Home Monitor vs. App

monitor vs

by new to pace.... - 2022-07-12 12:15:43

I was told if i was to travel more than a month then take the monitor with me. Which sounds like a pain, To keep having to set it up each time. Certainly is better not to have to worry about transmissions, with the monitor.  Does it automaticly.

new to pace

APP vs. Monitor

by AgentX86 - 2022-07-12 14:10:06

I've had both.  App, hands down!  I hated the monitor, so much so that I threw the hockey puch under the bed until the batteries ran down.  I'd have to fish it out and put it back on the cradle to charge it before I could do a transmission.  I was exceedingly happy when I took it to Pak Mail to return it to Medtronic.

There really isn't anything  that you need to do with the app other than start it once.  You may have to restart it when you cycle power but it it didn't start itself, I get a message from Medtronic that it's not running. It runs in the background and, other than battery usage (it is rather a battery hog) you don't have to do anything with it. 

You're carrying you phone everwhere so if there is an event that your EP wants to track, it'll send data to your device tech, then to him.  It can do automatic transmissions on schedule, even if the puck is under the bed.  You can also initiate it anytime you're concerned. You're notified of each transmission and the receipt of the transmission by your device tech (or whomever is the designated recipient) is logged. There is also an activity tracker but it's pretty lame.

None of this can be done by the bedside box.  The only things the bedside box did for me was to annoy the hell out of me and give me an example of the positively worst  engineering possible.  Even the Chinese are better than that. It's a good thing they don't design bridges.

Bottom line: APP.

Bedside monitor

by Lavender - 2022-07-12 19:19:41

I have a latitude monitor-Boston Scientific. If I go away for a short period, I don't have to bring it along. I have it under a bedside stand to defer the green shining light. I ignore it. 
 

I believe it was dwelch that said the monitor can shorten the battery life of the pacemaker so I wouldn't like that, but this is what I was given. I know it does a pacemaker check every six months whilst I sleep. I have phone app for it but it's only to let me know it's working and tell me when my next check will be. 

Phone App vs Nightstand Monitor

by Marybird - 2022-07-12 21:35:46

Disneyfan, I think they told my daughter the same thing about having issues with phone app monitors when she got her Medtronics generator replaced in 2020, and she ended up with the wireless nightstand monitor. She's ok with that on her nightstand, the light goes out at night so nothing to see.

My sister also had a wireless Medtronics pacemaker but she used the phone app, and seemed to be happy with it. She just had to be sure it was running as it turned off sometimes when she set her phone on the power saving mode.

I have a wireless St. Jude pacemaker with a nightstand monitor. No choice, as I understand it, of a phone app for these pacemakers, but the monitor just does its thing unobtrusively. It sends reports every 3 months as scheduled, and sometimes unscheduled alerts if the afib acts up or something ( rats on me, I say). I drape a sock over the green light on the front of the monitor so I don't see it at night. 

I don't think I'd take the monitor with me on a trip, it's a bit unwieldy to tuck it into the luggage, and I just don't want to. If I knew it was coming up for a scheduled reading during my trip I might notify the monitor company about it, otherwise they say they will call if the scheduled transmission hasn't been done within 3 days. I'm scheduled to have some major surgery in a couple weeks and will be in the hospital for several days afterwards, and plan to leave my monitor friend at home then. But I don't think I will need it there anyway. 

App vs Monitor

by Dixie Chick 65 - 2022-07-12 22:22:01

I've had the Medtronic app for over 2 years and zero problems with it. It automatically sends in a transmission every 3 months. Also has a dashboard with different headings. One of these will show your activity, another is device info, etc. I've never had the monitor and I'm glad I've got the app.

dashboard" 

Thumbs up for monitor

by Daedalus - 2022-07-13 01:01:45

My Biotronik PM syncs nightly with the Cardio Messenger monitor which then immediately sends off the daily report to the company via cell towers.  The data can then  be accessed by my cardiologist at any time.  The messenger device is smaller than my cell phone, has no light that may annoy at night, and unobtrusively sits on my nightstand.  
Hassle free.  Maintenance free.  
Can't beat it. 

Monitor vs app

by disneyfan - 2022-07-13 20:05:48

Thank you all for your input and experiences!  I appreciate,it!