Heart Monitor

alottodo

Firstly, apologies if this is in the wrong thread.

My GP has recently discovered that I have an irregular heart beat and I've a hospital appointment to get a heart monitor fitted this Thursday.

Does anybody know what's involved in this??

Thanks in advance

Thephantomsmask

There's two types of monitors, holter and event. The holter records your heart constantly for 24hrs usually though occasionally patients wear them for longer. An event monitor is worn for several days but only records when the patient presses a button because they feel palpitations or "skipped beats". Going by your post, it sounds like you would be getting a holter since you said the GP found the irregular rhythm? Either way the procedure is very similiar, 3 stickers (possibly 5 depending on the equipment manufacturer) are stuck to your chest, 1 on the upper chest near the collarbone and 1 on each side of the body a few inches below the nipple line. These are connected to a small box worn in a neck pouch or a belt and you wear it continuously for 24hr. If you are wearing one for a few days then you'll be shown how to change the stickers and given plenty of spares. You'll be asked to keep up your normal day to day activities so if you exercise tell the staff looking after you and they'll give you stickers and instructions on changing them if you need to shower as the monitor can't get wet.

drkpower

and it emits a quiet beeping noise when the stickers ose contact with the skin so bear that in mind for work meetings etc..!

_Whimsical_

drkpower wrote: »

and it emits a quiet beeping noise when the stickers ose contact with the skin so bear that in mind for work meetings etc..!

I've never had one that beeped. They generally will tape the stickers to you so that you won't have to worry about them falling off. It's nothing to worry about OP. You won't feel it on you at all and will forget about it pretty quickly. The machine that records the info looks like a little MP3 player and is equally unobstrusive. Occasionally you get an old fashioned one that records to cassette and it's just like having an 80s walkman stuck on your belt.

Ostrom

I had one three few years ago (bulky and about the size of an old tape walkman), and another last week from Bons, like a shiny new Ipod

Just shower before you have it attached, because you cant again for another full day.

The only pain is ripping off the sticky pads...

alottodo

Thanks all who replyed,

You've put my mind at ease (slightly)