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Migraine caused by Vivosport?

Former Member
Former Member over 7 years ago
I've had the weirdest experience with the Vivosport that I thought it might be worth posting as either anecdotal evidence or as a thread starter to modifications to the device.

I purchased the Vivosport and was impressed, immediately obsessed with tweaking the settings and screens etc and was enjoying the feedback. There are a few things I'd like to see added/fixed like a max speed field, a battery charge indicator, alarm setting that didn't require 15 odd touches and a heart rate monitor that wasn't 40bpm off when sweating... but I was happy with the indications of data that were achieved and, for what I needed it for, it was pretty good.

Day three of use and I had the worst migraine I've had in years. Now, caveats, I'm a long time sufferer and migraines are not unusual for me. 1 or 2 a month is pretty normal but medication keeps it manageable and I've only ever had clusters a few time in the past 20 or so years. I thought nothing of it until I got a migraine again the next day at around the same time. I start thinking, ok, maybe it's that I'm working out more, staring at a screen more etc. Believe me, I know the triggers and all the things that can set me off and am very familiar with the pain management and prevention routine.

What was different is that the medication did nothing to stop it. Double doses, tons of rest, massage, nothing stopped the icepick in my head. It was the usual pain (left side, back of the skull that builds like crazy) with the usual nausea, dizziness, audio and visual sensitivity etc... but I couldn't get it to back off.

On day 4 I was going pretty insane, every afternoon around the same time etc etc. On day 5 I woke up with the crouching beast already in full flight so I went to the hospital. Four hours of IV and meds later and I felt much better. Enough that I felt great the next day until around 6pm when it started to come back.

This morning I again woke up with the pain and was preparing to go back to the hospital. Around the same time my Vivosport said 10% so I took it off to charge... 20 mins later and my migraine had backed off significantly. I also noticed a weird phantom feeling in my left wrist. I started searching the net (always a silly thing to do) and found page after page of people complaining about migraines from Fitbits. Now, I'd previously thought people were nuts who claimed sensitivity to wifi or bluetooth, but there it was, post after post of experiences very similar to mine.

So, it's now 5 hours after I took the Vivosport off and the migraine is completely gone for the first time in a week.

As a scientist, I'm intrigued by this experience and am drawn to call out all the other factors that could be involved here. More workouts, more work, environmental triggers, my daughter teething... anything that would make me not feel like I should be wearing a tinfoil hat and claiming migraines from bluetooth.... but there it is. I'm also curious to test by isolating different factors but I can't help but say that all signs point to the device.

So, that's my story and I'm somewhat sticking to it. I'm posting it here more as a report than a need for feedback or solutions but if anyone else has had a similar experience I'd be interested to hear it.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    Do a few tests. Dont wear it for a day and wear it the next. See what happens. Since its only been one time it could just be random that it went away once off, which would be my guess. The only issue you have now is your anxiety is going to effect the results.

    As far as being sensitive to RF Radiation, yes we can feel it at large amounts...but the amount coming from a device on your wrist is nothing, and I mean nothing compared you what you experience in your day to day life. If you were sitting up on a cell tower that would be a different story. Considering you don't get migraines from your wifi, cell phone, car, airplane, the sun, etc. would lead me to believe this was random chance and not from the device as all of those devices emit many times more. Otherwise you would probably have a migraine 24/7 because your home wifi is giving you more radiation then this device and your computer/laptop gives way more...even talking on the phone would trigger one as that is also way more.

    Personally, I don't keep bluetooth on unless I am working out. Otherwise, its only on to sync. I don't trust it. I would doubt it could cause a migraine at the levels you are experiencing considering you are exposed to way more all of the time and didn't get them then...but do tests and let us know. I am a migraine sufferer and never experienced a migraine from a device. Lack of sleep, too much alcohol, too many sweets - yep. But as you know, our triggers are all different.

    And I will add, I have measured the RF fields from my vivoactive hr, its a very tiny amount with bluetooth on, much much less than home wifi. When I shut bluetooth off, its no more than a timex watch, so thats how I keep it.
  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I was using a Xioami Amafit Paces for years than got a Vivo Active 3, am a hypertensive person and started wearing the vivo just recently and I believe due the frequency of the heart rate sensors does effect your body frequency too. Hopefully by not wear 24/7 I should be able to sleep like normal with no spikes in my BP that a worrying factor..

    Maybe the bigger light diode generates wider spectrum of frequencies that affects certain people only..

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    I think my experience might help here. I bought a Honorband 4 about a year ago. I tried wearing it with the heart rate monitor activated but I got terrible head aches. As soon as the heart rate monitor is off my head aches go away. This happened since the first day I bought it. So in the past year I've only used the heart rate functional while running and then I turn it off.

    This week I tried the Mi Band 5 from Xaomi and had the same results. If the heart rate monitor is turned on I get the worst of head aches. I have no idea why.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

    I think to each its own, after all we do have bio magnetic field within us.. so likely we are more sensitive than the rest and like you I only use HR sensor on the watch if I forgotten my HR strap

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Hey, I have had the same sort experience. I get panic attacks, but have medication, and havent had one badly in over 2 months. have been wearing my new garmin watch for 2 days, and i started to get all the symptoms of panic attack- nauseos, dizzy, rapid beating heart, shallow breath, so weird! and i couldnt figure out what was wrong, was going to go home from work because nothing would stop it. 

    Finally i took off my watch because I was feeling a weird kind of claustrophobia from it. As soon as i took it off, the awful sensations began to dissipate. and as a test, about 2 hours later, i loosely put the watch on my wrist again. In about 10 seconds, the feelings came back. Maybe its the heart rate monitor? I dont know, but very weird feeling. Probably will return it- Garmin, it's not you, its me :) ... i think!  

    PS. I have the Venu Sq Music. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Thanks for posting about this! I have the Venu Sq and the same thing happened to me the first few days I had it on. My head felt like it was going to explode. I took it off to charge and the pain went away almost immediately. After the first week though, I think my body adjusted to it. On and off I’ll still feel this weird ache from my wrist up from where the watch is. But it’s not that unbearable and I rather enjoy having the watch track my activities 24/7 so yeah.

    But I bought my husband a Venu Sq Music and the same thing happened to him too. It was so bad he decided not to wear the watch. And as he has a history of seizures, he’s actually afraid to put it on. 

    I was considering buying a Garmin for my kids. But now I’m not sure if it’s safe enough.

    I strongly suggest Garmin looks into this issue. Be it a safety issue or just our bodies adjusting, we have a right to know.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Hi. Had similar experience with Fenix 6 pro. Horrendous migraine 4-5 days in a row ard the same time in the evenings. No doses of medication could stop it until i removed the watch.