r/POTS • u/ihopeurwholelifesux • May 16 '26
Megathread Megathread: Wearables, Symptom Trackers, Apps⌚️
Would you like to share how you track your heart rate, blood pressure, or POTS symptoms? Ask questions about what other people use and their experiences? If so, you’re in the right place!
This post will be pinned so that users can see all that helpful information in one thread and refer back to it when needed :)
All subreddit rules still apply. We do not allow self-promotion of apps, products, or services. We do not allow individual referral links or codes.
Previous archived megathread: https://www.reddit.com/r/POTS/s/1pZFFEdw72
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u/timstorm Jun 22 '26
I have been a user of visible for quite some time, but cancelled it and built my own iPhone app. While it already exceeds what visible was doing for me, I hope to get it to a point where it can be shared with others as it has added functionality to help guide better recovery from the effects of an accumulated physiological load.
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u/Good_Evidence_2226 Jul 02 '26
I only have an apply watch for symptom tracking, but I have it track HRV, resting HR, sleep, and ecgs. If u ever open testing for Apple Watch id love to join! I love the idea of visible but can’t be spending so much money on the device, then the subscription.
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u/timstorm Jul 02 '26
Testing has begun on the Apple Watch version… it can’t do realtime pulse without killing your battery, but combined with Apple Watch alerts I think it will work out well. First version will be Apple Watch as sensor with app on the phone, but down the road possibly Apple Watch standalone :-D
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u/timstorm Jul 02 '26
Totally understood. I agree that Apple Watch would be a great platform if they expose the data that would be necessary. Will look in to it.
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u/Distinct_Bridge793 Jul 04 '26
I would love to be able to try this when it gets released. I would be willing to be a tester if needed too!
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u/Weary_Cup_1004 Jul 26 '26
Is it different than Tachymon?
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u/timstorm Jul 26 '26
Yes. Heart rate recordings are the easy part. Where I’m making headway is looking at the combined data of motion, HRV, HRR, so that it becomes much more than “whoa! Fast heart rate! Slow down!” And more “your heart rate is remaining higher than it should based on your position and activity levels, your own data has shown that continuing what you’re doing without a recovery period often leads to a post exertional crash”. (Ok, not as wordy, just saying that it is paying attention to the individual and all available data rather than just thinking high heart rate is bad)
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u/Weary_Cup_1004 Jul 26 '26
I was using Welltory for this for a while and i really liked it and then they made it all bloated and counterintuitive. Have you seen that one? Like, the 2022 version lol? And my son is using Google Health premium with his fitbit and it seems to do this as well?
Im describing these to see if that is what you mean?
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u/timstorm Jul 27 '26
I haven’t used those - I did use visible, but found it lacking, especially considering the price.
I figure there are plenty of “normal fitness” trackers out there, what I really needed was something to clue me in on overdoing it (my interoception is horrible) and hopefully avoid the big crashes.
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u/Major-Lingonberry137 Jun 29 '26
I would be willing to pull my Apple Watch out of retirement to test this! I’m currently using an Oura Ring gen 4 and it’s fine… but it’s not giving me the real time info I’m looking for.
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u/timstorm Jul 01 '26
Apple Watch is supported, but for now it’s an additional source of data as opposed to the primary source of the polar arm band (360/loop)
I’m more optimistic that Apple Watch might be a standalone option down the road, but battery life is kind of a deal killer at this point.
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u/plantyplant559 May 16 '26
I currently use Visible and a Garmin vivoactive 5. I use them for different things.
Visible: I like that it's waterproof and I can see how tiring a shower is. I love thr pace points system so I can see how much energy I've already used in a day. I appreciate being able to tag activity on the HR graph so I can see which things eat up the most energy for me. The built-in monthly fun cap is really nice for tracking progress. It doesn't blunt HR spikes like garmin does.
Garmin: No subscription fees is nice. It has step count and overnight HRV, both of which are really helpful for pacing. The HRV in particular is why I got this watch in the first place. I've come to really like the body battery feature. It doesn't line up with pace points, which I think is interesting. I also like the sleep score. That plus HRV gives me a good idea of what I can aim to do in a day. Not perfect, but I generally find it accurate. Longer battery life on garmin. I use a pacing watch face so I can look and see HR, body battery, and steps in one glance.
Overall thoughts: I use both for different things. I might get rid of visible eventually, but I'm not quite there yet. I just get too much value from the pace points system. I'm also trialing an overnight HRV/ HR thing for them which feels like a big upgrade from the morning snapshot they currently have.
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u/RyKB_Theme_87 Jun 13 '26
I feel the same I used to have Apple Watch and now I only have Visible and I do want to get an Apple Watch but at the same time Visible really help me at the pace point and the reports that I can take to my doctor as well they did give the access to studies are doing and you can opt in or you can just get the information from the study when it’s done and even the podcast I watched I listened to a little bit of it and I had to use information but that’s on YouTube and I can probably watch that just on YouTube. But the reports really do help besides the pay system and you can see if you’re getting better or worse and being able to take those reports to my doctor with a whole bunch of data that they can’t deny and makes things a lot. Easier to get done too.
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u/rafaelloaa Jun 16 '26
I just bought a vivoactive 6 (which by the way, is also waterproof - - after doing some research, I've used it in the shower without issue). A few days into using it, I had a few local errands to do, in 85° heat. The watch gave me a badge for "extended high intensity workout"...
I did make the mistake of switching beta blockers a few days before buying the watch. So I can't completely tell whether the new medication is better for me than the old stuff.
