Question about holter monitor

[leealee]

I had a holter monitor on for 24 hours, and the results were negative.  Nothing bad was on the result sheet. However, I the only strenous thing I did was a mile walk or so. I feel something is wrong with my heart, would the holter have picked up on it? Or should I have ran and worked out?  The reason I didnt do it cause I didn't feel up to it.  I also had an echo, ekg, and others and they all came back negative. Help me please

[mariop]

It depends on how frequent they occur.  In an EP Study the doctor tries to induce the arrhythmia, but there's no guarantee that it will occur.  If the condition occurs a holter monitor will certainly catch it, but there's no way to guarantee that it will occur during the time you are wearing the holter monitor.

[run2000]

Are you saying it is hard to capture pvc's or vt on a 24 hour holter? I am currently on the list for an ep study after many tests, cardiac mri, echo's and even a heart biopsy.  However the ep has never had me wear a holter for more than 24 hours,and that was just once. Thanks

[mariop]

To my mind that is another deficiency of the cardiology tools; it took two weeks on a heart monitor for my VTach to show its ugly head, and then it took 4 more months to show up again.  So, what do they really expect to catch in 24 hours; or worse yet, an EKG takes only 15 seconds.  What do they hope to catch in 15 seconds?

[anacyde]

If you had a serious, ongoing problem, the Holter would have shown it in all likelihood.  My doctors have always told me to go about my activites as usual, and if I know of something that triggers the arrythmia, do it on the Holter so they can see it.  In my case, exercise was a trigger, so I went NUTS for 24 hours, lol!  I rollerbladed for an hour through a sea of palpitations, then the next morning I did 30 minutes of super intense Tae Bo.  I got all my worries captured.  Much to my releif they were all just benign PACs.  About 55 of them, some couplets, but all benign.

You can request another Holter and instigate your palpitations intentionally like I did, if you so choose, but ultimately it depends on your comfort levels with your current results.

[ireneo]

Unless you're having noticeable arrhythmias every day the Holter monitor may not "catch" it. It's not unusual for some folks to wear the monitor for a day and have normal results. You may have to wear an event monitor for 2 - 4 weeks. It's not as bad as it sounds. I've worn them a few times. Then when you feel a particular unusual rhythm you can press the button and it will record the event. The doctor can review it and see what's going on.