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Comment by idDriven | Hacker News Reader

Public Service Announcement: You can just check your pulse manually for free. AFIB will be irregularly irregular.

As as comparing cancer to AFIB it's definitely not accurate to compare the two directly. A very common cause of AFIB in people younger than 60 for example is 'holiday heart' short-term AFIB related to binge drinking, it is generally self-resolving and transitory, and generally does not require treatment especially if asymptomatic. Cancer to my knowledge generally does not self-resolve.

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I have AF and once you're aware of it it's pretty easy to tell when your heart's "gone out". Quick check of pulse confirms it as you say.

The trouble is really when you're first getting to grips with it. That's the scary time.

Everyone's AF is somewhat different though I imagine.

Thanks, apparently this has been one of my less popular comments. I saw quite a few people in the comments before i posted asking if their charge/apple/whatever monitor was accurate and it's likely better to manually check heart rate to see if it's accurate, as opposed to going off random internet data on whether a device is trustworthy.

Monitors tend to be potentially less accurate than manual apical pulse when there is an arrhythmia present, the gold standard for any cardiac is auscultation, aka stethoscope, for a full minute by trained professional.

Medicine is really complex is the short version. Also Sinus Arrythmia is not uncommon.

Actually most cancers do self-resolve in that your immune system kills them before they get large. This is one of the reasons being on immune suppression drugs leads to a significantly higher risk of developing cancer that gets large enough to be detected.

Yeah I should change the wording above to established cancer, thanks.

> Public Service Announcement: You can just check your pulse manually for free.

Not continuously throughout the day, you can't.

60 Beats Per Minute feels a lot different than 100 BPM, which feels different than 140+ BPM. Once you get a feeling for how different BPM's feel to you if you have an abnormal elevation, like rapid heart rate at rest that would be an indication to manually check your pulse.

I'm just trying to say if you want to buy one that's cool but the premise that's it some kind of must-have life-saving accessory is questionable to me for the majority of people.

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