Heart Rate and Seizures

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NaderH

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I have heard that heart rate changes occur when a person has a seizure. The Apple iWatch can monitor this and report it to another Apple device like an iPhone. However, I would like to know whether or not false positives can occur. For example, a number of scenarios where the heart rate goes up due to non-seizure reasons may cause false alerts. Some of them include the following.
- getting startled by something
- having sudden stress
- having sudden anxiety for some reason
- making various sudden intentional movements like bending on the floor to clean something
- blinking
- lifting weights
- breathing in air by taking a deep breath

While accurate alerts are valuable, false alerts can create problems. I need some opinions regarding this.

Nader
 
Hi Nader,

I'm no Dr. but it may be the seizure med you are taking that's causing this. When I started Vimpat I wouldn't be
doing anything but relaxing and then all of the sudden I would get a rapid heartbeat for a few seconds and then it would
stop. You are correct if a person has heart problems it can trigger seizures for some people. I saw a heart specialist a
few yrs. ago to be sure my seizures weren't coming from heart problems and if this continues with you, you may want
to do the same thing. I wish you the very best and May God Bless You!

Sue
 
You are correct about the heart rate increasing with a seizure. My VNS implant is based on that where the implant goes off if the heart rate increases and I think it detects a large amount of an increase not just a small amount maybe brought on by those things you listed.
 
Using my iPhone which keeps track of my heart rate for me, I do not find that it goes up in majority of my seizures. I have seen it on occasion going up but I believe it is a somewhat panic mode knowing the seizure is coming. I am sure many of us are different, depending on the drug we take, where in our brain the seizure comes from, are we tired, panic mode, subconscious period of our days... etc. But that is merely my guess.
 
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