[jenjen]

Every single time I exercise on the treadmill at home or at the gym my pulse is all over the map it can go from 95 to 151 to 38 all within a minute or so. Am I using the grip heart sensors wrong? I hold them for about three readings every time and this is what I see.
My kids and my husband all have used our treadmill and their heart rates and pulse stay steady.
My resting heart rate is 74 and 67 when I wake up. I also get heart palpitations once in awhile when stressed out or right before my period, but they don't really bother me. Just a reminder to slow myself down.
I'm pretty healthy and not on any medications.
I'm worried - should I keep exercising or make dr. appt?

[Jeff]

Hi Jenjen -

Can you take your pulse some other way to double check against the treadmills you use? Before I had a strap-on heart rate monitor I would just feel my pulse at my carotid artery and count the beats in a 5 second interval and multiply by 12 (or for ten seconds and multiply by 6).

I'm willing to bet that if you feel your own pulse, it won't be as "all over" as it appears on the treadmill - I also have one of the hand sensor pulse monitor thingies on my treadmill, but I never use the thing because it's so inaccurate. If my grip isn't just right, or if my hands aren't conducting/transmitting my pulse in the right way, my readings were also all over the map.

Another option would be to see if you can find a treadmill at the gym that uses a radio transmitter kind of like the strap-on monitors, transmitting your pulse to the treadmill for display - I know some gyms have that.

You could also go get yourself a Polar heart monitor - they aren't as cheap as they used to be with all the bells and whistles on them now, but it can lend a lot of peace of mind right away when you can have that instant feedback.

[luv2plant]

Oh sweety, I know how scary this heart stuff can be. Did you feel like you were going to pass out or anything? Dizzy?

[jenjen]

Nah, I felt fine, it just freaked me out is all. Thanks for the replies.

[fluttery]

I wouldn't worry about the unusual heart rate on the treadmill, those things are always wrong for me, too.

You can check your pulse the old fashioned way if you need to. That's usually what I do.

[jenjen]

Thanks for the note fluttery.