Your doctor wants you to wear a Holter monitor recorder to get more information about your heart rate and rhythm. The recorder records a constant electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG) for 24 or 48 hours.
- While you wear the recorder, take part in all of your regular activities, unless your doctor tells you not to.
- The recorder uses electrodes to record the ECG. Wires connect the electrodes to the recorder. We may need to trim or remove hair from the areas on your chest where the electrodes will be placed. Do not remove the electrodes until the recording period is over.
- Do not get the electrodes, wires or recorder wet. Do not take a shower or bath while wearing the recorder and electrodes.
- Do not open the recorder or tamper with it in any way. The monitor will shut off automatically at the end of the recording period.
- When you return the recorder, your doctor will review the recorded data and create a report for your chart.
Your doctor needs to know if you have any symptoms or problems while you are wearing the recorder. If you have symptoms:
- Push the button on the monitor to mark the time.
- Write down the date, exact time, symptom(s) and what you were doing when they happened.
- If you take nitroglycerin or other types of heart medicine to control symptoms, record how well it works.
Symptoms to record
- Fast heart rate.
- Heart palpitations, pounding or fluttering feeling in your chest, irregular heart beat.
- Feeling dizzy or lightheaded.
- Fainting, nearly fainting, falling, loss of balance.
- Blurry vision or headache.
- Pain, tightness or squeezing feeling in your chest and/or pain in your jaw, back or arm.
- Trouble breathing/feeling short of breath.
- Sudden sweating or feeling clammy.
- Any feeling of an implanted device delivering therapy.
- Any other symptoms your doctor asks you to record.
Keep track of your activity
To help your doctor during the review of your information, please use your patient diary to write down when you:
- Take your medications.
- Are active/exercise for more than a few minutes.
- Do physical labor.
- Do office work.
- Do light household chores.
- Have a bowel movement.
- Sleep.
- Eat.
- Drink caffeinated or alcoholic beverages.
You do not need to keep a minute-by-minute account of activities; list a time range for activities.
If you get instructions to remove the recorder at home:
- Peel off the electrodes and discard them.
- Return the pouch, holter monitor recorder, battery holder, cable, wires, all tapes and patient diaries. Please use the packing envelope you got with the recorder.
If you got your holter monitor recorder at a Cleveland Clinic regional location, you must return it to the same location.
If you got your holter monitor at Cleveland Clinic’s main campus, you must return it to:
Cleveland Clinic Arrhythmia Monitoring Laboratory, J2-2
9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, 44195
If you need help returning the holter monitor recorder, please call the Arrhythmia Monitoring Laboratory at 216.444.5001 or 800.223.2273, ext. 45001.