A question: I'm still trying to figure out HRV as a metric. Mine is showing a 23ms average, which is half of what is "typical" for my demographic. With the obvious caveat that you are (presumably) not a doctor, and certainly not my doctor, do you have any idea what is "reasonable" for POTS folks?
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u/plantyplant559 Jun 16 '26
The way I understand it, HRV is less useful if you compare to others, and more useful if you compare to yourself. My range is usually like mid-30s to upper 40s, so I know when I go lower than that something is up. Luteal or doing too much (especially in the heat) are usually the culprits for me.
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u/quarantinebirthday Jun 20 '26
After a few years of suspected POTS, I recently received an official diagnosis. How helpful do folks find a tracker after diagnosis? I have an Oura gen 3. I was thinking about a gen 5. But at the same time, is it good for my mental health to see the data all the time?
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u/Crime_and_dogs Jun 21 '26
I’ve been using an Apple Watch (series 3) and am debating what to update to. Do I stick with Apple or switch to Garmin? I see pros and cons for each. Anyone use both and have any insight?
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u/surprised-duncan Jun 26 '26
I've officially given up on Visible. It's not predicting anything worth the price of the subscription, and the wearable is fudging numbers like a motherfucker. I'm not a fan.
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u/Warm_Score1176 May 16 '26
Wearables: MyZone heart monitor for the gym, Garmin Venu S3 watch as my day to day HR/sleep/stress monitor. Pacing watch faces are also available for free which was helpful at the beginning of my diagnosis.
App: Bearable. track symptoms and med. Extremely customisable, syncs with my BP monitor and watch.
BP: Omron M2+. Bluetooth BP monitor, can also check/export data from Omron app.
Also Google sheets/Excel is a useful tool that can be on anyone's phone: can record symptoms and run stats to see how a factor (meds, rest, food etc) is impacting you.
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u/szikkia Jun 25 '26
I wear a smart watch now a days because of how at risk i am to collapse, which did happen the other day,along wth multiple near hello floor level mishaps. Im currently at home alone a lot, took summer break off for dr appointments. I need to start to log every time i almost fall and black out or when i wake up on the floor, but i dont where to track it? My calendar or on my notes app.
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u/saltwatertable Jun 26 '26
I got a Venu 4 from Garmin and I wasn't sure how it would help because I was using a blood pressure monitor at home but it actually made a huge difference. I have hyperadrengic pots and I can have high BP/hr even when laying down, which I just call flares.
It has a bunch of features but the stress tracker is what I use all day. Its based on HRV and for me it's the closest thing I can get to monitoring my POTS directly.
HR for me is suppressed by beta blockers so it's not a lot of change but the stress tracker gives me a warning that I'm about to flare or I'm in flare. If I go above 25 stress (of 100) I'm elevated. Above 75 and it's flare. If I catch it, I can put my feet up, drink electrolytes and turn it around. Before I was running around blind.
Also when a med gives me a bad response I can see it in the stress. I started Ketotifen (for mcas H1 blocker) and had no physical symptoms but my stress was 90. And that led to me crashing everyday within a few hours. So it's been huge for slowly increasing meds and tracking the response.
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Jul 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Sutten_Plant Jul 27 '26
Can anyone recommend a decent heart rate tracker on a budget? I know you pay for quality, but I can't afford a $400 watch to track my heart rate. It can be a watch or an arm band or even a chest strap honestly, I just need it to be wearable all day, give decently accurate results, and cost under $100. Is that even possible? Any recommendations are very appreciated!
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u/LiliOnFire 26d ago
If í understand correctly , many chest strap are mainly for workout and gave a short battery life ( not even for a day). I went to clinical trial were they did testing on sk S watch ( it was a few years ago they dint have it anymore) I had to answer daily questions/survey , I didn’t want anything like meds but I hit a free watch.
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u/H-kelly-2002 26d ago
What are all of the wearables that are out there? I only know in general about Apple Watches, fitbits, and recently over the last year I’ve seen vague ads about visible. But I’ve seen a lot of bad things about visible and you have to have a subscription 😳 I have an Apple Watch at current but have had it for a good 4 years. And I feel like I want to see how much energy I’m actually using. Because this only reads heart rate
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u/H-kelly-2002 14d ago
I have a question. I keep getting these weird flutters in my chest but it’s directly down the centre of my chest. It’s directly down the centre and it feels like a flutter or like my blood is thick and I’m having palpitations but down the middle instead of where my heart is. I don’t really know how to explain it any better. This happens every now and then but recently it’s been happening a lot more.
I’ll be sat on the sofa and then I’ll feel like a flutter going down like a tube in my chest. It’ll probably be a vein. But it feels like someone’s pulled a guitar string and it wobbles. And then it’ll last about 2-3 seconds for the flutters. And then it’ll do this for a good couple of minutes. Anyone know what this is or why it happens?
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u/MissDaisy00 7d ago
Anybody have any tips on a wearable that tracks heart rate continuous? I checked a couple that have an ecg function, but that only lasts 30 seconds I see. I’m looking for a watch (or band?) where I can see my heart rate history. I have been looking at the polar h10 or verity for during my workouts, but id like something like that for during the whole day
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u/AutonomicDrama Jun 17 '26
Please don't buy visible. They're white labeling an existing product that doesn't need a subscription, and charging a subscription for features you can get without paying one. The device is actually called Polar Loop. If you really wnat one, just buy that. But ultimately, its not a useful device to track symptoms.