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Pacing: Very interesting HealthRising article re HR and HRV monitoring and pacing - I may finally spring for an HR/HRV monitor!

Jyoti

Jyoti

Senior Member
Messages
3,384
keepswimming said:
But visually seeing how much certain activities take out of me helps me have the courage to limit them.
Click to expand...
What a brilliant way of saying/understanding our challenge! It is absolutely true....it requires a lot of courage to say 'no' in many circumstances, but one always feels so apologetic or useless (or all the things we have had projected upon us).... I am going to try a laurel wreath for myself next time I decline something I can't do.

And I think I will order the Garmin4 today! Thanks all for your reporting on its benefits.
 
hmnr asg

hmnr asg

Senior Member
Messages
563
Jyoti said:
What a brilliant way of saying/understanding our challenge! It is absolutely true....it requires a lot of courage to say 'no' in many circumstances, but one always feels so apologetic or useless (or all the things we have had projected upon us).... I am going to try a laurel wreath for myself next time I decline something I can't do.

And I think I will order the Garmin4 today! Thanks all for your reporting on its benefits.
Click to expand...
Garmin Vivo smart 5 has just come out by the way, if youre going to buy, might as well buy the latest model:
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/782585
(im thinking of upgrading from my fitbit charge 4 to garmin vivio smart 5)
 
Jyoti

Jyoti

Senior Member
Messages
3,384
I got my Garmin Vivosmart 4. I decided to buy the older model because I like its smaller profile and its lower price!

And I am really pleased with what it has done for me after about two months of usage. There are definitely areas that do not seem as accurate and/or as helpful as others, but overall I have found it very helpful and practical.

First the stuff that doesn't work too well for me:

It tracks oxygen saturation and I was initially horrified to see numbers in the low 80s overnight. But then I checked daytime numbers and compared them to a really reliable fingertip pulse oximeter and found that the Garmin was between four and twelve points lower than the pulse ox all the time. So I disabled the automatic feature because...it was too stressful.

Whenever I go on a walk that has any incline, it is a loop. In other words, I go down and up the same amount. I live near a river and have to walk down to it, and then of course, back up. The Vivosmart inevitably will tell me that I have gone down twice the flights I ascended. So I have ceased to pay attention to that, except to laugh from time to time.

On the other hand:

The HR seems very accurate and has been helpful to know and monitor. Particularly with POTS flares. It is the simplest of measurements, other than steps, on this device, but it has been a good guide and has helped me stop on a few occasions where that was clearly warranted.

Stress, or HRV, seems to reflect my reality and like @keepswimming noted, it has helped me to see more clearly the activities that take me down fastest.

Most helpful of all, though, has been the body battery. It somehow combines heart rate, stress or HRV, and activity to estimate energy levels. Referring to it has made a huge difference for me. I know exactly where my 'crash point' is after using it for a while, and when I see myself approaching that point, no matter how I subjectively feel in that moment, I rest. I stop. Because I know that when I hit that magic number, it will be too late.

And the only times I have actually crashed in my classic fashion (I think we all have our own very special versions!) over the last couple of months have been when I ignored that metric.

I live in the moderate/mild realms where I actually can do some things from time to time. And it is really easy for me, on a good day, to psych myself into the fantasy that I can do what I might have pre-ME. Or even half of it, to be honest. This device keeps me honest with myself about my limits, and in so doing, spares me a lot of pain and dysfunction.
 
B

Booble

Senior Member
Messages
1,464
I was thinking of getting something like this and then I realized that for me I feel much, much, better when I stop (or limit) looking at my pulse oximeter. I think having full access at all times would exacerbate adrenal dysfunction. I had thought looking regularly was making me feel better. I'd even keep it on my bed so I could check when I woke up in the middle of the night. Checking myself was like a crutch, a safety ring, and it felt good and comforting -- for the 90% of the time that the numbers are good. But the 10% of the time that they are not it just caused further crisis. It had my adrenals stay always on guard.
I'm not saying everyone will experience the same but putting out a warning. What felt like a comfort actually was a contributor.
I've been so much better since I've limited looking at my heart rate. In fact, sometimes when I want to check my 02, I'll put my finger covering the heart rate part.
Just a public service announcement for those with my kind of health anxiety.
 
Jyoti

Jyoti

Senior Member
Messages
3,384
Booble said:
Checking myself was like a crutch, a safety ring, and it felt good and comforting -- for the 90% of the time that the numbers are good. But the 10% of the time that they are not it just caused further crisis.
Click to expand...
Oh, @Booble, I know what you mean! I had a similar relationship to another HRV monitor. I wouldn't look at it a lot of the time if I felt good, and when I did, it was great to check and see that I was doing fine. But when I was in a crash and checked it, I would scare myself with just how badly I was doing. As if I didn't know! But somehow the number would add stress to an already over-stressed system.

