Every so often, we hear stories about how the Apple Watch has saved someone’s life with its EKG feature, and now there’s another story. A Brazilian man shared the story of how the Apple Watch detected tachycardia and alerted him so he could seek medical assistance.
Apple Watch detects tachycardia
9to5Mac spotted the story, which Jorge Freire Jr. shared on his Facebook page. He said he was returning from Sao Paulo when he noticed that his Apple Watch start buzzing. He checked the notification, which said his heart rate had been above 140 for more than 10 minutes.
When he checked the Heart Rate app, it showed 170 beats per minute, and all he was doing was walking. He went home to lie down for 30 minutes to see if his heart rate would return to normal. It did slow a bit to 160 beats per minute, but the Apple Watch still detected tachycardia.
He went to the emergency room, and when he showed his Apple Watch to the medical personnel, they immediately sent him back. His blood pressure was “super high,” and he was in tachycardia.
“That little watch was 100% correct,” he wrote.
Tachycardia occurs when someone’s heart rate is faster than it should be while they are resting. It’s normal for the heart rate to increase during exercise or in response to stress, but tachycardia occurs when the heart is beating faster than normal. Although it sometimes doesn’t cause any symptoms or problems, it can result in cardiac arrest if left untreated for a long time.
Heart problem treated
Freire wrote that after all the exams were finished, there were no signs that he had had a heart attack, but the doctor was able to prescribe medication to lower his heart rate. He still has to do some tests to find out what might be wrong with his heart, although doctors believe he was experiencing stress at the end of the year and that he wasn’t taking his blood pressure medication correctly.
He believes the Apple Watch saved him by detecting his tachycardia because he didn’t feel like anything was wrong. Because of this incident, he recommends the Apple Watch to everyone, adding that the device even caught his heart problem without the ECG having been rolled out to Brazil yet.
