Nick, a 32-year-old avid athlete has suffered from heart palpitations since high school. They had never been consistent or debilitating and therefore his primary care physician concluded that it was likely due to stress. However, even after trying medication to reduce anxiety, Nick noticed that his heart would still race especially after exercise. As a result, Nick started tracking his health with consumer heart rate monitors for months to see if he could detect anything that might explain the cause of his palpitations. Unfortunately for Nick nothing was able to identify a cause. He assumed the heart rate monitor was incorrectly showing a high rate and ignored his health problem based on this assumption.

Nick learned about a new device that would ultimately be the answer he had been searching for, the AliveCor Mobile ECG. After getting the device, Nick began using it multiple times a day, especially when he felt symptoms. Nick also brings the device with him during exercise to monitor his heart rhythms.

“For me having an easy to use mobile medical device like the AliveCor Mobile ECG gave me the feeling of taking action and being in control of what was happening in my body. It’s so easy to use, and its ability to record anywhere in real time provides me with a new perspective on my health.”

After using the device for a few weeks, Nick made an appointment to meet with a cardiologist to see if anything more could be identified with the ECG recordings he had been taking after his initial examination. Nick was referred to an electrophysiologist who identified delta waves in his ECG, typical of Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome (WPW), a condition characterized by extra electrical pathways in the heart, episodes of rapid heart rates, and has serious complications like sudden death.

Nick’s decided to move forward with an ablation, a common procedure to treat WPW. After a successful procedure, most of his symptoms are alleviated, however, Nick will always have WPW and his heart rate is still elevated at times. Therefore, he continues to use his AliveCor Mobile ECG to track his heart health. “I am so thankful that I learned about the AliveCor Mobile ECG because I was unlikely to discover I had WPW until something more serious happened,” describes Nick.