A
young man has revealed how his life was reportedly saved after the
Apple Watch App he bought detected a life-threatening blood clot.
James Green
A New York man is crediting an Apple Watch app with saving his
life, after the app helped him detect signs of a life-threatening blood
clot.Last Friday (Oct. 13), James Green who lives in Brooklyn, tweeted: "Never
thought a stupid lil wrist computer I bought two years ago would save
my life. Saw my heart rate go up, ended up being a pulmonary embolism," or a blood clot in the lungs.
Green, who is 28, said he got an alert from the HeartWatch app,
which is available for the Apple Watch and tells users when their
resting heart rate rises above or dips below a certain threshold,
according to the Telegraph. In this case, the app notified him that his
heart rate was continuously above his usual heart rate of 54 beats per
minute.
"That along with other symptoms I was having was enough data I
needed to act on it, and realize it wasn't a panic attack (since I have
severe generalized anxiety), that it was something more," Green told the Telegraph.
At the hospital, a CT scan showed Green had a blood clot in his
lung, and he was placed on blood thinners. His doctor said the clot
could have been fatal if Green had waited longer to get medical
attention, the Telegraph said. Green said he was interested in data on
his heart because he previously experienced pulmonary embolism (prior to
this most recent one).
A rapid or irregular heartbeat can be a sign of a pulmonary
embolism, according to the Mayo Clinic. The blockage caused by the clots
can cause the heart to start working harder to pump blood through
vessels, and this can also lead to an increase in blood pressure inside
the lungs, the Mayo Clinic says.
Green isn't the first person to credit a smartwatch or fitness
tracker with saving his life. In September 2015, a high-school senior
said his Apple Watch saved his life, after the device showed he had a
heart rate of 145 beats per minute. An exam revealed that he had
rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which muscles release a protein that
damages the kidneys and other organs.
And in April, a 73-year-old woman from Connecticut said that she
called 911 after her Fitbit showed a spike in her heart rate. Tests at
the hospital showed she had a pulmonary embolism.
Experts say that, because some fitness trackers and smartwatches
include heart rate monitors, the devices can potentially alert people to
certain health problems that cause changes in heart rate. But it's
important to note that many of these devices are not approved medical
devices, so they cannot be used to diagnose cardiovascular conditions.
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