The Garmin has been working for me partly--probably--because I don't check the numbers all day long. The body battery I look at every couple of hours to gauge what is next, what I need. Maybe it will be like training wheels for me--once I get used to attending to a drop in energy portrayed on my wrist, I may learn to attend to the actual physical experience more readily? That'd be nice.

But the heart rate--I check that only when I feel tachycardic and that has played out well for me. The other day I was going to an ophthalmology appointment and I felt absolutely awful. I checked my heart rate and it was 90 bpm above my resting. My vision was greying and tunneling and I couldn't follow anything or make sense of much. When I got to the doctor, they wanted to do a visual field test and knowing how high my heart rate had gone gave me the spine to decline--it was data--for me-- to support the fact that that test would have demonstrated absolutely nothing. And it also gave me the determination to lie on the waiting room floor when I had to!
 
B

Booble

Senior Member
Messages
1,464
That's great that it's working for you. Keep your eye on things in case after another month or two it turns from helpful to hurtful.

PS. 90 bpm worries you???
I go from 60 or 70 to 120 when I get up!
 
Mary

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,389
Location
Southern California
@Jyoti - Thanks so much for posting your experience! Hmmm..... Will add this to my list of things to try sometime in the future when I feel a bit flush - at least it doesn't cost $350! 😁
 
Cheryl M

Cheryl M

Senior Member
Messages
115
Location
North-west England
Wonder if someone could please help me… I have realised that data from a fitness tracker might be invaluable, so want to buy one. Unfortunately my cardiology appointment is on August 17th.

Apparently there aren’t really any devices that reliably measure blood pressure just yet, apart from actual inflatable cuff monitors. But it would be handy to have a constant record of pulse and ox sat.
  • I have a hiatal hernia and can’t possibly wear anything that has a chest strap
  • I find watches (wrist straps) slightly uncomfortable so I might not wear one if I bought it
  • I don’t want or need to receive emails on my wrist
  • I don’t want my data stolen and don’t want anything owned by Google or Amazon
  • Would be handy if the device was waterproof
  • I can afford something expensive, but don’t want to pay like £600 for a fancy watch
  • I don’t care what it looks like
  • I use Android phones.
So I kind of thought the Oura Ring might work because it will be less uncomfortable, not too expensive at £225, and not packed with features that I won’t use. Oura is a Finnish company; I admit Google might buy them at any moment but they haven’t yet… (I realise in the long run all our data will probably get stolen.)

I was also looking at the Nuband Pro Fitness Tracker (wrist strap) just because, at £35, it’s really cheap, and I might be able to get some data filed away in time to show the cardiologist.

When I go to the app store to look at the apps for those products, I see a lot of people complaining that the app or the product doesn’t work, and that leaves me wondering if I should just buy the cheap one and try it out, since the Oura might not work anyway…

I humbly beg someone to give me an encouraging word because I’m suffering from choice paralysis.
 
Mary

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,389
Location
Southern California
@Cheryl M - you might try the Garmin vivosmart 4 - @Jyoti likes hers a lot (see this post). It's a wrist band, which you're not crazy about, but it might be useful enough that you'd wear it.

I don't know of anything that isn't a watch style or chest band apart from the Oura ring. I share your concerns about google and Amazon and don't think the Garmin Vivosmart has any connection with them (yet!)
 
Shanti1

Shanti1

Administrator
Messages
3,203
If you want continuous Ox Sat and heart rate, I use Wellue. They have a wrist-strap with finger attachment and a ring version. I have the wrist-strap, but there is a comment somewhere on PR from someone who uses the ring and is happy with it. I was using it for overnight monitoring and it would graph to my phone in the morning. With the wrist strap version, you could also set it to vibrate if your Ox Sat dips bellow a level set by you. Not sure if the ring does this.

Here is the ring version:
https://www.amazon.com/Wellue-Monit...=sr_1_5?keywords=wellue&qid=1659791779&sr=8-5
 
F

Float

Senior Member
Messages
307
Location
Australasia
Sallyagerharris said:
Thank you
Click to expand...

Hi Sally. The Fitbit inspire hr seems to do everything. I have the Fitbit charge 5 which also does ECG, but it's not worth the extra cash imo.
I had an inspire hr and I could change the screen to stay on

A lot of people say the Huawei watches, which are much cheaper, do an adequate job .

The readiness score with my charge 5 is quite useful for pacing but I haven't figured out how to keep hr displayed, though it may be possible.
 
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