The Apple Watch’s heart-monitoring features recently helped save the life of a Cincinnati woman, by waking her from a nap to warn her of a potentially deadly blood clot.
Kimmie Watkins was feeling unwell one day and decided to take a nap. She had felt lightheaded and dizzy, but she thought that it was due to not eating enough food.
Her Apple Watch alerted her to a high heart rate of 178 beats per minute, reports Local12. Following an hour and a half nap, the Apple Watch woke her up with an alarm “that said that my heart rate had been too high for too long,” explained Watkins. “So for over 10 minutes, it was too high.”
Watkins headed to her physician, where she was told she had a saddle pulmonary embolism. University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine cardiologist Dr. Richard Becker said it was the “most severe and life-threatening” blood clot, as it “saddles both the blood vessel to the right lung and to the left lung.”
Dr. Becker said a saddle pulmonary embolism has only a 50% survival rate.
Watkins, who didn’t have a history of heart problems, also discovered she had a clotting disorder. She is now taking blood thinners and working on regaining stamina.
Watkins says she hopes that others will take to wearing smart wearables like the Apple Watch.
“It might be seen as staying too connected or something, but I think it can be helpful in a health sense, and not just in a connect-to-people sense,” said Watkins.
(Via AppleInsider)
