Another Journey Through US Healthcare

I’ve been waiting for over four months to see a cardiologist as recommended by my primary care physician in late July of this year. Today was that day. I’ve not written previously about this, because I really didn’t know anything other than some smartwatch indications. Those indications included the AFib readings I’ve written about before, as well as some very low (30 BPM) and very high (159) heart rates.

The nurse took my blood pressure, weight, pulse, and oxygen level. Those were all pretty normal, though pulse was in the low 90s. After taking an extensive history, and hearing about my experiences with POTS like symptoms, she decided to redo the BP in sitting, standing, and reclining positions.

Then it was time for a proper multi-lead ECG. She got me all wired up, ran the machine for a few minutes, and then after it was done, removed the wires. I think that was the second time I’d ever had one of those done. The first time was in the ER after that auto accident in October of 2020. Once she was done with that, she updated my medical record with all we had discussed, and then left to let the doctor know I was ready for him.

After a few minutes, the doctor came into the exam room, and began a standard physical examination. We talked for a while, maybe a half hour. He saw tachycardia in the sitting, standing, reclining BP readings with pulse ox. I showed him the smart watch history and let him read through it. A couple of the ECG recordings, that I had taken with my watch, seemed to show some mild AFib. Interestingly, the ones in question were not identified as AFib by my watch.

The doctor is less concerned about the heart rate readings, and seemed to feel that they were likely in the range of normal variation, if outside the standards I found on the internet. Self diagnosis is fraught. Because of the evidence of possible AFib, he has scheduled several additional tests, and had his staff draw blood for various blood tests as well.

ETA: I can’t believe I left this part out. I am also wearing a heart monitor for the next thirty days. It’s an interesting device, known as the BodyGuardian Mini Plus. It’s a bit bigger than my thumb, and attaches to my chest. It’s between my breasts, and has it’s own custom phone that records the data via Bluetooth, and transmits it daily. As I understand it, the data is transmitted to the provider, who then sends a daily report to my cardiologist’s office. I’ve had it on since about 5pm last night, and I honestly forget it’s even there.

I have embarked on yet another journey of medical diagnosis. If you know me at all, you know this is hardly my first such journey. I’m hopeful this will go better than the process of finally getting diagnosed with fibromyalgia. As I mentioned to the cardiologist, that took almost 20 years.

The additional tests won’t be completed until mid-January, so there’s nothing more to report at this time.

Tags: Afib, Cardiac Health, medical tmi