Without going too much off topic, he prefers ‘listening to your body with my own instruments and knowledge’.
I wanted to show him the heart rate messages I sometimes got, but got told he doesn’t want to see it as it ‘is clearly a regular measurement mistake and we shouldn’t believe these devices’). As of today I still have heartrates around 157 sometimes (without doing anything exciting), but was told it’s some kind of hypochondria.
Well, doc knows best it seems.
If your tachycardia presents with no other symptoms, heart-related risk factors, or obvious underlying causes then many doctors probably would tell you not to worry unless it becomes frequent and is noticeable (you feel it even without your watch alerting you). If it is frequent then you should see a doctor willing to take it more seriously. Some years ago I was feeling all kinds of flip flops in my chest as well as occasional tachycardia. My doctor referred me to a cardiologist who had me wear a Holter monitor for a couple of weeks. It did not detect any abnormal rhythms (like AFib), so he said it likely was anxiety. This was during the recession, which was a very stressful time for my family. The fact that I had it checked out by a cardiologist and was reassured helped my anxiety about it tremendously, and I was able to focus on reducing my anxiety knowing that was the likely cause. After another month the episodes stopped. Even though it turned out that I had no heart problems, getting referred to a cardiologist ended up being a positive thing because it helped eliminate the symptoms I was having.
I’m not a doctor, so take this with a grain of salt. Doctors vary in how agressive they are with testing and treatment. My brother is a doctor and he disagrees sometimes with how casually other doctors treat certain types of symptoms or information (he has told certain family members that they need to insist on a test from time to time). That said he will also tell you if he thinks you’re just being anxious and getting worked up for little reason. Doctors don’t just listen to your body. They also take into account your risk factors for certain conditions. The more risk factors you have, the more likely they are to recommend further testing or examination.
Some doctors see devices like the Apple Watch as a positive that helps keep patients engaged with their health, and others see it as a tool for gathering useless metrics in an uncontrolled way that will do more harm than good. They worry it will increase hypochondria and lead to tests and treatments that cause the patient unnecessary pain and anxiety. The reality is that it is likely to do both. Personally I’m glad my doctor is willing to include this type of data in a conversation. That doesn’t mean he will always find it useful, but it might be useful in the future depending on what else is going on with my health. Context is everything.
