Types of personal heart rate monitors
- Thread starter Andrew
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Research 1st
Severe ME, POTS & MCAS.
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Hi. Here's my view if people are considering parting with their cash for a pulse monitor and don't know which way to jump. There are only two logical variables when buying a heart rate monitor for ME POTS, in my view:
1)
Buy a heart rate monitor for your own inquisitive investigative reasons, the certification doesn't matter as long as it's reasonably accurate in taking your pulse. I'd say for pulse monitoring of staying in a 'zone' this is fine.
2)
Buy a medically certified monitor in which you can record (USB/Bluetooth) the results, save the data, and keep the data in order to have medical proof you have something wrong with you if no one believes you. (You may need this level of certification if you are a frequent flyer to ER and keep bouncing out as no one has diagnosed you with a heart arrhythmia/POTS and you're desperate for evidence). NB: Always make sure your doctor know you have arrhythmias first and request an ECG/24hr ECG (in writing if need be), before resorting to playing doctor yourself or spending a fortune on high grade medical devices.
Having said that....
My latest monitor was around $1200 (with propriety software), hence they rip you off. However, it helped 'prove' I have hypoxia events which I could print off and send to people as 'proof'. If I'd got a $200 Amazon special, a disbelieving doctor can always say ''the machine didn't work'' or ''it's cheap''. With health equipment, when possible always invest the best quality you can within your budget and that way, if you look after it, the device tends to last for years and when you need it in an emergency (BP, Spo2, Pulse) you know what you're seeing is accurate.
The last point that is important to remember when using a finger spO2 sensor, is if you have cold hands/poor circulation/anxiety/low blood sugar basically anything that activates your sympathetic nervous system, then the monitor can sometimes not work well, and thus you will hear this time and time again in ER that they don't believe you! Educate them if necessary that self aborting heart arrythmias (paroxsymal attacks) are common in autonomic dysfunction, then educate them further by printing off you trip to ER when you were clambering out the moon roof in panic.
That's why I bought a very expensive monitor, as an investment, however, if you don't need this and you want simple monitoring and don't spend your life racing down roads with chest pain and racing pulse, I'd get a cheap one which I'm sure will do it's job at simple pulse monitoring.
.
1)
Buy a heart rate monitor for your own inquisitive investigative reasons, the certification doesn't matter as long as it's reasonably accurate in taking your pulse. I'd say for pulse monitoring of staying in a 'zone' this is fine.
2)
Buy a medically certified monitor in which you can record (USB/Bluetooth) the results, save the data, and keep the data in order to have medical proof you have something wrong with you if no one believes you. (You may need this level of certification if you are a frequent flyer to ER and keep bouncing out as no one has diagnosed you with a heart arrhythmia/POTS and you're desperate for evidence). NB: Always make sure your doctor know you have arrhythmias first and request an ECG/24hr ECG (in writing if need be), before resorting to playing doctor yourself or spending a fortune on high grade medical devices.
Having said that....
My latest monitor was around $1200 (with propriety software), hence they rip you off. However, it helped 'prove' I have hypoxia events which I could print off and send to people as 'proof'. If I'd got a $200 Amazon special, a disbelieving doctor can always say ''the machine didn't work'' or ''it's cheap''. With health equipment, when possible always invest the best quality you can within your budget and that way, if you look after it, the device tends to last for years and when you need it in an emergency (BP, Spo2, Pulse) you know what you're seeing is accurate.
The last point that is important to remember when using a finger spO2 sensor, is if you have cold hands/poor circulation/anxiety/low blood sugar basically anything that activates your sympathetic nervous system, then the monitor can sometimes not work well, and thus you will hear this time and time again in ER that they don't believe you! Educate them if necessary that self aborting heart arrythmias (paroxsymal attacks) are common in autonomic dysfunction, then educate them further by printing off you trip to ER when you were clambering out the moon roof in panic.
