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!
Cardiac electrophysiology guy here. If you experience VT again, your ICD should detect it right away and try to do some specialized pacing to try to get you out of the Vtach. If it doesn’t work, it will shock you out of it. Unfortunately it’s unlikely that any fitness wearables would detect the arrhythmias before the ICD has delt with it, and even if you did catch it before the ICD, there’s not much you would be able to do anyways except wait for the shock. Most of these devices are programmed to check for afib (an irregular heartbeat) as opposed to VT (a regular very fast heartbeat) so unless it’s set to watch out for extreme heart rates, these watches can’t differentiate VT from normal rhythms.
Thanks! That’s helpful. I guess what I’m trying to determine is if there is a fitness wearable that can capture these higher heart rates. I’m not sure if that’s possible, but it would be nice to know if it’s happening before the shock comes so I can get on the ground and not risk any further injury to myself. Hope that makes sense.