Apple Watch user recounts harrowing health scare: ‘I’d have just passed out and died without ever knowing’

Time and time again, the Apple Watch has been credited with saving lives with its heart monitoring, Emergency SOS, and fall detection features. Now, an Apple Watch user has taken to Reddit to share how their Series 7 saved their life, saying, “I’d have just passed out and died without ever knowing if not for my Apple Watch.”

Apple Watch user: “I’d not have made it”

The Reddit user, u/digitalmofo, explains that they decided to take a “quick nap” after lunch one day just because they were feeling “kind of tired.” After the nap, however, they had over 10 notifications on their Apple Watch saying that their heart rate was abnormally high.

The Redditor then scheduled a video call with their doctor, who had them check the times and pulse rates of the alerts, as well as their blood oxygen level. The doctor then went ahead and called 911 on the person’s behalf.

Last week, I had my iphone/watch on dnd for work, and when I went on lunch I was kind of tired so I laid down on my couch for a quick nap.

After the nap, I checked my notifications and had at least 10 that my pulse was racing. I called out the rest of the day and tried to lay around, but it didn’t stop, so I scheduled a quick video with my Dr. My Dr had me check the times and pulse rates, had me check the oxygen and then went ahead and called 911 for me.

While the paramedics who responded to the 911 call suggested it may have been a heart attack, this turned out not to be the case. Instead, the trip to the ER resulted in doctors finding this Apple Watch user had “severe internal bleeding.”

Tests revealed that this Redditor’s hemoglobin levels were dangerously low, at around 3.0 grams per deciliter (gm/dL). For context, the Cleveland Clinic considers severe a low hemoglobin level for men to be 13.5 gm/dL or lower and 12 gm/dL or lower as severe for women.

“They said had I not got there for a transfusion when I did, I’d not have made it,” the Redditor says. “I’d have just passed out and died without ever knowing if not for my Apple Watch.”

This is one of many examples we’ve seen of the Apple Watch’s health features helping save someone’s life. As another Redditor says, even if the Apple Watch isn’t as capable as professional-grade medical equipment, this age-old analogy adage applies: “the best camera is the one you have with you at the time.”

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