Apple Watches saved many lives by giving timely notifications about heart health, which helped the owners receive early medical treatment.
Recently, an Apple Watch saved Sneha Sinha, a 35-year-old woman from Delhi who suffered from atrial fibrillation (AFib), a rapid and abnormal heart rhythm. Sneha Sinha is a policy researcher. She said that on April 9, late in the evening, she began experiencing a rapid heart rate.
Initially, she presumed it to be a panic attack due to stress and performed deep breathing exercises and drank water, but there were no results. When her heart palpitations persisted, she wore her Apple Watch Series 7 to check on her condition. The watch showed a high heart rate and advised her to visit a doctor. She again ignored it and scheduled to get a cardiologist appointment in the morning.
However, around midnight, the Apple Watch again alerted Sneha to an extremely high heart rate of 230 bpm and the onset of atrial fibrillation and again advised her to visit the doctor immediately. Sneha immediately contacted her friend for aid to reach the hospital. She was rushed to the emergency room at the nearby Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj.
The doctors at the hospital could not read her blood pressure. They immediately administered oxygen support and medications and also performed a carotid sinus massage to stabilize her rapid heart rate; however, these interventions did not normalize her condition. After assessing Sneha’s condition, the doctors decided to administer 3DC (direct current) shocks (50+50+100 joules) to revive her heart and sinus rhythm. Afterward, her heart and sinus rhythm were revived. Later, she was shifted to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).
Sneha said that if the Apple Watch had not alerted her of the serious condition around midnight, she would not have gone to the hospital and would have lost her life, considering that the watch has now become her constant companion. She also said that she would not have measured her heart rate had the watch not been there. Whatever she had to say to the doctors was based on Apple Watch readings. Sneha is recovering now, and the doctors have diagnosed her condition as a form of tachycardia (an increased heart rate for any reason), which can be triggered by exercise or stress.
After she returned to her residence, she wrote a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook on April 23 to thank him and his Apple team for making such an advanced and precise ECG recording app. Within a few hours, Tim Cook replied to Sneha, “I am glad you sought the medical attention and treatment you needed. Thanks so much for sharing your story.”.
Sneha said, “After the harrowing experience, I realized it is very important for us to understand our health, our sleep patterns, and our heart rates as we all deal with stress.”.
A PhD degree holder in science policy studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University said that smartwatches are a very good way of keeping track of their daily activities and their heart rate.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/SB)