Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.

760 Members
3,682 Posts
0 Online
Heart, Blood & Circulation
/ Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Polar heart rate monitor

CLane
CLane
Does anyone use a polar heart rate monitor to monitor excercise? I have been using one for about a month to monitor my progress with walking and exercise. It has always worked pretty well and felt that it was giving me accurate readings until recently. I have been walking 2 miles a day, and the the monitor will read around 107 bpm, then goes to zero for a few moments, then back up to a regular reading. Today, after I walked the first mile, I felt alittle light headed and looked at the watch and it said 65 bpm, down from 107 suddenly. I stopped walking for a moment and I felt my heart leap into overdrive and looked at the watch and it read 162 bpm. With all the wild readings I am getting, I am worried the watch going to zero may be because I am experiening pauses in heart beat. I am on Flecainide for rhythm and though it helps the symtoms, my EKGs still show afib. The batteries are good in the monitor and chest strap has good contact with my skin is good. I wondered if sometimes it is hard for the monitor to get a good fix on the heartbeat of the person with Afib. I wondered if all the excessive electrical activity causes it to flip out, so to speak :) Anyone have any thoughts on this? I am hoping to blame the watch than be afraid :)
missd12932
missd12932
When I first noticed the same thing on my HRM, also a polar I blamed it on the watch! But it turned out to be afib, I would, IMO, talk to your Dr. about rate control. I bought a new Polar HRM but of course had the same resutlts Darn, I was hoping it was the watch.
Good Luck
Dee
CLane
CLane
Thanks Dee. I appreciate your response. I havent had the greatest experiences with rate control. I was on metroprolol and my doctor took me off of it because my blood pressure and rate were way too low. He put me on Digoxin and that worked better but he ended up taking me off that because of junctional rhythms. I would like to ask him if there are other rate drugs I could try that might work. I would rather just be on rate control and no Flecainide and see how that works since I am in Afib on Flecainide anyway :)
missd12932
missd12932
I use a beta-blocker as a PIP and it works for me. I couldn't take a sustained release it brought my rate to low. My heart would stop beating for seconds at night. So no more of that, but it does work short term. I guess we have to figure out what works for us, everyone is different.

Dee
CLane
CLane
Dee - I should ask my doctor about PIP (that is pill in pocket, correct?). I have never been offered that option but sounds like it might be just what I may be looking for. I am going to write that in my notes right now to ask him. Thanks!
marikay234
marikay234
CLsne: are you in a fib all the time? PIP is helpful if you don't have frequent episodes of a fib. If it happens once every month then being able to take a pill to help slow the rate and also something like flecainide to help convert works well for lots of us. I have a prescription for cardizem (not long-acting) to take at the start of a fib. Eventually I was having an episode several times a week. At that point it is time to consider a daily med. I now take flecainide and have only had 1 short episode of a fib in 6 months. If the flecainide isn't working for you its time to consider another option.
Best wishes
Retyred
Retyred
Yes, I have the same with my Omron HRM. It usally shows my bpm at between 75 and 180 although if I manually take my pulse it may only be 80. I think you may be on to something with the electrical activity that goes on with afib.

Cheers
CLane
CLane
Marikay- My EP described my last 30 day event monitor in August as paroxsysmal AF that is nearly chronic. This 30 day monitor was on no medications-post second ablation (4/19/2011). I still have episodes every day but convert for periods of time each day. Flecainide has definitely helped to reduce my symptoms but has not completely gotten rid of AF. I would really like to get away from daily Flecainide though. At least I am getting alot of ideas here on this forum and my Cardio seems open to my questions. I think I will ask him if we can either increase Flecainide in hopes it completely controls AF (He seems reluctant to increase-I am on 75mg/twice a day) or if we can quit Flecainide and try a rate control that wont adversely affect my rate and BP. My thinking is that if Flecainide is a powerful drug with possible side effects and it is not working at its complete potential for me, maybe I shouldnt be taking it :)
CLane
CLane
Retyred - Yes, especially when the watch reads 00 bpm! :) I used to have an elliptical exerciser that had the built in EKG hand grips and it went crazy when I held the grips- numbers jumped all over the place. When I would have my son hold the grips, the heart rate would read accurately. Seems like all the excessive electrical activity in AF makes some of these types of monitors confused at time. I have had the best results with the Polar monitor until recently. But I think my AF has increased lately.
pacyetep
pacyetep
It's true that afib confuses the HR monitors, particularly the ones on exercise machines. The reason is that afib causes the ventricular rate to be uneven. So for between each beat, a run could look like this:

BPM
60
90
72
123
80
150
etc

When you exercise, your heart rate goes up and the machines get more confused as they are averaging your HR over a few seconds or more. Sometimes, these machines, including the ones in drug stores, will register no pulse. If you have no pulse, you can't read the machine. :-)

I have heard that it is best to use the "breath test" to determine if you are at a good heart rate. You should be able to talk to your exercise buddy without sounding like you are out of breath so much talking is an effort. Please note that if you are on beta blockers, that kind of makes you feel out of breath.

I have had exercise machines read like 80 when I'm exercising and 120 when I stop. My OMRON blood pressure machine and my OMRON ECG machine give very good readouts, but you can't really use them while you are jogging. Wrist units are less accurate.
yogacat
yogacat
I have a New Balance wrist monitor and have similiar experiences. I wrote to the company and asked why, this is what I was told, "It may be possible that the watch is receiving some kind of electrical interference from the afib. You might want to try moistening the area of your skin directly under the watch to allow for a better reading. Sometimes the watch wont be able to take a reading if the skin is very dry." You might ask Polar
marikay234
marikay234
I also take 75mg of flecainide twice a day. My EP told me that that is a low dose and could be increased in the future if the fib becomes more active. I am a little uncomfortable about taking flecainide also, and if its not really controlling it for you then why risk it?
If you have episodes of fib every day, then PIP is kind of pointless because you would be taking medication everyday anyway.
I do not have any type of HR monitor. I just take my pulse the old fashioned way. The electronic B/P machines we have at work don't like a fib either. It's the irregular beats that throw them off.