I tried on my friend’s new smartwatch...to find I had dangerous heart condition
RETIRED store boss Gary Hanson was stunned to find he had a heart problem after a friend’s smartwatch told him: “Consult your doctor.”
Gary, 60, knew he had a racing heartbeat but blamed it on being “really nervous” about watching his team Leeds United.
But he only knew he had a problem after the friend asked him to try on his new smartwatch, which monitors heartbeats.
When married grandfather Gary went to hospital he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, a “dangerous” heart condition which is a major cause of strokes. He now takes four types of drugs to calm his palpitations.
Instances of the potentially fatal condition have risen by 72 per cent in two decades but many, like Gary, are unaware they are living with it.
Nervous
He said: “If you buy a smartwatch, that’s the end of the game – it tells you what is happening. Within 30 seconds, it will tell me what my heart is doing.
“I don’t want to be a promoter for smartwatches but I wouldn’t be without one now if I’m honest.”
The former Tesco store manager, from Worksop, Notts, said he first noticed his heart was beating faster than normal during his mid-50s.
He said: “It just felt like I was really, really nervous all the time because my heart was pumping away as fast as it could.”
He said it could go like that for three to nine days before returning to its normal rhythm.
Gary said: “I think that was the problem – I didn’t connect the two. My heart is all right one minute and then a couple of days later it’s not.”
He thought it was caused by the stress of watching Leeds play but by chance, he decided to try on his friend’s smartwatch. “I thought I was just being nervous and anxious, mainly from watching Leeds if I’m honest,” said Gary. “But when I went for a lunch with one of my ex-colleagues he said, ‘I’ve got my smartwatch, let’s just see how your heart’s doing.’ The smartwatch said, ‘no reading’, so we tried it again, and it said the same.And in the end, it said it couldn’t get a good reading, so ‘you need to consult your doctor’.”
His GP referred him to specialists who confirmed atrial fibrillation after a series of tests. Gary said: “I’ve only just turned 60, and I’ve probably had this condition since my mid-50s.
“But I’m not overweight, I’m quite active and I certainly do at least 10,000 steps a day. I don’t eat loads of
rubbish. I also don’t smoke, and I never have. I sound quite boring, but I don’t even drink that much any more, so it was quite a shock.”
Gary is now hoping an operation soon will stop his heart from fluttering so regularly.
He said: “I’ve got a 25 per cent higher risk of stroke, but I’ve learned to live with it a little bit now.
“The drugs that I take definitely help, and without that I probably would be in serious trouble.”