u/MindlessPleasuring

I have both a pacer which I use for continuous heart tracking and a verity sense which is paired with the pacer, that I use while pole dancing as watches get in the way.

The closest things I can think of are gymnastics and strength training, but our warm up tends to be a mixture of cardio, stretches and strength training.

Would indoor other be the best profile? I'm not too fussed about all the calorie calculations, it's mostly heart rate stuff as I have POTS and am still learning how my body reacts to exercise.

Also for resistance training, would strength training be the best profile? When I'm not doing regular classes, I do classes that focus on conditioning and flexibility so it's mostly resistance training.

Edit: while the price of the watch itself is something I'll compromise on due to tax time coming up next month, I cannot afford an ongoing subscription right now and excluding smart watches from my search is not something I'll fold on. I can't wear smart watches during exams even with special considerations and I don't want a phone on my wrist 24/7. I also need something with a small watch face and prefer the inspire style of watch face because I have very small wrists and bigger ones are uncomfortable and don't fit properly. Lastly in case more people recommend them, unfortunately visibility is not available in Australia 😔 I'm seriously okay with cheap knock offs if they have an app, tracks sleep and can respond to heart rate spikes without freaking out like my fitbit has started doing. The discrete look with a screen is so hard to find outside of fitbits.

Edit 2: thank you so much for the recommendations even if they don't suit my needs. I have multiple watches and brands to look into now from both big brands and cheaper brands. Hopefully this helps other people who have been screwed over by Google Health. If I remember, I'll edit this post in the next few months with what I decided to go with and make an updated post for others in my position.

Edit 3: thank you so much again. Opened Reddit for the first time today and had a bunch of notifications. The top contenders at the moment are the Garmin Vivosmart 5 and the Samsung Fit 3. I'm leaning towards the Garmin even though it's more expensive as I've heard good things about them and the shape is a bit better for my wrist. I'll hopefully be purchasing it in a few weeks as I have a few medical appointments that take priority at the moment and will try remember to make an update once I've used it for a bit. Thanks again for all your recommendations. Even though not all of them suit my needs, you've given recommendations to so many brands I hadn't heard of or didn't realise made fitness trackers and smart watches with these sensors. Your recommendations will help others jumping ship from fitbit or are looking for something new. The fitness tracker megathread is a good place to start but there weren't many cheaper and non smart watch recommendations there and some things aren't available in Australia. Thank you again for the help. You guys are amazing.

Edit 4: Also, for any Aussies reading this, PLEASE make a complaint to the ACCC as this new app has rendered devices useless and unable to perform the functions advertised. If enough people complain, the ACCC will investigate and Google may be forced to give refunds to people whose watches are out of warranty or who are being denied warranty claims by retailers. This also ensures low income people who rely on a tracker like many of us do, are able to get refunds to go towards a new tracker. We did it to Bethesda with FO76, we've done it to larger companies, we can do it to Google. No company is exempt from Australian consumer law, no matter how big and how rich.

So I rely on my Fitbit Inspire 3 to prevent fainting episodes. It used to respond quickly to my heart rate spikes so I could look at my wrist and figure out if I'm dizzy because of my POTS or I'm just getting a bit of vertigo and don't need to sit down.

Since the move to Google Health, my fitbit no longer reacts to my heart rate spikes correctly. Either it doesn't react at all or it jumps up 60-80BPM then back down to my resting 2 seconds later and I have to restart the device. I also can't track when I've sat down for long enough and if it's safe to stand again because my Fitbit no longer reacts to heart rate spikes.

What I'm looking for is a basic fitness tracker in a similar shape to the inspire 3 as my wrists are too small for bulky watch faces. I'm also unemployed and want something under $160 AUD but if there's absolutely nothing that'll work, I can wait until tax time next month. No smart watches and no apple devices as I don't have an iphone. I also don't need a big name brand and I don't need fancy features either. Just a basic heart rate monitor with a screen so I can easily check my heart rate, an app that has my resting heart rate and daily graph, and basic sleep tracking as that helps me track possible manic episodes (don't need insights, just time asleep and sleep cycles)

I'm not going to go into detail on my issues as that's what the megathread is for (it's in my comment history if you want to know what the problem is), but as the title says, my Fitbit doesn't work as advertised. Basic features which I purchased the Fitbit for and have been vital for managing my health no longer work. These are things that are standard in fitness trackers such as heart rate and sleep tracking.

I don't know if it'll get anywhere, but if you're Aussie, it's worth reporting to the ACCC. The worst that can happen is nothing gets done. Our fitness trackers literally do not function. If enough people complain, something may happen even if it's just getting a refund for our trackers so we can buy another brand. It's happened before with huge companies.

So for some context, I have bipolar 1 and reacted poorly to SSRIs and even worse to SNRIs. My gabapentin alone isn't enough on bad days and when I start seeing a local psychiatrist and have more support, I want to explore amitriptyline as my pain specialist originally wanted me on both ami and gabapentin but I was too scared to try it due to how I react to SSRIs and SNRIs. I don't have many options for pain relief due to my bipolar but I want to try amitriptyline before going CBD oil or medicinal cannabis route. My pain isn't progressing thankfully but I can't handle it on bad days.

In terms of my care team, I just have my GP, psychiatrist and psychologist. I haven't seen a pain specialist since I moved states 3 years ago and my gynae discharged me from his care when he referred me to the pain specialist as he investigated and treated everything he could. I'm also located in Australia and reached my safety net so if I need another specialist, it's affordable.

For people here with bipolar who are sensitive to antidepressants, if any of you tried amitriptyline for your pain or another tricyclic antidepressant, how did you react when compared to SSRIs and SNRIs? If it worked out, did you have to adjust your bipolar meds as well or are they still the same?

Just to be clear, I will be working with my care team to decide whether it's worth the risk and making sure I have enough supervision between my GP, psychologist, psychiatrist and the people around me. I'm also on much stronger medication than when I last tried an antidepressant and my psychiatrist can adjust me meds as needed so it could be okay. I just want to hear other people's experiences good or bad.