30 day event monitor

[jlollar]

im only 20 years old and having palpitations, they have become a good bit more frequent in the past month and they seem to last anywhere from minutes to hours now and they make me light headed. i finally had my first visit to the cardiologist today, my ekg was fine and i am waiting to hear back about my echo. in the mean time i was set up with a 30 day event monitor, which doesnt seem to bother me at all, yet. i am sure after about a week i will be ready to get rid of it. i have also been given 50mg beta blockers. doctor said that if i experience the palpitations and they start to last and i dont feel like putting up with it, i can either take a half or a whole one just to get rid of it. he said there isnt any need to take it twice daily like most people and i can just use it as i feel i need it. this is mostly just a follow up post considering i posted a week or more ago asking for advice about my problems.

i do have some questions though, mostly just if anyone has any wisdom to pass down about the monitor or the beta blockers. also i got it today at about noon, and now it is one in the morning and the monitor already says i have 6 days of battery left? so am i nost supposed to wear this 24/7? just wondering i guess. but! i am excited to finally have seen someone and to begin the process of getting information on my condition.

[tom_h]

Beta blockers are made to be taken daily, constantly.  I use to chew one when my heart started to race per my GP.  But when I told my cardiologistnthatnI did that, he told me they didn't work work that way.  So I took a steady dose every day.  You will know if you've max out your personal dosage level.  You'll feel lethargic,and perhaps dizzy when you standup.  You'll also perhaps get a heavy feeling in your chest.  This happened to me at around 200mg/day.  Good luck!

[jlollar]

Even if my heart isn't racing too badly, is it ok to take a beta blocker? The doctor said to take them as needed. But say idk a half an hour ago,  my heart beat was just slightly elevated. More towards 100 i guess so still normal. But i felt the tiny increase and i began to get hot and very light headed. I sat down and even to keep my head up felt like work. My head felt like it weight so much. And i had a little shortness of breath. I know beta blockers lower your blood pressure amd heart rate, so i guess im worroed about my heart rate not being high enough to take it and then my heart rate gets tooo low. You know? Also is it ok to take one while driving? I have a three hour drive back to college tomorrow.

[jlollar]

Yeah it can autorecord so i made sure to sleep in it last night, which actually wasn't a problem at all. And i just sent my first recordings a few minutes ago so everything is working out fine for now. But they gave it to me becauae I've been having palpitations, shortness of breath, and my heart time will randomly be elevated for hours at a time. They said when it is elevated that it isn't seriously high but with my family history, they would really like to keep an eye on things right now while nothing is serious and maybe see what happens before it's a problem.

[tom_h]

3 memory slots is typical.  Yes, wear it 24/7 except for showering of course.  Make sure those pads are correctly placed and wear it religiously. I'm sure it also is equipped with auto record capabilities to capture anything at night while you're asleep.  What kind of problems are you experiencing?

50mg./day of metoprolol is pretty low.  Even if you take it twice a day, it's fairly on the low side.  So you have a lot of room to work with for adjustment. That's usually the first one physician's go with.  Been around a long time and is cheap and easily tolerated.

[jlollar]

Mine can hold up to three recordings without being full. Im about to go to my girlfriends house right now to phone in my first two. I have to do that because we don't have a landline at my house. And the beta blocker is metoprolol tartrate.

[tom_h]

What beta blocker are you on?

[tom_h]

If it's an SVT type of arrhythmia, it's also good to hit the button when you convert back to normal rhythm.  I'm. Assuming your recorder has several memory slots?  Have you had to phone any recordings in yet?

[jlollar]

It's a 30 day event monitor that records automatically on a fifteen second loop. So when i have an episode i click record i recordd everything from the beginning of the current loop to the end of the next minute or two. That's really cool because that means it can possibly catch the very beginning of the episode. It has a seven day battery life but it comes included with a months worth of batteries and a months supply of electrodes (that i change every three days).

[MichelleP_3811]

I had an event monitor to catch my tachycardia but once it was caught I didn't have to wear it anymore.  Do you have one that is recording continuously or one that you trigger when you feel an episode?  Mine was one were I recorded per episode though mine did not have any indication of battery life so if you are to wear yours for a whole month and it says it only has 6 days worth of battery life then I would let the cardiologist office know this so they can get you another monitor that has more battery life.  Well good luck with the monitor, keep us posted on how everything turns out.