Texas Man Says Apple Watch Alerted Him to Dangerous Heart Condition

The Apple Watch has already proven itself to be a helpful life-saving aid, but reports of the wearable alerting users to dangerous conditions keep rolling in.

John Arias, 24, was already a fan of Apple. The Texas man told local news broadcaster KCBD that he had picked up an Apple Watch because it complemented his existing Apple-made devices.

“I have Apple everything else so that’s really why I have it, just so I can be in the Apple ecosystem,” he said. But now Arias might have another reason to like the Apple Watch.

The 24-year-old said he has never had health problems, so he was shocked when his Apple wearable repeatedly alerted him to an irregular heart rate. “I started just getting random notifications saying my heart rate was over 110, 120 without actually being active,” Arias told KCBD.

After about two weeks of alerts, Arias told local media that he started having chest pain. That’s when he went to the emergency room.

There, doctors diagnosed him with premature ventricular contractions. While doctors told Arias that everyone can get them occasionally, those who frequently experience the condition can develop something more serious.

Arias also credits a third-party app in helping doctors diagnose his condition. The $2.99 app, HeartWatch, automatically stores heart rate data collected by the Apple wearable — data he provided to his doctor at the hospital.

“I was able to show him the historical data from my watch. It keeps months and months of data,” Arias said.

Doctors were even impressed with the amount of data the Apple Watch collected, Arias said. That’s partly due to the fact that he wears his Apple Watch every single day.

So while Arias didn’t buy an Apple Watch for its health features, he now sees it as an incredible bonus to a device he already owned.

“I’m locked in. I hope to get another one. Maybe two on each hand,” Arias said.

[amazon_link asins=’B075TCV3GM’ template=’ChromaProductCard’ store=’idropncom0a-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’9e870b2c-968f-11e8-b7e7-eb58293539c4′]