Woman ignored Apple Watch alerts on heart rate until one day she decided to get it checked—it ended up saving two lives
While it’s great to try out new things, it is equally important to do careful research and also monitor one’s health throughout. A woman named Niamh Cassidy was stoked to try a new exercise and running regime, National World reported. She always believed that she needed to get more fit and build on her energy, which is why she took up running. However, she would always get tired soon and her Apple watch would constantly warn her of a high heart rate. While she never thought much of it, the device became crucial in helping her learn about a major health scare, saving two lives in due time.
The woman explained that despite being a frequent gym-goer, she found herself exhausted after 1km of running. “I did find any form of cardio really tiring but I just thought that was just me being unfit and I was a little bit overweight. I never took it seriously,” she said. "There were a few times my Apple Watch would give me an alert and say my heart rate was too high,” she recalled. However, she brushed it off, thinking it was because of her heavy exercising and running. This happened a couple of times and each time, the device would warn her of the rate. When Cassidy decided to make a 5k steps goal, she was shocked to find she could barely cover 1k.
"I was doing the Couch to 5k and the furthest I could run was 1k before feeling like I was going to collapse,” she explained. The journey of uncovering her diagnosis occurred when she went running with her dad. When the 55-year-old man noticed she looked tired, he stopped and asked her to check her heart rate on the watch. “We had only done a five-minute warm-up and my heart rate was already at 170,” Cassidy remarked. They spoke to the doctors, who urged her to rush to the emergency room. The woman was asked to wear a heart monitor for a week and the doctors gave a possibility of tachycardia.
According to Mayo Clinic, the condition is one wherein a person experiences an irregular heartbeat. The heart rate is usually over 100 beats per minute with this condition but it is not always a cause for concern. With time, Cassidy felt like her condition was worsening. "I started getting chest pains, palpitations, breathlessness, but everything was put down to tachycardia. I found little things like brushing my teeth really hard,” she noted. Months later, she was given an appointment with the heart failure department. Cassidy found herself being treated for mild heart failure and discovered at the same time that she was pregnant.
She now had two lives to worry about. "I was scared for her more than I was scared for me. I felt like I wasn't fit enough to give birth,” she recalled. Fortunately, because she was aware of her condition, she was able to inform her doctors and had to deliver the baby via a C-section. While the baby is fine and Cassidy is undergoing treatment, she credits her Apple Watch for pointing out an issue. "I ignored it at first but I wish I had called the doctors when it gave me the first notification. If it wasn't for my Apple watch, I never would have known anything was wrong,” she remarked.
