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Could you reccomend a heart rate monitor UK

Jan

Senior Member
Messages
458
Location
Devon UK
Please could anyone in the UK recommend a good heart rate monitor and anything else I may need to assess myself for pots at home before I see gp about this? I start looking at them then give up as there seems to be so many different makes which can differ enormously in price. Any advice would be muchly appreciated :thumbsup:
 

Molly98

Senior Member
Messages
576
Hi Jan, funnily enough I have just done the same myself. I purchased one off Amazon for £19.99 and it does the trick. When I first got it I thought it wasn't working properly and was annoyed that I had just spent £20 on something that doesn't work, then I realized it's my blood pressure and heart rate that is not working properly and it -the machine works perfectly fine, as gives absolutely normal readings when lying down and for husband and daughter it's just when I stand up that I get crazy readings. Needless to say I think I have OI and need to see gp about it. I am from Devon UK also, just wondering if you are seeing ME CFS service and which area and what your experience is of them is?
The monitor I have is from Amazon - Hylogy Wrist blood pressure monitor, it measures heart rate and blood pressure and has a memory (which is useful incase any one thinks you are making results up). It's very easy to use.
 

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
I love the Polar (but I am BIG chested so the breasts kept the chest strap off), also the smell in chest strap is an issue for me and yes I used baking soda and every trick to wash the belt. After a while they just smell.
2) I settled for the MIO, is very expensive (US$ 200 )but accurate and continuous monitoring, for me this is important to keep me out of trouble when I exercise.
3) there are some good technologies fitbit type devices you can use no a days.
 

eafw

Senior Member
Messages
936
Location
UK
Please could anyone in the UK recommend a good heart rate monitor and anything else I may need to assess myself for pots at home before I see gp about this?

I use a Mio Alpha, more pricey end of the market but worth it. It comes with a wrist strap, that I use round my ankle as it happens - find it more comfortable.

However, for an intial diagnosis/referall for POTS/OI testing you may as well use a pulse oximeter. Much cheaper (about £20 from Amazon). You can keep a chart of activities and take it to the GP, and even do a demo for them. Sitting down x bpm, stand up y bpm. They should get you a 24hr holter test if you have that + symptoms, then will take it from there.
 

Jan

Senior Member
Messages
458
Location
Devon UK
I use a Mio Alpha, more pricey end of the market but worth it. It comes with a wrist strap, that I use round my ankle as it happens - find it more comfortable.

However, for an intial diagnosis/referall for POTS/OI testing you may as well use a pulse oximeter. Much cheaper (about £20 from Amazon). You can keep a chart of activities and take it to the GP, and even do a demo for them. Sitting down x bpm, stand up y bpm. They should get you a 24hr holter test if you have that + symptoms, then will take it from there.

Thanks eafw, funnily enough I have already had two 24hr holter tests for a heart condition, my aortic valve is leaking. They didn't really discuss the results with me, they just wanted to reassure me that my heart problem wasn't causing my symptoms. in the letter it mentions 'during episodes of tachycardia' and also supraventricular tachycardia, plus I have ectopic beats. For the first test I had to write down what I was doing when I felt palpitations, but it was bodged up as the clock on it was 10mins out. With my muddled brain I sometimes wrote down the real time and sometimes wrote down the time on holter clock.

The conclusion was that my palpitations etc are due to ME, thankfully the cardiologist I was seeing at the time believed ME to be a metabolic illness.

I shall definately get myself a pulse oximeter and take it from there.
 

Jan

Senior Member
Messages
458
Location
Devon UK
Hi Jan, funnily enough I have just done the same myself. I purchased one off Amazon for £19.99 and it does the trick. When I first got it I thought it wasn't working properly and was annoyed that I had just spent £20 on something that doesn't work, then I realized it's my blood pressure and heart rate that is not working properly and it -the machine works perfectly fine, as gives absolutely normal readings when lying down and for husband and daughter it's just when I stand up that I get crazy readings. Needless to say I think I have OI and need to see gp about it. I am from Devon UK also, just wondering if you are seeing ME CFS service and which area and what your experience is of them is?
The monitor I have is from Amazon - Hylogy Wrist blood pressure monitor, it measures heart rate and blood pressure and has a memory (which is useful incase any one thinks you are making results up). It's very easy to use.

Thanks Molly, I only moved down to Devon just over a year ago, thankfully none of the gps have mentioned referring me to the ME service. It would be a bit pointless really after having ME for 26 years, old dog, new tricks, lol. Do you go to one, if so what do you think? Good luck seeing your gp are they sympathetic regarding ME? I need to read up a bit more on OI, I'm not sure what they could give me to help me, I'm already taking a low dose of a beta blocker. I suppose it's something to add to the evidence for benefit assessments though, so it would be good to get it diagnosed officially.
 

Jan

Senior Member
Messages
458
Location
Devon UK
I've seen quite a few different cardiologists now and they know I have dizziness when standing, I don't understand why on earth did they not look into this more and diagnose me? :rolleyes:
 

eafw

Senior Member
Messages
936
Location
UK
I have already had two 24hr holter tests for a heart condition

If this was fairly recent then your GP or cardiologist should be able to look at those results again in the context of possible OI/POTS issues. Though they may say it is basic palpitations rather than POTS as such, will depend on your other symptoms, but hopefully your GP can at send you to specialist to get it checked out anyway.
 
Messages
2,125
I just received my Kedsum wrist blood pressure monitor (£12 something from Amazon); it seems to be working OK but I need to do a bit of research to find out exactly what it might mean.
Just thought I'd share a couple of funny things in the manual;
'when the battery cover close tightly, could hear 'Ka-ka'
and
'A loose cuff or a exposed bladder causes false reading'
I shall have to watch out for that one :snigger:
 

Dechi

Senior Member
Messages
1,454
I have the polar a360 for monitoring my activities and HR and the polar h7 strap to monitor my heart rate variability. I am very satisfied with both. One thing the a360 is lacking though is the 24/7 heart rate monitoring, which I can accomplish with the ppolar h7 strap but it's not as comfortable as a watch.
 

Jan

Senior Member
Messages
458
Location
Devon UK
I just received my Kedsum wrist blood pressure monitor (£12 something from Amazon); it seems to be working OK but I need to do a bit of research to find out exactly what it might mean.
Just thought I'd share a couple of funny things in the manual;
'when the battery cover close tightly, could hear 'Ka-ka'
and
'A loose cuff or a exposed bladder causes false reading'
I shall have to watch out for that one :snigger:

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

I know what will happen when I finally get mine, it will sit there for ages gathering dust while I try to work out how to use the damn thing. What I wouldn't give to have some of my brain cells working again :rolleyes: