You may have seen my previous post about “Heat stress as a spoonie.” Apparently, the recent changes I demanded to the implantable loop recorder (ILR) that I received back on 30-April, have already had an impact.
For the first time ever, the electrophysiologist‘s office reached out to me unprompted because of something the monitor showed this past Friday. It recorded, and reported, high heart rates approaching 120 220. Now for me, that’s not really all that unusual. After all, I am diagnosed with atrial fibrillation as well as paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. It also recorded an AFib episode. That said, the heat stress beginning on Friday was significant, and I’m fairly comfortable in saying that it’s the reason for that report being sent. The specific details of that report are here:
1 AF episode on 7/12/2024 at 18:24 ecg consistent with AF with ectopy with rates up to 188bpm. Episode 2 minutes in duration.
Overall rates while in AF 80-170bpm with some rates >220bpm.
They also noted that I hadn’t yet scheduled an annual followup visit. That’s not due until April, but they want me to go ahead and schedule it. I guess this got their attention, unlike the “your watch must be wrong” feedback I was getting prior to this.
As I commented on an earlier post:
Self-advocacy is important as patients, and so much more important as female patients.
The journey continues.
An Aging Trans Woman 
Oh my. The Friday incident was much more significant than I realized. Clearly that brain fog affected my understanding of the call I received today.
So the changes I wanted caught an AFib episode that would not have otherwise been seen, and the heart rates were over 220 BPM, not 120.
I’ll edit the post.
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Wow. I bet it’s difficult to breathe during those 220s. You are a great advocate for you!
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It can be difficult, yes. Luckily it’s short duration so far. 💜
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