I Just Took My First Apple Watch E K G!

Discussion in 'Health & Wellness' started by Yvonne Smith, Nov 30, 2018.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    This fall, when Apple released the new version of the Apple Watch, one of the new features that it has is that it will now be able to take an EKG of your heart. Although it is not to be considered as a medical device, it is a great way for a person with heart issues to monitor what is happening with their heart.
    Since I have heart failure, a-fib, and tachycardia, this new feature is really something that I am looking forward to having on my new watch.
    All of the Apple Watches will measure your pulse, and if your heart goes above 100 when you are resting, it sends you an alert. The app can also sense when your heart is out of rhythm, although it does not always tell me that , even when I know it is in a-fib.

    Another new feature that this watch has, is the sensor that can tell if you have fallen.
    I have had mine go off a couple of times when I stumbled, or just lost my balance and made a fast move. Once it alerts, it asks you if you are okay or if you need help. If you say you are okay, then it asks if you fell or not, so it can teach itself when you have actually had an accident.
    If you should pass out and fall, or for some other reason could not answer when the watch asks if you are okay, then it will call 911, and also alert you emergency numbers.

    I think that this is a whole lot better than those medical alerts that work with your home phone. For one thing, those only work if you are at home where it can use your phone to call for help, and you also have to have an actual home phone for the medical alert to work at all.
    With the Apple Watch, it will work anywhere that you are at, anytime, and doesn’t need anything else besides the watch for it to work and call for help.
    Here is more information about the new EKG app that will be coming out in December:
    https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/28/apple-watch-series-4-ecg-app-release/

    Today, my heart has been in Hizzy Fit Mode most of the day, so I have just been taking it really easy, since I don’t have any energy and can’t get good air when it is not beating right. Hopefully, it will put itself back in normal rhythm sometime tonight yet.
    You can see from my watch screenshot how nice and steady my heartbeat was all last night, and then early this morning, it just “jumped time”, as @Frank Sanoica would probably say.
    C64B23E5-2931-4F96-984E-ADC7180F74D7.png
     
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  2. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I guess this could have gone under tech, but it is really a health thing, so I am posting it here.
    When the new Series 4 Apple Watch came out, it had the capability to take an EKG, but the app for it was only just released today, along with the new iOS updates.
    Naturally, I had to try it out, and my first results came out with a normal sinus rhythm. It will be interesting for me to be able to see what it shows on the days when my heart is all out of sync and beating 150 bpm.
    Here is what it looks like from the iphone app (it saves all of my readings, and then can also be sent to my doctor), and also a quick video that shows how this works.
    35D90518-D640-47DF-890D-336696774D95.jpeg

     
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  3. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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  4. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Good news, @Yvonne Smith ! I guess an Apple, a day, will keep the doctor away!;)
     
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  5. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Yesterday was an interesting day, medical gadget-wise. Besides the new Apple Watch EKG app, I also received the heart-failure kit in the mail from United Healthcare.
    When the visiting nurse came by last fall, she explained to me that UHC had a special program for people who have heart failure. Even though mine is in recovery stage, I still qualified for the program, so I called UHC and signed up for the program. Since that was several months ago, and we are switching to Humana next month, I decided that they must have just cancelled me from the program, at least until a huge box arrived by UPS last night.

    The scale is digitally activated and connects to a small tablet to transmit information to the company. That scale is the largest one I have ever seen for a bathroom scale, at least 16” square, and is very heavy.
    Anyway, each morning, I turn on the tablet, weigh on the scale, and then answer health questions on the tablet, like am I feeling short of breath, and are my legs and feet swollen.

    You all know I am a Gadget-Girl; but I am just really enjoying being able to feel like I can so completely monitor my heart and my health.
     
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  6. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Just keep in mind that the watch only does a rhythm strip (I think), @Yvonne Smith not a full EKG/ECG. I have known some "anal" cardiologists who did 24-lead ECGs, but the standard is 12-leads.
     
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  7. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    That's pretty cool @Yvonne Smith!

    I only have the series 2 iwatch and just use a few of the apps but I LOVE it....it's the first thing I put on in the morning now...and I was one who was reluctant because I couldn't stand wearing a watch...I don't even notice mine except when it vibrates that I have a call or message or for me to stand or breathe, lol.
     
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  8. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Great (actually awesome !) to have you back and speaking to us again. I (along with everyone else) really miss you when you go on the breaks; but I know that it is what you need to do sometimes.
    Even the older models of Apple Watch have new capabilities, @Chrissy Cross , of watching your heart, and other things. You would really love one of these new ones, now that you know that you like wearing an Apple Watch !
    It is so nice not to have any noise when a call or message comes in, and just the vibration on your wrist. I have every audible alert shut off on both the phone and watch.
     
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  9. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Here is a screenshot I took while I was at my daughter's for Thanksgiving. Walking this much is normal for me there. Think I took this around 2:00 pm that day so added even more steps by night.


