Random A-fib

[Clarenbach]

I was in A-fib and had a Cardioversion done a couple of weeks ago. My bloodpressure machine has a symbol on it that will come on if it detects A-fib. Prior to the ablasion it came on all the time. After the ablation it will come on randomly. I can take my blood pressure and the symbol will come on and take it again it it will stay off. Or it will come on and when I retake in about an hour it will be off. Could it be the blood pressure machine is too sensative? Any ideas?

[DeltaDawn23]

My bp machine will register irregular beats, then 5 minutes later it's fine.  I think the machines are very sensitive and the cardiology nurse has confirmed this.  Usually you know when it's afib.  Sometimes my machine shows it and I didn't have a clue.

[is_something_wrong]

Hello.

The symbol on your blood pressure machine will mark if it senses any irregularities in your heart rhythm. It is not at all specific for atrial fibrillation.

This will of course not rule out that you may be in atrial fibrillation on occation, and I would recommend going to a doctor or emergency room to register an EKG (not because it's an emergency, but whichever is faster) when you have irregular heart beats, to confirm or rule out that you still have runs of atrial fibrillation, or to detect if you suffer any new arrhythmia.

You may have runs of AF, you may have a lot of PACs (premature atrial beats) which is very common in the setting of having atrial fibrillation. You may also have PVCs or other arrhythmias.

An alternative (which possibly is better) is to ask for a 24 hour monitoring and note in the log if you get irregular heart beats.

You may also try to detect your pulse when the blood pressure monitor is marking irregular heart rhythm. Atrial fibrillation is fairly easy to recognize.