Hello Ecofr- I have had EKGs at the doctors office that have been Afib with rates in the 60s. Most of the time when I feel Afib, is when my rate is over 100. When my rate is slower, I didnt even know I was in Afib.

Clane is right, you can be in Afib with a rate in the 60"s and not know it.
There is a hand held personal EKG monitor made by Omron which allows you to check your heart in the privacy of your home. I own one and it really works well.

Agree. You can. I have the OMRON also. I am on rate control. My heart rate is normal and I am in afib all the time. petey

sanibel and peteycap- Regarding the Omron EKG monitor, are your doctors aware you own your own personal EKG monitors? If so, do you provide your doctor with any readings from your personal monitor at your appointments? I am curious how doctors view information provided from personal devices. I can definitely see where having your own device would be so convenient. More convenient in catching events and overall less cost in the long run instead of holter and event monitoring which can be expensive.

Or maybe you just use these devices for your own personal information and nothing more?

Clane, my doctors know I have an EKG monitor, I brought it along for check ups. My doctors also know that I am a "gadget " person and over the years I have introduced them to apps they knew nothing about. Some they started using themselves or started recommending to other patients.
My EP is younger and he did not flinch when I told him, rather he said "you are intelligent enough to manage your own health" , no problem.

You are right, I use it mainly for my own personal information. I always knew when I was in Afib due to my extremely fast heart rate, but the monitor came in handy to check for silent Afib after my ablation. Fortunately there was none .
There is also a feature to transfer the data to your computer and then email it to your doctor.

Thanks so much for your response sanibel. This is great interest to me. I see my cardio in about 2 weeks and am going to talk to him about it. Since I have a high deductible health plan, any monitoring costs are out of my pocket. Even wearing the Zio Patch (14 day monitor) is at $150 each time, so purchasing a monitor of my own would definitely pay for itself in a short time. Is the monitor you use a single lead or a 3 lead? I have seen ones that are handheld and take an EKG reading and others that have 3 leads (electrodes). The 3 lead device would be very comparable to the 30 day event monitor I have worn in the past.

"There is also a feature to transfer the data to your computer and then email it to your doctor." Wow. That's cool stuff. I'm assuming this is in reference to the Omron - yes? Thx. - Thomas

Hello All,
My heart rate ranges from 50's to 70. I think my average heart rate is probably in the mid 60's and I can have Afib episodes at anytime. For me, heart rate does not matter as far as Afib episodes are concerned. I do not have a rapid heart rate al all. Just flutters and seems like skipped or delayed heart beats. As far as the EKG home monitor.... I am as curious as CLane is as to what your PC says about the Home EKG monitor. I was also curious to know, why do you have or need a home EKG monitor? I get an EKG done everytime I go to my Cardiologist which is about every 3 months. I have been going to a Cardiologist for years and my EKG never shows anything. Seems like I am never in Afib when I go there. When I first got a new PC doctor through Tricare a couple of years ago and informed him I had an irrigular heart beat and Afib and he would listen to my heart he would always say, are you sure you have Afib? He could never catch my Afib on an EKG or by listening to my heart. It seems I always have Afib when I'm not around doctors... (Maybe I need to work in the medical field). lol
Again, I would like to thank everyone for sharing their personal experiences and knowledge on this subject, it's help me a lot.

The idea of having an EKG at home is to catch asymptomatic afib and possibly figure out your triggers... also, if you feel something, but it is not afib... that is worth knowing. petey

Dennis316,
how do you know that your "flutters and seems like skipped or delayed heart beats" are Afib and not some other kind of arrhythmia?

Dennis - I had the same problem. My heart rate never got that high when I was in AFIB either. However, I could feel the palpitations and knew when I had an episode. My doctor could not catch my AFIB on EKGs, but told me to come in any time I had an episode and he would give me an EKG. One day when I felt an episode coming on, I drove over to his office and he gave me an EKG right away and caught it. After that he sent me to an EP and the rest is history. I had an ablation a few months later and have never looked back. I figured why wait till my heart remodels and episodes get worse and more often. Like Nike says "Just Do It" and I did.

Jim

My Omron EKG monitor has finger electrodes on one side and a chest electrode on the other. It works just fine and I like it that I can check my heart anytime I feel a little flutter or something.
In 2009 when I was diagnosed with flutter and fib , I was totally shocked and ignorant about the disease. My cardiologist sort of brushed me off with it's a nuisance and won't kill. The cardiologist who administered my nuclear stress test told me, "you passed with flying colors, but you have skipped beats and don't worry lots of people have it, it's nothing."
I felt I had no real support from my cardiolgist, besides take this pilll and see you in 6 months. So I had to become my own advocate and learn as much as I could about Afib. Part of my education was getting my own EKG monitor, so that I could learn how to read EKGs. I read and researched for months on my own, till I understood what Afib is all about. The whole process was very empowering.
Owning your own monitor might not be necessary for everybody, but like I said before I love gadgets and I like to be in control and that is why I have one.

This is news for me. I have a very high heart rate when in afib. When in NSR I have a low rate. I have had blips on my heart monitor that only lasted a few minutes or less, and my Dr. said it was skipped beats. I am really surprised with this info.