'My watch warned me I had an undiagnosed heart condition'

A man has credited his digital watch for pointing medics towards an undiagnosed heart condition.

Author Adam Croft, 36, from Flitwick in Bedfordshire, awoke to find his Apple device had been alerting him throughout the night that his heart was in atrial fibrillation.

The NHS 111 service advised him to go to hospital "within the hour" where it was medically confirmed.

"It's not a feature I'd ever expected to use," he said.

Mr Croft said he had got up from the sofa one evening and "felt a bit dizzy" but when he got to the kitchen to get some water he "immediately felt the world closing in".

"I managed to get down on the floor and ended up in a pool of cold sweat," he said.

"Being a man I thought not much of it and took myself up to bed."

The following morning, he woke up to find his watch had been notifying him every couple of hours that his heart was in a rhythm called atrial fibrillation - and to seek medical advice.

"I called 111 who said get to hospital within the hour," he said.

Bedford Hospital arranged two electrocardiograms (ECGs) before his condition was medically confirmed.

The writer said he had previously had "little flutterings" of the heart, which his watch had not picked up, but these had not happened for months. He had also "never had any pain or symptoms that I thought were serious".

He added that he would not have called the NHS 111 service, where people can get advice about symptoms and treatment, if the watch had not alerted him.

"I had no reason to," he said.

"I just felt a bit light-headed... I had been feeling a bit rough so thought I might be coming down with something."

"Although atrial fibrillation is common, it isn't always obvious, and symptoms can be overlooked," says Chloe MacArthur, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation.

"They include palpitations (a racing, fluttering feeling in the chest), chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, feeling faint, unexplained tiredness and difficulty exercising.

"Wearable devices can be helpful for improving exercise habits and eating behaviours and they can provide motivation to lead a healthier lifestyle - all of which contribute to lowering the risk of heart disease - but they are not a replacement for medical advice, and they cannot provide a diagnosis.

"Often, atrial fibrillation is detected by a manual pulse check during a routine examination or check-up, or on an ECG.

"Symptoms of atrial fibrillation can be noticeable. Anyone concerned about their heart health should speak to their doctor."

Mr Croft said he had now been put on blood thinners before he undergoes a cardioversion procedure, a treatment that uses quick, low-energy shocks to restore a regular heart rhythm.

In the meantime he has been given instructions to "take it easy".

"It is something that will get worse and will happen more and more over time so it's a case of keeping my stress levels down and looking after myself," he said.

"I find writing [and] to be able to live in a fictional world very relaxing anyway.

"The watch will be staying on now."

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