who has worn both a holter and a event monitor?

[questionnone]

My holter results came back normal (except for my IST of course) and lately I have been feeling more episodes of what I guess are PAT or PSVT episodes not sure which because we can't get a diagnosis. I am about to ask my Electrophysiologist to put me on a event monitor because now that they happen more often I will have a higher chance of recording one. Problem is, I HATED the holter. It was in this really itchy sleeve that I had to wear like a man purse and of course all of the sticky electrodes on me. I did some searches and it looks like the event monitor only has two electrodes. Anyways my point of asking this question is, can someone share the experience with me if you have had a event monitor before? How is it compared to the holter?

[tom_h]

If you mistyped and meant to type PSVT's, they do indeed originate above the ventricles hench the term "supra Ventricular".  When a person "drops into" SVT (50+ years for me). The rate is extremely high, but the heart is beating in a near regular rhythm.

VT is something entirely different.  They do originate in the ventricles, and it can be a dangerous condition.

I'll go with ireno on the one.  The terms (P)SVT and PAT are interchangeable and hence are the same.

[robby12752]

Not so.  Pat's occur in the atriums (upper chambers) of the heart; PVST's occur in the ventricular _lower chambers) part of the heart.

[myboysrock000]

I am currently wearing a 30-day monitor. It is not that big of a deal. It's only 2 leads and the monitor isn't heavy clipped on your pants.

How does it compare to a Holter? A Holter (as I understand) records everything. An event montior will record when you press record. It will also capture stuff itself, although if that were true then i don't understand why I need to hit the record button for a palpitation. Doesn't it know I had a skipped or extra beat?  So I have 2 weeks left of this thing. I'm waiting to catch something on it. I've pushed record a few times, but haven't had SVT yet. I probably won't!

[questionnone]

Does the non-looping cardiomemo show p-waves and ekg as accurate as an event monitor? That sounds so much more convenient! My monthly appointment with the Electrophysiologist is in a few days, I will follow up with you guys what she sends me home with.

[chuparosa]

Just my opinion on the event monitors...I'm a small person and found the event monitors very hard to conceal under sclothing, especially in the summer. Also some are more bothersome than others. If you have a choice between the Cardionet and Lifewatch, I'd go for the Lifewatch. It uses a real cell phone so noone really knows it's the monitor and you can turn all the alerts to vibrate which is better than all the beeping you get from the Cardionet device. Personally I never got a single good nights sleep while wearing the monitors and sometimes took them off completely because they are so annoying. And for me they revealed nothing. My doctor only got to the bottom of things during my ep study. However I know they are great for many folks.

[cvnurseann]

I am a cardiac nurse and manage all of our clinic's Holters and event monitors, and also I have a serious cardiac arrhythmia and have worn both as well.  The holter is cumbersome because you cannot remove it and there are 5 patches that are taped super good over the electrodes so this definitely irritates the skin, I hear you there! Now the event monitors are actually much less cumbersome....there are 2 leads only and you can remove them to shower etc.  There is also a newer monitor called a non-looping cardiomemo, in which there are NO leads, you keep the monitor in your purse or close by and when you feel symptoms you just put the monitor (which is the size of a cell phone) over the left side of your chest (over your heart) and press record.  These are much more tolerable for patients who don't do well with the looping event recorder (the one you wear patches and 2 leads).  Good luck, let me know what you end up doing :)

[twinbee]

I personally feel the event monitor, even thou you have to wear it longer is soo  mcuh easier to deal with. I think most of the time a 24 hour holter monitor is a big waste of time. My EP usually does the 3 day holter monitor. With the event monitor you don't have as many electodes as the 24 hr monitor does, and it is much, much smaller. I have worn 30 & 60 day event monitors. The only problem I had was some irration from the electrode patches.

[ireneo]

The event monitor is small, about the size of a pager. I used to clip it onto the edge of my pants.

The monitor does a loop. I can't remember how many seconds total. Just as an example, let's say it records 45 seconds at a time. If you feel funny heart beats, you push the button. It will record the 15 seconds before you pushed the button and then the next 30 seconds after you push the button. So don't worry about pushing it fast enough. I think it records longer than that but it's been a couple years since I wore one.

Also, once you push the button, hold still so you don't jiggle the wires too much.

Feel free to record things you want them to see. After so many recordings, you call a phone number and download the recordings, clear the machine and start again. It's very easy to do and they'll explain it to you when you pick up the monitor. Have fun.

[questionnone]

Thanks for the reply guys. I was bothered by the holter because of the EIGHT electrodes that were double taped (just to make sure rolling over during sleep on accident wont do anything). Also, it was held in a sling so the wires did not go well with the sling at all, it would be a different story if it was in a belt carrying case. Hopefully I will be able to catch the whole episode, usually I feel this weird drop type feeling in my chest then my heart starts going so if I react fast enough I may be able to get it nearly at the start of the episode. Do you know if you are allowed to press the record button just in case you know whatever activity you are doing will trigger an episode. I usually feel couple-second-episodes on days when my heart is acting up when triggering it by bending over to pick up something or having my heart rate be inconsistent by sitting, walking, sitting again (it's because of school).

[ireneo]

I've worn event monitors many times. The unit is much smaller than a Holter but wearing one for a month at a time (that's what I had to do) was a bit tedious. After the first week I got pretty comfortable with it. The electrode patches sure did a number on my skin (yes, they were the sensitive skin type patches) but that healed up eventually.

But there's nothing better than an event monitor for those random events that need to be recorded. Note: don't do like I did the first time. I would wait till my PSVT was racing along and then hit the record button, just recording the middle of the event. That didn't help them a  lot. They wanted to see the beginning and the end. If the event lasts long enough, that might take 2 recordings then.  And PAT and PSVT are the same thing.

[itdood]

Serioulsy, the holter bothered you because of the electrodes and you had to carry the EKG?

A multi-day event is a lot more work than the 24 hour and it's more comlex. There's changing batteries, changing electrodes, wiring to the EKG, usually a seperate unit called a transceiver that collects-stores-transmits data back to home base...