Apple watch showing AFib?
Hi everyone, I hope this doesn’t sound like a silly question. I don’t know much about AFib and I’m wondering whether this is something I should be concerned about.
This morning, the ECG feature on my watch showed a possible AFib reading once. I repeated the ECG several times afterwards and all of the later readings were normal.
For some extra context: a few months ago I started having episodes of shortness of breath, acid reflux, a feeling of lump in the throat, and chest pain. A nurse did an ECG which showed some abnormalities, so I was referred to the hospital for further tests. Most of the tests came back normal, although a second ECG showed the same abnormalities again. In the end, I was basically told it was probably GERD and that my heart was most likely fine.
I was referred for an echocardiogram, but because I’m 25F and otherwise healthy, I was told the wait could be quite long. I’ve now been waiting around 6 months. Since then, I’ve been back to my GP a couple of times because of the shortness of breath/chest pain, but no major concerns were raised and I was told to continue waiting for the echo appointment.
I know smartwatches aren’t medical devices and false positives can happen, but given the previous ECG abnormalities and symptoms, I’m wondering whether a one-off AFib reading is something I should follow up on, or whether this is fairly common. Would the GP take this seriously? I am a little worried I’ll be dismissed again.
Around the time all of my symptoms first started, I developed pretty severe health anxiety and began overthinking every symptom/sensation because I had always been pretty health, so part of me is worried that I might be doing that again here!
I’d really appreciate any thoughts/advice/words of encouragement! Sorry for the long post!