I thought only bradycardia or arrhythmia were errors shown. Am I mistaken?
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Tim, you are not mistaken. Arrhythmia, Tachycardia, Bradycardia are rather easily detected abnormalities, whereas Atrial Fibrillation is not. I stumbled upon my Afib. I happened to use my wife’s finger oximeter to see what my oxygen was (always great - I ran 5.5 miles every day for over 40 years). I noticed my pulse appeared to be irregular. I saw the Kardiamobile advert. on TV. Didn’t like the monthly fee, so I bought the Sonohealth device. I immediately saw that I had Afib because in a 30 second test strip there was not a single “P” wave in any pulse interval. None, nada. I had a very persistent case. The Sono device correctly stated I had Arrhythmia but said nothing about Afib. However, thankfully, the SonoHealth ECG Monitor may have saved my life as I outline below.
My Afib. was confirmed by my PCP Dr. who sent me to a cardiologist who in turn sent me a surgical cardiologist who performed an Ablation (yup, he burnt areas in my heart that were producing errant, extraneous electrical signals). Two months later this surgeon implanted a Watchman device in my heart to seal off the “Left Atrial Appendage” in which Afib. causes pooling and clotting to take place.
In 3 weeks the Cardiac surgeon will perform a Transesophageal Echocardiogram (called a TEE) to observe that the Watchman is properly in place, that skin has grown over the “mesh” screening, and no leakage is occurring. So far my case is going exceptionally well because of several factors; excellent cardiac surgeon and I monitor my cardiac health daily using blood pressure monitor, a Wellue O2Ring Oximeter worn while sleeping, a Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset CPAP and the Sonohealth ECG monitor. FYI, I bought the O2Ring and CPAP when I first self diagnosed my Afib. because it occurred in early May 2020 and due to Covid-19 I couldn’t schedule a doctor visit with either my HMO or the VA until sometime in June at the earliest. I highly recommend that anyone reading this watch a few the excellent ECG interpretation videos on YouTube. You’ll learn a lot!
P.S. I should note that two of the major causes of Atrial Fibrillation are “Sleep Apnea” (being a drinker I had this most of my life) and a magnesium insufficiency (needed to maintain cardiac electrical functions) which is typically caused by too little stomach acid due to aging and/or “Proton Pump Inhibitors” PPIs (acid reflux meds). It is well known low acid causes serious deficiencies in Calcium and vitamin B12 and many other lessor important nutrients.
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Very informative. Similar case here. AFib, ablation, no watchman thou still on thinners. Guy said I was not a good candidate because of a prior clot in leg. Odd when I first went to him he said that was ok.