Life is Crazy

In a world that keeps us running crazy, where tech can offer a little bit of peace, we should take advantage! For those suffering from anxiety, and concern for their heart health, AliveCor’s Kardia Mobile offers an effective aide.

With all the running from task to task, not to mention all the worrying we do in our daily existence about family, jobs, and all the extras we get ourselves involved in we have a lot of stress. For many of us, that means anxiety too.

Anxiety can be rough, leaving us feeling worn out and on edge. But more seriously it can become a positive feedback loop that further frays our nerves. More pressure, more stress, more anxiety, feel rotten, repeat… then you think you’re dying: our heart starts beating erratically (or at least we think so, our pulse races, we sweat, and oh yeah, get more nervous. Well, it certainly feels like you are having a heart attack or stroke anyway. In many instances, I myself have experienced exactly this.  

With all the things we get ourselves wrapped up into in life and stress out about, I many times have been over-stressed to the point where I found myself sitting in front of a doctor in an emergency or urgent care unit only to find out that my anxiety/stress was causing my symptoms and inflaming my acid reflux disease (mostly brought on by stress and diet – also affected by stress and anxiety). No fun, do we see the terrible loops being created here???

I’ve been a worrier since I was a kid, but really this started in young adulthood. It never fails, from when this started in my twenties throughout my thirties and now into my early forties, I’ve experienced this. It all starts with chest pains and being terrified that I was having a heart attack or a stroke only to be told that it is my acid reflux or stress/nerve issues.

Despite being told over and over I continually find myself in that situation. Something had to change. With all the talk I do of technology, I’m taking things into my own hands for my health for my life, and for my family. Basically, because I want to be here for them in 30+ years.

I’m just an average guy, not a doctor, so please take this with a grain of salt and make sure to work it over for yourselves. And that means seeking professional help if you feel it necessary. But for me, I’m tired of just listening to doctors tell me that it is all those elements, and yet it always comes back to the point where I feel so much pain that I think I’m dying and then I stress more and more and end up in front of another doctor.

A Technological Change

I’m changing things. This begins with tech, big surprise for me, I know. I decided I was tired of being in the dark and needed the information I can use to start changing things about my health.

Doing some research, I dug around for a good starting point. It wasn’t easy though as the anxiety mounted. One of my biggest issues, telling myself I’m not dying of a heart attack.

That begins with knowing more about my heart. Why, because that’s what my worries kept bringing me back to.

In order to do that, yes, I can go to the doctor twenty more times over the next 10-20 years only to keep being told the same thing, going home and starting to change things only to see myself go back to the same stress patterns that feed on themselves and end up right back with the doctor. Not to mention stressing myself and my acid reflux further and continuing to destroy my inner workings! The tougher part still, continuing to shell out several hundred bucks every time just to be told the same thing from a basic EKG at some doctors office. Then having more financial stress!

Yup, that’s what it comes down to though, the EKG and my heart. I go in, they pop on the electrodes, and bam I’m told my heart looks great. I’m either warned then of stress/anxiety or acid reflux and sent on my way. It relieves the stress temporarily, but it always comes back.

Only now with the painful damage of acid reflux and the ever-present stress that getting older brings with it and all the talk of the world about heart disease. Again, the loop. Even talking about the loop, we end up in a loop. Aaaah! There is no escape… or is there?

Fixing all this means taking my health in my own hands, because let’s face it no one will care about my health more than me and putting tech to work in my life gives me the opportunity to do something about it. That’s cyber-fuel let me tell you.

The Oracle of Our Times: Amazon

So, like everyone else, I ended up on Amazon and now we are here. I was tired of paying several hundred bucks over and over for a couple of minutes on a machine, and a few seconds with a doctor to be told the same thing and end up in the same situations.

The only things that seem to give me relief are occasional massage therapy treatments and finally seeing the doctor so they can tell me that I’m not dying of a heart attack. So, while the massage therapy treatments will remain costly and infrequent, I figured there is something I can do about the peace of mind that comes with an EKG with all the tech advancements towards low cost, personally accessible devices and monitors that have flooded the market over the last several years.

So again, yeah, Amazon. I know its trite and overdone, but its popular for a reason. They are great at linking people and product.

In any case, there I was searching the site for things like “personal EKG,” “mobile heart monitor,” etc. Ya’ know, the SEO optimizing keywords!

In the magic that only Amazon provides a world of devices started cropping up before my very eyes. The one that kept catching my eye, in particular, was the AliveCor Kardia Mobile. I don’t know why other than it seemed popular, fairly low cost (under $100), and was a small, straightforward device. You can see it for yourself too (#CommissionsEarned). There is a fancier “6 Lead” variety too (#CommissionsEarned), but we didn’t test that one. A little bit of digging revealed this video.

Ultimately though, what sold me was the edifying statement that said this device was FDA cleared. So, I knew there had to be quality work behind ensuring its effectiveness and that the professional community agreed to that point. So much so, along with some of the reviews, that I said the hell with it and just bought the damn thing. Alongside a wrist-based blood pressure monitor too. Ya’ know, its Amazon and one thing leads to another… damn they’re good!

Ok, so you know the process, two-day shipping right. Yup, as always good to their word… notices, then a picture of the bloody thing at my doorstep.

