First time poster. I am an experienced youngish distance runner. Last weekend, I experienced a scary Ventricular Tachycardia event at the end of a long run that landed me in the hospital for 6 days. Long story short: I now have a subcutaneous ICD implanted but my doctors say I can continue to run once recovered! It was my fitness that helped me survive something that was quite lethal and they want me to remain just as healthy as I’ve been.

My question: While I have a device that will help me if I experience dangerous arrhythmia again, I would also like to take extra precaution. I know the apple watch has the afib detector, but I am an Android user and don’t want to purchase a new watch and a new phone. I currently use a Garmin 245 and am happy with it for the most part (although, the HRM was not able to read my V-tach and shows no record of my accelerated heart rate). Does anyone have any insight into the new Garmin ECG app? I know the Samsung Galaxy watch also has an afib detector, but does it perform well for long distance runs like marathons? Appreciate any insight, thanks!

  • somewhatboxes@alien.topB
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    1 year ago
    1. if you have a medical device and specific medical needs, please don’t ask us for things that satisfy rigorous medical standards. your doctor should have the training (and is certainly accountable) to identify what kinds of features you should be looking for, and what devices actually achieve a standard of reliability that they would feel comfortable with you using and relying on
    2. i don’t know what “youngish” means, and the ambiguity is making me really nervous. what do you consider “young”? and what’s “youngish”? are you 33? 25? 14? from different perspectives, these are all potentially “young-ish”.
    3. please, please don’t bring these kinds of high-stakes questions to reddit. there are idiots floating around on here just waiting for an opportunity to use chatGPT or something to give you dubious advice for upvotes. it’s fine for getting lots of perspectives of laypeople, but if your life depends on this, talk to someone whose authority on the subject is earned.

    you don’t need to set up a formal appointment with your doctor. just email or call and ask them what they recommend. they know your medical issues and history, and they know things about you like your age. if the question is simple and straightforward, they’ll just tell you to go with whatever is on the market; if they want you to keep track of very specific metrics and they really want those metrics to be accurate, then maybe they’ll tell you that they’ll look into it and get back to you. there’s no way you can lose by asking your doctor.

    • kipple_creator@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I appreciate your concern, but have you received specialty medical care in the US? Doctors are great for answering pressing medical questions, but a typical specialty visit gives you less than 10 minutes with the doctor. Sometimes as little as 2 minutes. They don’t respond to patient portal questions that aren’t pressing.

      Doctors will share the most critical information, but just aren’t accessible for all of the quality-of-life and peace-of-mind oriented decisions a person with a medical diagnosis must make. Crowdsourcing is a necessary method for learning about the lifestyle aspects of living with chronic disease