7 day heart monitor

[ErinKC]

Hi All! Last week my doctor diagnosed me with POTS. I'd had some noticeable racing heart rates when standing up, so she tested me for it and it was pretty definitive (from 76 bpm to 128 when I stood up from laying down). She's pretty sure that's all that's going on, but she also ordered me a heart monitor for 7 days. It should come in the next few days. The company mails it to me, I put it on for a week, I send it back, and then I guess she goes over the results with me.

I know a lot of people on here have done these. I'm not particularly worried they'll find anything. I've had EKGs recently just for my annual visit in August and also after this POTS test the other day and everything else seemed normal. But, it seems like having the monitor on will make me so much more aware of my heart all week! And that in turn will make it wacky. I've never been a heart worrier, so I'm not sure what to expect. Of course there is also the worry in the back of my mind that they WILL find something right before I'm set to start studying for the bar exam next month and it will disrupt all my end of law school plans.

Thanks for any insight and good vibes you may have!!

[Carnation]

I think they take into consideration when wearing a heart monitor that there may be the occasional peak.

[Flapj]

I wore a Holter for 3 days last year. I found it to be unobtrusive. It was a single unit mounted on the center of my chest with sticky pads. It had a single button on it that I could press to report “events.’ Over 7 days yours is bound to catch something but it will most likely be something benign like bradycardia while you sleep or a few pvcs.

[ErinKC]

Thanks, friends! I’m wearing it now and definitely more aware of my heart but I’m hoping I forget about it soon. I guess it will pick up the tachycardia when I stand up that led to the pots diagnosis. But hopefully nothing else bad. I do definitively get pvcs also.

[Flapj]

I got a little carried away with the event button. I would log things like gym workouts just to see what my heart did during stress. Kind of messed with them because it logged those presses as “tachycardia” but of course it was explainable. Neat machine. I’ve heard a lot of POTS cases from friends and acquaintances post-Covid or post vaccine (hard to blame one or the other since both apply) None had long term pots. It got better eventually, and some reported improvement with beta blockers like propranolol.