrhythmias that only show up once a day, week, month or even year, and some doctors have a tendency to hook up an ekg, and say “you’re fine”, but if they haven’t actually instrumented it when it’s happening, they don’t know what type it is, and hence how dangerous it is.

 

[Tomtomtom]

A Holter monitor is a non-invasive diagnostic device that your wear for 48 hours or a month (different versions) you would have to be a complete idiot to not go for this simple check if you have a non-permanent arrhythmia (permanent ones can be detected by an ekg at any time).

I think you know logically what I'm talking about when I mention the mammogram thing and the risk associated with false positives. It's the non-rational part that's interfering. Unless you already have all the data.

 

[cguy]

I think you know logically what I'm talking about when I mention the mammogram thing and the risk associated with false positives. It's the non-rational part that's interfering. Unless you already have all the data.

Yes, your mammogram point is valid, but this isn’t the same thing. A Holter monitor has an extremely low false positive rate.

 

[schuits]

Doc did the standard tests, my ticker is ticking 100% fine, R4500 later, but one less thing to worry about.
He suggested some blood tests, nothing to do with the heart, just standard tests that are advisable at my age.
Stop vaping, drink less and exercise more....

 

[RiaX]

Doc did the standard tests, my ticker is ticking 100% fine, R4500 later, but one less thing to worry about.
He suggested some blood tests, nothing to do with the heart, just standard tests that are advisable at my age.
Stop vaping, drink less and exercise more....

Drink less is for alcoholics. If you having a whiskey now and then, dont change it

 

[Mirai]

In situations like this it's not a good idea to ask for online advice. See a medical professional. Don't listen to further advice on forums such as these. Even if this place was full of MDs it would be very difficult or even illegal for them to offer advice or such would come with caveats which would make it for educational purposes only.

 

[schuits]

Drink less is for alcoholics. If you having a whiskey now and then, dont change it

ahem, I am an alcoholic

 

[Mirai]

ahem, I am an alcoholic

You mean the customised advice your actual attending health care provider gave you is more accurate than random posts on MyBB?

 

[Jings]

Diagnosed with arrhythmia since 21 years old but only an issue now in my 50's due to low ferritin stores and severe stress. But using a beta blocker called Bilocor to control pulse rate so condition is under control.

 

[Mirai]

Diagnosed with arrhythmia since 21 years old but only an issue now in my 50's due to low ferritin stores and severe stress. But using a beta blocker called Bilocor to control pulse rate so condition is under control.

Just a point, the term arrhythmia is a very general term for an irregular heat beat, sometimes people also use it for a slow or fast heart beat too. Normal especially young, healthy people often have an arrhythmia called sinus arrhythmia, so it's a very general term which can mean one has a normal condition indicating a healthy cardiovascular system or one could have a pathological condition which may or may not require treatment, based on various factors and most recent evidence based guidelines. That can only be figured out by a consulting with a medical professional.

 

[Jings]

Just a point, the term arrhythmia is a very general term for an irregular heat beat, sometimes people also use it for a slow or fast heart beat too. Normal especially young, healthy people often have an arrhythmia called sinus arrhythmia, so it's a very general term which can mean one has a normal condition indicating a healthy cardiovascular system or one could have a pathological condition which may or may not require treatment, based on various factors and most recent evidence based guidelines. That can only be figured out by a consulting with a medical professional.

Usually arrhythmias, over time, cause tachycardia. That's what happened in my case. You can look it up.

 

[Mirai]

Usually arrhythmias, over time, cause tachycardia. That's what happened in my case. You can look it up.

No. Only some do and I'm not disputing your particular situation. Tachycardia is just a heart rate over 100 beats per minute. Bradycardia is a heart rate less than 60 beats per minute.

