Getting started with the Zio Patch
Recently, I pulled my Zio patch out and “installed” it on my body. This is my second one. The first one was back in the Spring, and my cardiologist office placed it.
So, what is a Zio patch? Apparently it’s the more fashionable, tech-savvier replacement to the holter monitor. At least, that’s how it was explained to me.
The idea is you peel and stick it to your chest, wear it for a couple of weeks, send it back in the mail, and then a report magically gets generated for you and your doctor to review. It has a button that you can press if you feel symptoms that you want to track, and then you can review those timestamps with your doctor.
This time around, my stroke doctor wants me to wear one. Since I’ve had it before, she just had them ship me the device and I placed it myself.
They have fairly comprehensive instructions. You get a little plastic gadget to abrade your skin, and then you use an alcohol wipe to remove the oil from your skin, and finally they explain how to position and place the device.
The monitor is somewhat visible under a normal shirt, but last time only a couple of people actually noticed or asked about it while I was wearing it. You push the part that says “Zio” to indicate you’re having symptoms.
The downside to wearing it is that it has to stay on all the time, even in the shower. That part gets a little gross. After wearing it for a few days, the adhesive starts to change in texture and feel “gunky”. It starts to look “gunky”. To avoid something really gross after the end of a couple of weeks, I started using athletic tape and plastic bags to tape over the Zio while I was in the shower. That helped preserve it.
Another challenge of the patch is that when you push the button, you need to log somewhere why you are pushing it so that you can remember later. They give you this little booklet:
But I quickly realized that the booklet was never around when I needed to press the button. I tried to make a “mental note” to remind myself later but that inevitably failed. They also give you a website address, but that seemed even harder…was I really going to run to a computer or open a web browser and remember to log in somewhere every time I had a symptom? There’s an iPhone app, but I have an Android phone and even if they had an app I’m not sure I’ll have my phone available to drop everything at that second to fill out a form.
Eventually, I gave up and just pressed the button and figured that my cardiologist could figure it out later. This is one area where the Xio folks could dramatically improve things. I’d love for the button to activate a short voice recording moment where I could just say, “short of breath, pressure in chest” or “feeling lightheaded while putting away dishes”.
Once it’s time to send the patch back, that part is pretty easy. They provide a pre-addressed box and instructions on how to tuck the monitor away.
When I reviewed the results with my cardiologist, I didn’t get to see the report myself. I wish I could see it. Maybe I can request it…I’m not sure. We talked about the situations where I pressed the button. He asked if any of it was during exercise, and I said I hadn’t exercised for those two weeks. Almost half of the times I pressed the button I was laying in bed or sitting still at rest. All of the times that I pressed the button were apparently associated with a sudden increase in my heart rate — up to 150 bpm. Yikes. So they called that Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia. The good news is that it’s not serious, he said. The bad news is that it’s uncomfortable and there’s not really a good way to get rid of it.
Knowing that, I have been ignoring the weird feelings in my chest and dismissing them.
But now, since I’ve had the strokes, we’re back to looking at the heart again to see if maybe there is something else going on after all. Hopefully it will offer more clues this time to the ever-unfolding mystery case!