That's why I bought a very expensive monitor, as an investment, however, if you don't need this and you want simple monitoring and don't spend your life racing down roads with chest pain and racing pulse, I'd get a cheap one which I'm sure will do it's job at simple pulse monitoring.
.
Thanks for your reply here, Research 1st. I moved my question to forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/heart-rate-monitor-is-awesome.16109/page-2#post-652233 if that's what you were answering. I am still dithering about whether to get one with a beep alert for exceeding the threshold…
Little Bluestem
All Good Things Must Come to an End
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I don't know what the price difference is, but having a beep alert would be easier than watching the read-out all of the time.
@Research 1st , may i know which device you bought?
Research 1st
Severe ME, POTS & MCAS.
- Messages
- 768
Hi, yes it's a Konica Minolta Pulsox 300i.
It's extremely expensive, but useful. There are others makes I'm sure. I'd pick the one you need the features for and then shop around as sometimes there's a big difference in prices depending on which vendor, including different countries tax rates. (Unfortunately with medical equipment, manufacturers tend to corner the market and can basically name their price due to little to no competition).
The advantage with a good quality sat meter is, you can buy interchangeable 'finger probe' units, such as for a sleep study. This way you can sleep and 'catch' a heart arrhythmia, or hypoxia (low oxygen) event and it's all recorded.
Simply USB connect it to your PC, load up the data and it's al there to show a doctor. One tip if you do buy an expensive probe, buy a little bag for it, as it will crush in your pocket if you fall asleep and lay on your side. It's $$$ just to replace a probe so you need a little firm sided pouch or purse to keep it in. Ideally a little wooden box so if you get in a flap an drop it, it won't break if it hits the floor outside.
@Research 1st, thanks for the info, i will take a look at the Konica sat. monitor.
I bought a contec CMS50IW for $150 or so a while ago and i didn't have to pay any import tax in my country.
It probably doesn't come near the quality of the konica but it seems to be doing a fine job. The data i have imported from an overnight study into sleepyhead shows multiple arrhytmias, i'm not sure if that's due to the quality of the device/probe or that i do in fact have arrhytmia at night. My SpO2 however seems just fine, it's not optimal at 93 but at least it ruled out hypoxia which i feared and bought the device for. I still want to do a sleepstudy in the hospital though.
- Comes with two flexible finger probes that you can wear during sleep and one normal probe.
- Can connect to PC by USB or bluetooth
- Sleepyhead software supported
- measures SpO2, heart rate and perfusion index
I bought a contec CMS50IW for $150 or so a while ago and i didn't have to pay any import tax in my country.
It probably doesn't come near the quality of the konica but it seems to be doing a fine job. The data i have imported from an overnight study into sleepyhead shows multiple arrhytmias, i'm not sure if that's due to the quality of the device/probe or that i do in fact have arrhytmia at night. My SpO2 however seems just fine, it's not optimal at 93 but at least it ruled out hypoxia which i feared and bought the device for. I still want to do a sleepstudy in the hospital though.
- Comes with two flexible finger probes that you can wear during sleep and one normal probe.
- Can connect to PC by USB or bluetooth
- Sleepyhead software supported
- measures SpO2, heart rate and perfusion index
Sushi
Moderation Resource Albuquerque
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@Thinktank that looks like a great device. How does it show the arrhythmias? For instance, if you were awake and wearing it could you see the arrhythmia on the watch face? Right now I track my occasional Afib with an ordinary heart rate monitor. I know it averages about every 2 beats but it does make it easy to see that an arrhythmia is happening and when it stops. Of course, having a more accurate way to track an arrhythmia in real time would be great.
@Thinktank - 93% is low. Normal is 95%+, unless you're living at a very high elevation.
My heart rate freaks out at 97% or lower, and I'll get some tachycardia until it rises to at least 98%.
My heart rate freaks out at 97% or lower, and I'll get some tachycardia until it rises to at least 98%.
Little Bluestem
All Good Things Must Come to an End
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Have you talked to your doctor about this? When my Dad was declining, we were told to call his doctor if his went below 90%.