In your case you have a specific condition and you're managing that with your doctor which is the correct thing to do, but the actual term, arrhythmia is a general term which may imply a normal or abnormal heart condition (sometimes the cause is also not even heart related) which may or may not require treatment. There are many kinds of arrhythmias. Some are benign (harmless) and some are malignant (can cause harm); and some require urgent intervention while others don't. Some only require treatment if they are symptomatic (cause symptoms such as fainting spells, dizziness spells, shortness of breath, chest pain, exercise intolerance) and others always require treatment. Some can be cured definitively by burning an abnormal additional connection away in the heart while others need a pacemaker (a device which paces your heart, provides the beat to cause your heart chambers to contract) or an implantable defibrillator (a device which delivers internal electrical shocks to hearts of people who have an arrhythmia called a ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation). Some require surgery to treat the underlying condition. Some require medicine to treat them or the underlying cause. Some require avoidance of certain medicines and states. Some require observation only. Some require no treatment at all and reassurance.

All of this requires a professional assessment which may involve (some or all of), a history (doc questions you) and physical (doc examines you), a resting 12 lead ECG (these 3 provide the bulk of the information in most cases), an echocardiogram, blood tests, 24 or 48 hour ambulatory ECG (Holter), treadmill tests, tilt table tests, coronary angiograms or CT/MRI, and even electrophysiological studies aka EPS, (these can sometimes cure the problem during diagnosis).

If you want to be more specific, you can use the term tachyarrhythmia, for a fast abnormal heart rate and rhythm. But even that is general.

 

[Jings]

No. Only some do and I'm not disputing your particular situation. Tachycardia is just a heart rate over 100 beats per minute. Bradycardia is a heart rate less than 60 beats per minute.

In your case you have a specific condition and you're managing that with your doctor which is the correct thing to do, but the actual term, arrhythmia is a general term which may imply a normal or abnormal heart condition (sometimes the cause is also not even heart related) which may or may not require treatment. There are many kinds of arrhythmias. Some are benign (harmless) and some are malignant (can cause harm); and some require urgent intervention while others don't. Some only require treatment if they are symptomatic (cause symptoms such as fainting spells, dizziness spells, shortness of breath, chest pain, exercise intolerance) and others always require treatment. Some can be cured definitively by burning an abnormal additional connection away in the heart while others need a pacemaker (a device which paces your heart, provides the beat to cause your heart chambers to contract) or an implantable defibrillator (a device which delivers internal electrical shocks to hearts of people who have an arrhythmia called a ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation). Some require surgery to treat the underlying condition. Some require medicine to treat them or the underlying cause. Some require avoidance of certain medicines and states. Some require observation only. Some require no treatment at all and reassurance.

All of this requires a professional assessment which may involve (some or all of), a history (doc questions you) and physical (doc examines you), a resting 12 lead ECG (these 3 provide the bulk of the information in most cases), an echocardiogram, blood tests, 24 or 48 hour ambulatory ECG (Holter), treadmill tests, tilt table tests, coronary angiograms or CT/MRI, and even electrophysiological studies aka EPS, (these can sometimes cure the problem during diagnosis).

If you want to be more specific, you can use the term tachyarrhythmia, for a fast abnormal heart rate and rhythm. But even that is general.

Not a healthcare professional so just going by what I've previously been told by specialists and also researched in the past.

But as you mentioned a condition should be managed with a doctor.

Many types of irregular heart rhythms, called arrhythmias, can cause tachycardia.

Tachycardia - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

 

[Mirai]

Not a healthcare professional so just going by what I've previously been told by specialists and also researched in the past.

But as you mentioned a condition should be managed with a doctor.

Tachycardia - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

Yes many kinds of arrhythmia can cause heart rates over a 100 bpm. In fact many arrhythmias are heart rhythms where the rate is over a 100. There are other "arrhythmias" which can cause the rate to drop so low that the person can pass out. Some arrhythmias run between 60 and a 100 but are also potentially serious.

You can copy what I wrote earlier and show all your specialists, and all of them will agree with what's written. You can even post it on the medical reddit.

But the term arrhythmia, when used by medical professionals, is very non-specific and can mean almost anything. It's never enough to say a patient has an arrhythmia. It's like saying a patient has a gastric complaint or has a headache.

Have a good evening.