Just been chatting

[Maywalk]

with my niece and her hubby on my I-Pad.
Her hubby has a special gadget he has to wear over his nose when retiring at night and he has just shown it to me. Looks similar to a vacuum cleaner pipe. 
It certainly does not look very comfortable to try and sleep with but needs must because his heart rate is TOO fast from what I can make out.
Has anyone else heard of these?
I have asked him to scan the leaflet in to me about it so I will put it on here when I get it.   

[Jane Marple]

Gosh, that's a new one on me.  I used to fit 24 hour tapes for observation, but I've never heard of anything like that before.

[Merrytel]

 

[Dottie1943]

I wonder how that will help? Possibly taking on less air the heart rate may drop what do you think Jane?

[Merrytel]

Ah! , that triggers a memory ...if I recall taking on less OXYGEN can slow the heart , maybe this device is some sort of breath re-circulator ?

[cheddar-caveman]

Rapid heart rate is called tachycardia, your heart may beat up to 400 times per minute (115 isn't that fast). This can cause dizziness, light headedness, or a fluttering in the chest.

I've never heard of people having a "trunk" fitted to the nose at night and it certainly wouldn't have any effect on the heart. Maybe he snores badly?. If tachycardia is a regular occurrence then a cardioverter defibrillator can be fitted which continuously monitors your heart and delivers life-saving therapies to treat dangerously fast heart rhythms. Oh and reducing oxygen would speed up the heart rate as more oxygen starved blood would have to be pumped around to maintain oxygen levels around the body!

Be interested to hear more - by the way I work for the ambulance service as a community first responder so get called out to this sort of thing in my local community.

[Oldtimer]

There are people who because of breathing irregular have "Heart Failure" apparently this can last for minutes but interrupts more than stops the Heart?

[Maywalk]

Here is the machine he is connected to all through the night.
He has to keep that mask on all the time as you can see in the background.
Nothing to do with snoring. It is as far as I can make out because he has a rapid heart beat.

[Jane Marple]

I wonder how that will help? Possibly taking on less air the heart rate may drop what do you think Jane?

I was stumped by this, but just having a look at the machine, I'm wondering whether or not this is anything to do with sleep apnea.  But that of course is when the heart stops during sleep, and the patient is at risk, if the heart stops for about 10 seconds.  Tachycardia mentioned before is a faster than normal resting heart rate - the threshold of a normal heart rate is generally based on the persons age.  It can be anything from 60 - 100.  A doctor would probably say the healthy limit is 90.  But of course I have been away from the Cardiac Dept for a number of years now and things, diagnosis moves on.  Your heart has 4 chambers and in tachycardia the upper or lower chamber beats faster, sometimes both can, and can of course lead to an M.I.
Very interesting looking machine.  If it is for sleep apnea, then I wonder if it triggers if the heart rate stops with some sort of electrical impulse.  Be interested to know more.

[Dottie1943]

Crikey an ex Nurse and a First Responder!!!!! we are well and truly blessed on the forum

[cheddar-caveman]

Thanks for that Maywalk. Somewhere on the machine there should be a "name" probably on the manufacturers label? I personally don't recognise it as one we carry either as responders or on the ambulance. What does the nameplate say?

Looks a bit like a police breathaliser!

[Maywalk]

That was the first one he had. No idea what name it goes under.


He has gone on to a much lighter weight one now.

[Harley Quin]

The average pulse is 72, and between 60 and 80 is normal. Anything over 100 is tachycardic, at rest of course. The fitter you are the lower your normal rate would be. I have been a paramedic for 26 years, but haven't seen a machine like the one in question. It would be interesting to know what it actually does.

[cheddar-caveman]

We are all agaog! What could it be I wonder. As I said, there must be a nameplate or similar on it and that should give us a clue?

[Harley Quin]

I personally don't recognise it as one we carry either as responders or on the ambulance. What does the nameplate say?

I am intrigued! Do you work for the ambulance service? I am now semi-retired, but still work as a paramedic (part-time) for Great Western NHS Ambulance Service - soon to become part of the South Western NHS Ambulance Service.