Anyone here ever wear a holter monitor?

[commander bunnypants]

what should I expect?

CB

[underpants]

1. Do you have to wear one?

This is all I've found.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003877.htm

[commander bunnypants]

2. yea

next week or when I get back from san fran

CB

[Beausoir]

3. I did.

It's a piece of cake. They just hook up the leads and then you have this little sling thing that carries the actualy monitor. Just go about your daily routine as per doctors instructions.

You keep alittle journal detailing your activities of the day..so they can correspond that to what your heart is doing at the time.

I wore mine to monitor heart palps. The night I had it on, my father's health crashed, he had to be revived by the paramedics and transferred from his skilled care facility to ICU. MAN. I had A LOT of palps that night. :o

[Enraged_Ape]

4. My wife did.

It's like wearing a Walkman for 24 hours. No sweat. Because of the electrodes, I think there might be some restrictions on showering, IIRC, but that's about it.

[Blue Diadem]

5. Years and years ago, not sure if they have changed in anyway.

All I really remember was having to document everything (bathroom use, meals, walking up stairs, driving, carrying things etc.) so they could see if there was any correlation between activity and my heart rate. This was around 20 yrs ago..so I was a young Mom with 3 kids, running here and there. At the followup visit, the Dr. said I was clocked at 180 beats a minute for 1 1/2 hrs from the time I got out of bed. All I remembered was feeling hyper. They assumed MVP but then did a echo and said it was undetermined. My heart rate has varied greatly..I've also had it be very slow(upper 30's) for a few hours when I was hospitalized for a few days.

I don't remember that wearing it hindered me in anyway, it was just a pain to document all my activities.

Hope all is well with you. Good luck!

[Enraged_Ape]

7. I forgot about the documentation thing

Kind of a PITA, but at least it only lasts a day.

[Blue Diadem]

11. True..24 hrs isn't so bad. n/t

[miss_kitty]

6. yes

that whatever is wrong won't occur while you are wearing it.

[bertha katzenengel]

8. Yep.

Mild discomfort, just from being connected to wires, and from not being able to bathe.

Just do whatever you can to remember to push that little button with every event. They only got about 12 good hours on me, because at first I kept forgetting to push the button.

It's not really that bad, and it's very helpful in diagnosis. Best wishes!

[Blue Diadem]

10. I forgot about the button

Yes..I remember forgetting to push it too.

[LaraMN]

9. My husband did.

It was not a big deal, he just found it annoying. Tape stuck to his chest hair.

[ahem]

12. It's super easy.

They just apply stickies on your chest and sides that are connected to the monitor (which is like a walkman tape player.) You wear it for a day and make notations of your daily activities and there's a button to push when you feel an problem (like palps/arrhythmias.) That's all there is to it. :)

[Midlodemocrat]

13. I had to wear one.

Pretty simple. They attach the electrodes with tape to certain parts of your body to try and pick up any abnormal rhythm.

I think the one I had was an 'alert' type system, whereby when I was feeling fluttering or anything like that, I pushed a button.

Other ones are 24 hour ones that will record any abnormalities.

[commander bunnypants]

14. Thanks all

palps are driving me insane.

Got a bunch of Ativan for my trip to san fran

[Beausoir]

15. Does the ativan help the palps?

Just curious.

Is the ativan because you don't like to travel? Or because you are having palps?

I have had palps for 5 years. PVC's actually. As many as 230 episodes in 24 hours. They claim they are harmless but I do wonder.

I get them worst at night and take an ativan. It helps.

[commander bunnypants]

16. for anxiety over the whole thing

I love to fly but having an anxiety attack at 30000 feet scares the heeby jeebies out of me

The anxiety of having an anxiety attack is worse than the attack it self


CB

[miss_kitty]

18. bananas are good*

Potassium.*

That's why nothing really happened when I was wearing the thing. I was having major palpitations and it turned out a diuretic I was taking was causing me to piss away my potassium.
They stuck the holter monitor on me and changed my diuretic to Maxide. And told me to eat bananas (to me one of the most disgusting foods on the planet.)

*not intended as medical advice.

[Redstone]

17. No excitement, just 24 hours of annoyance. No big deal.

Redstone

[jim3775]

19. Purchase the dvd of season 4 of Curb your Enthusiasm

There is an entire episode that revolves around a holter monitor.