Apple Watch has been helping customers discover life-saving ailments for nearly a decade now. The latest is a situation out of Florida involving a deputy sheriff and a persistent warning from the watch.
NBC affiliate WFLA shares the story of Sarasota Deputy Sheriff Luke Heyman. After three high heart rate alerts and two hospital visits, Heyman’s Apple Watch led to the discover of blood clots in both of his lungs.
“So I checked my heart rate, it was about 160,” said Heyman. “I thought it was just a malfunction of the watch or just an erroneous reading.” Two days later, he said he felt sick and his legs felt like jello. Then he got the same alert. “At that point, I figured, well, two alerts in one week,” Heyman explained. “I should probably go get checked out.”
Doctors ruled out a heart attack, but couldn’t diagnose it. Heyman said he went home only for the nausea to return. His resting heart was 160 beats per minute again, so he went back to the hospital. “When I went to the ER, they did a CT scan with some contrast,” Heyman recalled. “They found that I had multiple blood clots in each of my lungs.”
According to his doctor, Heyman could have blacked out or worse if the blood clots were left untreated. Dr. Pavan Kapadia, a cardiologist based in Tampa, added that “this was maybe a life saved as a result” of the Apple Watch.
Apple Watch high heart rate alerts are triggered when your heart rate exceeds a certain level for too long outside of a workout. Apple Watch Series 1 and newer, including Apple Watch SE, support the feature for users 13 and up. Learn more about ways Apple Watch can monitor heart health here.
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