    IMG_2827.JPG
     
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  10. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I think that was Black Friday. :)

    Also, the screenshot is from my iwatch app on my iPhone and not from the watch ....
     
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    Last edited: Dec 8, 2018
  11. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    The blood pressure discussion reminded me of this thread. My Apple watch is a 2 so the ECG app isn't available for it, but I have to wonder what the real value of the app is. I have a slight heart murmur and occasional PVC (Premature ventricular contractions) but my doctor doesn't see any cause for alarm. (I get the "people your age...blah, blah" explanation.) When I look at an ECG/EKG graph I have no idea what I'm looking at. :D So I have to wonder what is the real value of this app and is it something that's worth investing in a new watch for?

    Also, when having a physician-provided EKG, there are 12-24 leads applied to the body. How on earth does something strapped to the wrist provide any similar result with accuracy?

    And last, I have recently seen this commercial (and wow, is Mark Spitz old, haha). Another heart monitoring device... are these just more gadgetry or do they actually have some value?

     
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  12. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Here is my take on the newer watches, @Beth Gallagher , for whatever it is worth.
    I seldom use the EKG function, and they tell you that it should not be counted as accurate, when you read about the watch. As you said, there is no way that a little wrist device is going to compare with an expensive EKG machine.
    I don’t know how to read an EKG either, so all I can tell is whether my heart seems to be fairly steady, or if it is wild all over the graph. If my heart is that out of sync, I usually know it anyway,
    However, (and @Ken Anderson might have an answer for this), I think that it might help if I were in a critical situation, and there was someone trained to read it there to help me.
    Mostly, there is nothing on my Series 4 Apple Watch that I use more than I did with the Series 2 watch. The main thing that I do like is the fall alert , especially since falling is something that I am concerned about. The watch has special sensors that can tell if you might have fallen, and then it vibrates and asks if you fell and need help.
    If a person is unresponsive, then the watch will call emergency and ICE numbers for you.

    As far as most of my health tracking apps, the Series 2 would do everything that my Series 4 does. My daughter, Robin, has the newest Series 5, and about the only difference that I see with that one is that it has the always-on feature for the watch face.

    I think that Series 3 and newer are the only ones that have cellular, and just that in itself is a great feature !
    With my Series 2, it was GPS only, and I still had to carry my phone along, and could only make calls with the watch if I was close enough to the phone.
    It was a good feature, because I could leave the phone in my purse, and still not ever miss an important phone call. With the cellular watch, it works independently of the phone, so even if I am not carrying my phone, the watch still operates as a phone.
    This is really great for Bobby, because when he is working on a project (or crawling around under a house somewhere), he doesn’t have his phone with him, and now that he has the cellular watch , he still has communication anytime he needs it.
    If you are thinking about upgrading, I think that getting the cellular Apple Watch is an important thing, and one that will be more useful than the EKG feature is.
     
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    Last edited: Nov 22, 2019
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  13. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Thanks, @Yvonne Smith . I actually prefer my Fitbit for fitness tracking and heart rate, etc. My Apple watch has always had pitiful battery life and seems to spend more time charging than anything else. I have already talked myself out of the new Apple Watch for those reasons, and I don't use a fraction of the functions of any of them. I like call notification but I'm never going to be walking around talking to my wrist...haha. So all the techno gadgetry is lost on me; I just don't use it.

    Thanks for your input; I appreciate it!
     
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  14. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    The newer apple watches have a longer battery life. I wear mine at night for the sleep-tracking function, but every evening when i am just relaxing and reading on my iPad or Kindle before bed, I charge up my watch. The more that I exercise each day, the faster that it uses the battery, but I still usually only need to charge it once a day.
    Because everything that I have is Apple, and I love it, it all syncs everything together for me. Robin uses a lot more of the features on her watch than I use, but I still would never want to be without it.
    I actually prefer talking with the phone on speaker-phone, but it is handy that I can get calls even when my phone is not accessible. I can be in the kitchen with flour all over my hands, and still answer a call on the watch; but then I usually wash my hands and finish the call on the speaker phone.

    Seriously, the other day, I was doing just what you are talking about !
    I was at the fitness center, just heading for the swimming pool, and Robin called, so naturally, I answered. The hot tub was running and there was quite a bit of noise in the swimming area, so there I stood, In my swimming suit, hand pressed up to my ear, and talking to myself (at least to all appearances).
    I was chuckling to myself as I talked, thinking how it must have looked to everyone else in the pool area.
     
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  15. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Haha, that's quite the mental image!! :D

    I much prefer my Fitbit for health tracking; it holds a charge for 4-5 days and I can wear it non-stop if I like. I don't have much use for the sleep tracking feature; I figure I'm either asleep or I'm not. :D It's also waterproof so I can wear it in the pool, though I usually don't. I like keeping track of my heart rate and number of steps, calories burned, etc. though.
     
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