So now it’s time for the review, nope… Then the stress kicked in, working the site (you are reading on it now), working full time (ok, for me that means basically four jobs in one 40 hour workweek – no not the side gigs I got rid of but my one “day” job that consumes most of your waking thoughts), worrying about trying to be a dad from four states away, worrying about my relationships, etc… things have been a little hectic.

Getting Down to Business

Needless to say, last month whipped by stress, and despite my desire to do the fancy unboxing and a video showing everything, I never had time. Instead, I just started using it, and have used the device a couple of times.

It keeps telling me things are normal. Yes, I still have the pain of acid reflux (working on that), and the stress that comes with worry, and I know the device tells me it doesn’t detect an heart attack, but the best thing about this little pad known as Kardia Mobile is that it gives me that small dose of peace of mind I would only find previously after a several hundred-dollar doctor visit and for less than a hundred bucks! And if my nerves are taking hold and pushing enhanced states of anxiety, I can take my EKG and send it to a cardiologist for even way less than previous visits $25.00. And, if I’m freaked out beyond that I can get more regular assurance for $10 a month! Even at $120 a year that still better than a single visit to the local doc! Of course, none of this precludes me from going to the ER if I’m maxed out on stress either.

So bottom line, it buys me a little peace of mind! And that is worth its weight in gold.

As for the Details…

Yup, it’s an “FDA-cleared mobile EKG that fits in your pocket. Detects AFib or Normal rhythm in just 30 seconds,” and is as simple as downloading the app, answering a few questions (no you don’t have to sign up for everything to get it to work), and putting fingers to pads! Better yet it really works and is that simple.

This really is a powerful, yet simple little device. As the Chief Medical Officer at AliveCor says, “This is a turning point in remote cardiac monitoring—no other personal ECG in the world can offer this range of determinations and this level of accuracy.”

The only annoying part I’ve found is that you must be in a quiet room. Even in using it just a few times, you quickly notice that the device gets touchy when other noises are present. Since the device works on high-frequency sound waves, it does have an impact. Other than that, it does exactly what it says, it performs, charts, and analyzes an EKG of your current, individual condition.

One of the best parts is that it not only does it but the recognition by the FDA that it continues to be effective and in more ways is mounting. In November of last year, the FDA added “Sinus Rhythm with Supraventricular Ectopy (SVE), Sinus Rhythm with Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs), and Sinus Rhythm with Wide QRS,” lots of fancy heart health stuff, to “Atrial Fibrillation, Bradycardia, and Tachycardia, making six total heart conditions these devices can identify.” Pretty impressive stuff.

As for the data privacy side, from what I can tell I tell when data is released. The app has been very clear in asking for my email for continued communications. Since I ordered my product on January 13^th, received it on the 15^th, and signed up for the emails on the 17^th, I’ve received a total of eight emails about the product (one of which was the Amazon receipt, and another Amazon following up to see if I was happy with the product). Six from AliveCor directly though, and each a simple, easy to understand and follow introduction to the device, applications, and links that direct me to their blog that further explains how I can become a better and more conscious actor in my own health.

With each of those communications, one thing that I am very happy with is that yes, they do collect data, but that they are very upfront about it and the privacy policy is always available as a link (as are terms and conditions).

While I’ve yet to use the service, customer support does seem to be at the ready. They have hours that include the weekends, yes both days, so the company seems to understand the nature of their product and the customer relation to it. In other words, it’s not just a Monday to Friday kind of relationship.

As for functionality, it was a quick download from the Google Play store that worked cleanly on my Samsung smartphone with Android. As for the big ol’ list of compatible devices, so you can make sure it will work for you, check it out here.

And, when it comes to extra information AliveCor has us covered there too with a specialized blog that includes a number of health-related articles that would allow us to better inform ourselves regarding not only the device but heart health in general. You can check that out here. We even found a great page on tweaking our diet for heart health. The best part, they don’t overwhelm you with info and give you a hundred recipes you have to race out and buy a bunch of fancy ingredients for. Instead, they simply offer straightforward nuggets of advice.

Nope, we haven’t signed up for any service or sent in for a review by a cardiologist yet. Yeah, that’s for future blog material, but hey you can’t have everything at once right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t come back. And we love when you come back.

Concluding Thoughts, For Now…

All in all, it does exactly what we hoped it would do. Gives a quick clean reading that I can compare to myself and other charts from my doctors in the past. Yes, it gives too a quick clean understanding of the app’s interpretation of my chart as well. That moment of relief I get from my doctor’s office for a hefty financial sum I now get for that one-time charge. And so far, I can get it on long battery life! No chargers or anything necessary and after several uses seems to be going strong.

This thing is definitely a keeper and just a reminder if you want to get yours you can do so here. Plus, full disclosure, we are not sponsored or promoted by any of the above, but as always, just love great tech. When we find something that worlds to add tech to our lives that makes a definite improvement, we want to share it!

Regarding future plans, we hope to keep on using this to fuel our tech passions in daily life, not to mention giving us a touch of calm in the frantic world we inhabit. In addition, we will look to do a review or two with a specialist and maybe even work toward the monthly plan AliveCor offers. And if we do any of that, we’ll be sure to share it with our community. But, for now, we are just happy with a little extra peace of mind.

So, please check back soon for more Cyber-Fuel to add to your daily tech passions with BCB Cyber. See you next time!