Unleash the Triggers?

For those that've read my stuff you know I've had PVC's for about a decade.  Over the last 6 months I've had very short runs of bigeminy and I believe, a few seconds of SVT thrown in here and there.

So today I got fitted for my own King of Hearts event monitor.

The nurse who helped get me started was great, but she was apprehensive about telling me to go hog wild to try to product symptoms.

For those that've had the event monitor - did you pile on your triggers to try to force the arrhythmias?  I haven't had caffeine in over a month, but am thinking maybe I should drink a few sodas and eat a few chocolate bars just before I have a few shots of whiskey, just to make sure I can produce the symptoms I want the docs to see.  But I don't want to croak in the process.

What was your approach?

[Brooke_38]

Your question is a good one:) and has been asked by many. I have probably worn this about a dozen times, my rhythm issues are constant so I didn't have to do anything to trigger them to appear.

I sit on both sides of the fence being an RN as well as a patient. Being a healthcare professional, we don't openly advise our patients to engage in things that may be detrimental to their health. But when I take my hat off at the end of the day and become the patient, I say you could probably do so in moderation. You know that old addage, a little bit goes a long way...Since it's been a month of no caffeine, you may have a few sips and find your self glued to the phone transmitting one rhythm strip after another. I know what you mean though...you want what you're dealing with documented while you have the event monitor.

I hope that you get the results you're looking for:)

[jkfrench]

wow, if you have the nerve to feel the symptoms at their worst and you have been told it isn't life threatening then I guess I would say go for it......
What is a King of Hearts Monitor?  What does it look like and how is it used?
Frenchie

[Wisconsin2007]

Brooke - Thanks for your words of wisdom.  I hope I get what I'm looking for, too.  :)  BTW - looked through your profile - great looking family :)

jkfrench - That's the kicker - other than my documented history of PVC's they don't know what I have, so they can't tell me if it's life threatening or not.  I suspect not, but that's just me.  So it feels a little more risky to push my heart.  But at the same time, if the aberrant rhythms are not reproduced to where a doctor can diagnose them, then I'm not making use of having the event monitor in the first place.  

I guess it's kinda like an ablation procedure - the doctor has to initiate the dangerous rhythm so that (s)he knows where the dangerous rhythm-making cells are that require ablation.

As for what the King of Hearts event monitor is - if you've had the electronic Holter monitor (not the one that's an actual tape recorder), this is pretty much the same thing, except there are less leads attached to your body, and it is continually recording and purging bits of data - when you press the "record" button, this monitor saves some of the previous data it had stored and some of the data after the button was pressed.  In my case, it's saving 45 seconds of data prior to pushing the button and 15 seconds after.  It's worn for a much longer time frame (in my case, 30 days or more (or less, if that's what we decide)), meaning you have more opportunities to catch the symptoms you've been swearing to the doctor you have, but I think the integrity of the data might be a bit less because of there being fewer leads (2) versus the Holter (6, I think).  I was told to try not to move when I first notice symptoms, so that a good recording can be made.  

The data is transmitted via telephone to the hospital where they record it and turn the squiggly noises into rhythm strips and send them onto your doc for evaluation.

With this one, you can take it off at night (if you don't have symptoms at night), you're given a small box filled with extra wires, extra adhesive patches, alcohol, etc, so you can remove the patches, shower, then put on new patches, hook yourself up and go.

And the name, King of Hearts, is just a brand.  I'd read it elsewhere on this site and thought "Oh no, that thing sounds like it's the size of a mailbox.  I hope I don't have to wear that."  But like I said, it's pretty small.