OMRON Blood Pressure Cuff Sensing Irregular Heart Beats?

Hello all,

Haven't posted in a while. Mostly because I'm still going through vestibular therapy (started on Tuesday) and I have an MRA of my neck scheduled for tomorrow. I just returned from a family vacation (after recovering decently from COVID) and I can say the vacation was exactly what I needed, both physically and mentally. It was very calming and yet I was also able to get lots of steps in (over 15,000 a day) without issue. I did experience random vision/motion issues where I essentially just didn't feel very good for a period of time -- all things considered, they were manageable and didn't ruin the trip, if anything, just made me lose my appetite. 
 

Anyways, long story short, I have an OMRON blood pressure cuff that checks my BP and also does my BPM. I noticed that 2 out of 10 readings on average (I check twice a day) detect an "irregular heart beat". I've noticed this since getting the device (around late Sept/early Oct) and always just kind of shrugged it off. I assumed between my pacemaker and mechanical valve, this was normal? In fact, when I was in and out of the hospital in Sept for the PM, the nurses all made comments that my EKG looked "weird" but that was likely "my normal".

Would a "weird" EKG fall in line with an "irregular heart beat" detected on my BP cuff?

I know everyone is big on "how do you feel" vs being alarmed and I can honestly say, when these are detected I range from feeling fine to blah, really just depends if the vision/motion stuff is present or not, which continues to mostly be random. 
 

I guess the reason for posting and asking it because, if this isn't something that's normal, I will definitely inform my PM nurse tomorrow before/after my MRA as they tend to be able to get messages to my cardiac team quicker than me just dropping a message or phone call. 
 

Take care 

Jer


3 Comments

Irregular heartbeat

by AgentX86 - 2022-01-20 00:31:49

No, it's not normal but very common.  You'll see people here talking about Afib quite regularly here.  If your heartbeat is irregularly irregular (chaotic), it's most likely Afib.  Most pacemakers won't do anything for Afib.  A few can try to "outpace" Afib but it's not usually successful.

You certainly can call your PM tech but it's still a good idea to message the doctor.  They usually have a nurse screen the messages.  Most aren't important enough for the doctor but the important ones will filter through.  His nurse should answer the rest.

I think you should at least attempt to get a message through before the procedure. This is something your doctor should know about to make sure the MRA isn't a waste of time/money.

Irregular heart beats

by Gemita - 2022-01-20 07:46:24

Jer, you ask a strange question:  “Would a “weird” EKG fall in line with an “irregular heart beat” detected on your BP cuff.   You should have asked the nurses who commented what they meant by “weird” although I suspect if they were concerned they would not have discharged you from hospital at the time of this finding.  

Perhaps they meant weird as in “a pacemaker paced ECG”, since a paced ECG may well look different from an unpaced one, especially if the pacemaker is “pacing” at the time of the ECG recording, rather than just sitting back and sensing the rhythm.  Sometimes A&E/ER doctors have difficulty interpreting a paced rhythm and these ECGs may need to be read/confirmed by a cardiologist with experience reading paced rhythms.  This has happened to my husband on many occasions during A&E admission.

Perhaps you need longer term monitoring to check what is happening and yes “how you feel” is often what doctors really want to know about, (at least mine do) rather than what you are detecting on your home monitor.  When we are symptomatic, this usually triggers investigations and treatment.  Seeing an irregular symbol on my blood pressure monitor or other monitoring equipment in the absence of any significant symptoms would be of little interest to my doctors.  However, on the other hand, some patients are completely asymptomatic which is why it is wise to ask for longer term monitoring to try to catch the irregular rhythm present.  

I always feel my irregular rhythms and they do cause symptoms, especially when these are prolonged and frequent.   Go by how you feel Jer and you won’t go wrong.  If you feel something is wrong, then alert your doctors.  Irregular beats, as AgentX86 says, are common for many of us, but if you become "symptomatic" with say, benign arrhythmias like ectopics, or develop runs of a regular or irregular tachy arrhythmia, these should be investigated.

Good luck Jer with all your investigations

 

Omron blood pressure cuff

by TAC - 2022-01-20 09:07:55

The Omron blood pressure cuff may show an irregular pulse sign if it catches a PVC.   Only if the irregular pulse sign appears in several continuous takes it could be considered AF. An occasional irregular sign should be ignored. 

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