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Buying a holter - need an advice!
Hello,
My boyfriend has an occasional episodes of some kind of arrythmia, he is very worried and lately they are happening more often (at least once I week I would say). He has been to multiple cardiologists and has done multiple different heart check-ups and they came back good. As the holter could be put on only for 24h, he put it on multiple times but with no luck to catch the moment. So we are thinking of buying the holter ourselves. Would the Contec TLC5000 be good enough? Would the patches hold up well and could the data be reliable and be extracted eaisly?
Please, let me know, I am worried and want to help him ASAP!
My boyfriend has an occasional episodes of some kind of arrythmia, he is very worried and lately they are happening more often (at least once I week I would say). He has been to multiple cardiologists and has done multiple different heart check-ups and they came back good. As the holter could be put on only for 24h, he put it on multiple times but with no luck to catch the moment. So we are thinking of buying the holter ourselves. Would the Contec TLC5000 be good enough? Would the patches hold up well and could the data be reliable and be extracted eaisly?
Please, let me know, I am worried and want to help him ASAP!
COMMUNITY LEADER
Just request a 2 week holter fom the doctor.. Cant vouch for buying one.. Because as tom said who will read it?
Further you need a physician to verify the results and actually treat it. If you put it on yourself you're likely to have difficulty getting your insurance to cover treatment regardless of what you find.
Further you need a physician to verify the results and actually treat it. If you put it on yourself you're likely to have difficulty getting your insurance to cover treatment regardless of what you find.
3 Comments
Hey, thank you for your answer! He hasn't an insurance anyway.. To my understanding the doctor could read it anyway.. perhaps I am wrong.
The doctor,CAN read it.. Question is WILL he read it.
When the holter is placed in office hes covered legally speaking because he can verify proper placement of the device ans has control over the time period it was worn.
Its the medical administrators and lawyers that wont be happy if the device was purchased and applied at home. These guys will look for any excuse NOT to pay if something were to go wrong.
When the holter is placed in office hes covered legally speaking because he can verify proper placement of the device ans has control over the time period it was worn.
Its the medical administrators and lawyers that wont be happy if the device was purchased and applied at home. These guys will look for any excuse NOT to pay if something were to go wrong.
Yup!!
The first question I'd ask you is , What is he feeling?
Some arrhythmia can be monitored with a simple 2 or 3 lead recorder. Yeah, if you get a 24hr. hospital Holter, you'll probably get the kind with the full compliment of leads. But is it necessary to see all the angles when you're just looking for evidence of what he says he's experiencing? 7 years ago, I wore a 3 memory, loop recorder for 1 solid month. The recorder would send any recordings which were triggered by a number of set point criteria. I wore it only to confirm what I said I was experiencing, and it was absolutely key to my being successfully treated. It was a simple 2 lead device, one on my the side on the rib cage, and one up above my nipple. That's all it took. I got 3 good recordings, and thats all they needed. Now, if you're dead set on getting your own, consider how you're going to get someone to read them quickly. This is usually a "package deal" with the recorder and analysis rolled into one.
One other thing. Those pads begin to hurt like heck after a few days of wearing them. The saline electrolyte annoyed my skin to the point of it breaking out in red welts. It was bad enough moving around 2 leads for 30 days to allow one area a day of rest. Think about this and think about the alternatives. Also, please describe what he's feeling.
Some arrhythmia can be monitored with a simple 2 or 3 lead recorder. Yeah, if you get a 24hr. hospital Holter, you'll probably get the kind with the full compliment of leads. But is it necessary to see all the angles when you're just looking for evidence of what he says he's experiencing? 7 years ago, I wore a 3 memory, loop recorder for 1 solid month. The recorder would send any recordings which were triggered by a number of set point criteria. I wore it only to confirm what I said I was experiencing, and it was absolutely key to my being successfully treated. It was a simple 2 lead device, one on my the side on the rib cage, and one up above my nipple. That's all it took. I got 3 good recordings, and thats all they needed. Now, if you're dead set on getting your own, consider how you're going to get someone to read them quickly. This is usually a "package deal" with the recorder and analysis rolled into one.
One other thing. Those pads begin to hurt like heck after a few days of wearing them. The saline electrolyte annoyed my skin to the point of it breaking out in red welts. It was bad enough moving around 2 leads for 30 days to allow one area a day of rest. Think about this and think about the alternatives. Also, please describe what he's feeling.
3 Comments
Hey, thank you so so much for the answer! What kind of an arrythmia you had and how are you feeling now?
The thing is that in our country (we are not in the USA) there are maybe 2 places that offer 48h holter, only one place offered the one week option... It is a bit difficult to get the holter in general as it is necessry to book a holter appointment at least a week in advance.. As it is impossible to predict when the episode would happen again, it is very inconvenient to book 7 seperate 24h holters to cover the whole week.. That's the reason behind this idea to buy it. If we get the data, he could just bring it to the doctor. in electronic form I want to believe we could figure it out where to put those leads on..
He is feeling extremely fast heart beats as if the heart would be triggering. Sometimes it lasts minutes sometimes longer. As I understand there is no chest pain or shortness or breath, but the heart is going crazy and it's driving him crazy. He is very into tenniss at the moment and would love to continue the improvement, but these heart problems are giving him an anxiety to do his best at the training and tenniss games. These episodes happen mostly at the actual tenniss games not the training, but for example yesterday it happened on his way to the training session in the car, while he was simply sitting down, just chatting with a friend, no stress, no exerciesing, it came out of the blue.. He is very worried, and is constantly thinking, reading of this problem, considering ablation, considering consequences etc. Overall he is physically very strong, has a good endurance, always did some sports, 31 old young man.. He is also very emotional so I am thinking it could be coming from the mind and thouhts too. I am trying my best to cook healthy, we switched to loads of greens, fishes, white meat, healthy sweets. So some sort of a next step/proof is so needed.
The thing is that in our country (we are not in the USA) there are maybe 2 places that offer 48h holter, only one place offered the one week option... It is a bit difficult to get the holter in general as it is necessry to book a holter appointment at least a week in advance.. As it is impossible to predict when the episode would happen again, it is very inconvenient to book 7 seperate 24h holters to cover the whole week.. That's the reason behind this idea to buy it. If we get the data, he could just bring it to the doctor. in electronic form I want to believe we could figure it out where to put those leads on..
He is feeling extremely fast heart beats as if the heart would be triggering. Sometimes it lasts minutes sometimes longer. As I understand there is no chest pain or shortness or breath, but the heart is going crazy and it's driving him crazy. He is very into tenniss at the moment and would love to continue the improvement, but these heart problems are giving him an anxiety to do his best at the training and tenniss games. These episodes happen mostly at the actual tenniss games not the training, but for example yesterday it happened on his way to the training session in the car, while he was simply sitting down, just chatting with a friend, no stress, no exerciesing, it came out of the blue.. He is very worried, and is constantly thinking, reading of this problem, considering ablation, considering consequences etc. Overall he is physically very strong, has a good endurance, always did some sports, 31 old young man.. He is also very emotional so I am thinking it could be coming from the mind and thouhts too. I am trying my best to cook healthy, we switched to loads of greens, fishes, white meat, healthy sweets. So some sort of a next step/proof is so needed.
You wont have to book 7 seperate appointments. They make holters that cover 2 week time periods.
Its a single device you can wear for the duration.
Its a single device you can wear for the duration.
Sorry correction, i sort of missed the part where you said its not an option in your country. My mistake. Where are you located?
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