Well, this is new..Is it me or the machine?

[ptadvoc8]

I have had WPW with frequent bouts of SVT, and my share of random ectopics, for over 40 years and have become pretty comfortable with them so I can generally recognize PSVT, PVCs, bigeminy, PACs, etc., with pretty good accuracy and convert myself within a few minutes so I don't get too tweaked about it -- along as it abates in a reasonable length of time!

However, a couple of years ago, I started to experience episodes of shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and slight light headedness. Since I also have very low BP and take Beta Blockers for my arrhythmia, I just assumed that the was the causality of these episodes and didn't really pay any more attention to them -- other than sitting down or taking a nap during the episodes when I needed to. Then, several months ago we bought one of the new electronic BP machines that does your BP and your heart rate -- AND, it has a warning signal for irregular heart rate. I immediately noticed that during the times I was experiencing the episodes of SOB, fatigue and light headedness, the BP monitor indicated not only a rather low BP (anywhere from 60 - 80/40 - 50), but also set off the "irregular heart beat" warning.

This totally surprised me because I didn't notice any of my usual arrhythmia symptoms, I felt my pulse and while the rate was either a bit high (93 or so) or a bit low (55 or so) it didn't seem that far out of the norm and it felt fairly regular to me, too -- certainly there were no major jumps, pauses or gross irregularities, so again, I just ignored it thinking that it was some sort of problem with the new fangled machine.

Well, a few days ago I got so tired of all those "bogus" irregular heart beat warnings so I replaced that machine with a newer model with the same features and I am STILL getting the irregular heart rate warning, but only when I am feeling those symptoms! I am going to Mayo next month for evaluation and possible ablation, so I'm not really worried about it and I don't feel the need to rush in to see my usual cardio, but I am VERY curious as to what this could be? I tried to research this on-line and the only thing I can come up with is possible transient A-Fib...? Does that make sense? Anyone else have any other ideas as to what this might be? Or, could it just be a misreading on that crazy machine after all?

Thank you very much!

[ptadvoc8]

Just curious -- I always thought these machines read heart rates as regular or irregular by counting the pulse and timing the space between beats, but in your earlier post you you mentioned they might be reading some of the electrical signal waves...? I am now wondering, could these devices possibly have the technology to do that? If so, that is much more hi tech than I realized, but as you say, it still seems like it would be hard to get a good reading with limited skin contact and only one contact point. Now I am REALLY curious to know more about these new BP machines!

[Wisconsin2007]

That is a pretty nifty feature.

I'll probably poke around to see what I can find about Omron's devices.

[ptadvoc8]

Thanks for that Wisconsin! Yeah, I really wonder about that machine -- it's an Omron (number something or other). I looked it up and it says it can detect A-Fib, but I tried it when in PSVT today and one time it read "normal" with no alarms for irregular heart rate and the very next time (while still in PSVT) the alarm for "irregular heart rate" went off... Also, my husband has a level one heart block and his pulse rate is really slow so the alarm goes off a lot when he takes his BP, too, but not all the time.

I think what might be happening with me is that when I have really low BP I may not be perfusing well so the machine may be missing some of the beats and reading it as irregular. For a few hours (after I researched it a bit) I was a little concerned that I may have developed A-flutter as I understand it can feel like a "regular" pulse rate in that it tends to transmit 2:1 to the ventricles, however (like A-fib), I think the rate tends to be faster than 93 bpm with A-flutter --  although I suppose taking BBs could affect that rate.

Anyway, the one cool thing about this machine is I can download all the readings onto a scan disk and take them to Mayo with me, so hopefully they will be able to provide more info.

[Wisconsin2007]

I would think it would be so hard to tell.  I know that the arm is not the ideal place to take an EKG, and so the only thing the cuff is likely to pick up is the QRS complex.  This is 100% hypothesis, not based on any fact, but I would think that the software in your BP monitor is set to send up a flag whenever the frequency of QRS complexes changes by some percentage, faster or slower, within a given time frame.  So if you're having some excessive vagal nerve activity, altering your heartbeat from the 50s to the 90s on every respiration cycle, maybe that would trip the alarm on the monitor.

But again, it's total conjecture on my part.  What brand/model do you have?  Maybe it'd be worth looking into the specs of that model.