I have atrial fibrilation (AFIB) as well as a patent foramen ovale.  I also have taken many polygraphs due to employment -- the poly interpreter said that the graph indicated that deception was indicated when giving my name and confirming the location of the poly.  But the government filed them away as deception indicated without further elaboration.  I take medication to attempt to keep the afib under control but it still spikes on occasion, usually without any precursor.  Sometimes the government agency ignored the poly and I kept my employment, sometimes the government agency believed that I was in league with ISIS, drug cartels and was present in Dallas in 1963 (I was 13 at the time) but know the second shooter and was relegated to working in classroom supply.  I served from Viet Nam through Desert Storm.  Polygraphs may be a tool but not 'THE' tool to determine truth.  I also have PTSD and that reflects in my attitude toward REMFs.

Searched through APA and many other sites but nowhere it says that Heart disease etc along with Beta-blockers are contraindications to polygraph.
Can anyone point me out to those official sources?
Bz otherwise it looks like lots of hot air.

I didn't thought about heart conditions and polygraphs connection to be honest. It's an interesting topic. I have a neighbour next to my property in Sicily here who was supposed to pass polygraph this week. I will ask him about his experience as he had a surgery on a heart about 5 years ago.

Thanks. I already have a pacemaker. I was told this morning I was to be fired if I do not take a polygraph.   
I will wait till they fire me. Then go to a lawyer and sue them!!

I and two others were accused of stealing computers from a state agency.  We were asked to take a polygraph.  The first examiner said he could not do it based upon my medical condition included in my post below. The second examiner was a woman who worked for the same agency. She said no problem,she can work around it.

I am in a wheel chair as I do IT trouble shooting of the servers and datacomm.


In looking on the internet I found your site.  My neighbor said to get a doctors excuse?

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An arrhythmia is a problem with the rate or rhythm of your heartbeat. It means that your heart beats too quickly, too slowly, or with an irregular pattern. When the heart beats faster than normal, it is called tachycardia. When the heart beats too slowly, it is called bradycardia. The most common type of arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation, which causes an irregular and fast heart beat.

Many factors can affect your heart's rhythm, such as having had a heart attack, smoking, congenital heart defects, and stress. Some substances or medicines may also cause arrhythmias. 

Symptoms of arrhythmias include
•Fast or slow heart beat
•Skipping beats
•Lightheadedness or dizziness
•Chest pain
•Shortness of breath 
•Sweating 

Your doctor can run tests to find out if you have an arrhythmia. Treatment to restore a normal heart rhythm may include medicines, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker, or sometimes surgery

Dan Mangan wrote on Mar 18^th, 2020 at 2:29pm:


I feel your pain Dan, I know how hard it is – in fact it’s absolutely impossible – to try to make sense out of a procedure that is absolutely nonsensical and is based on a total outright fraud. The polygraph does not work as a lie detector, it has never worked as a lie detector and I don’t give a damn how many charts you run, it still doesn’t alter that fact – as you well know – facts are very stubborn things.

John Castellano, I have faced this problem many times, especially when I ran PCSOT exams.

An ethical examiner (please, skip the jokes) will attempt to run enough charts to obtain a sufficient number of scoreable spots, that is to say, spots that are free of distortions.

If that threshold is not met, the official outcome of the test is "no opinion." The examiner's report should list any known (or claimed) conditions that could influence the collection of data, or have any meaningful bearing on the examinee's overall suitability as a polygraph test-taker.

If you are obligated to take a polygraph, say, as part of supervision or treatment, it is highly unlikely that you will be given a free pass.

I have a rapidly fluctuating heart BPM Beats Per Minute called atrial Fibrillation or arrhythmia. Will this health condition affect a polygraph test resulting in a false positive response? In Wisconsin, also, they use the Irrelevant/Relevant Questionnaire, sans Control Question.

I am no liar,

There is no research on the effects of pacemakers or blood pressure medication on polygraph results. But it doesn't matter. Polygraph "testing" has no scientific basis to begin with. It's a fraudulent procedure that was concocted by interrogators, not scientists.

My best advice to you is to cancel your lie detector test and not subject yourself to this degrading pseudoscientific ritual.

Hi....I am going to do a lie detective test. I am absolutey telling the truth. I would like to know if my pacemaker would wrong the results in anyway. Also, I have high blood pressure which is controlled by medication....I suffer on a level 10 with stress...which is again controlled by medication and have read this shouldn’t/make any difference.I would just like peace of mind that the results will still match my innocents?

Thanking you

Jeff,

While it's possible that your history of heart problems had some influence on the outcome of your polygraph "test," you need to bear in mind that polygraphy has no scientific basis to begin with. Ultimately, there is little to be gained from trying to divine why an invalid procedure yielded an erroneous result. See our book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for a thorough debunking of polygraphy:

https://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf

You'll also see how polygraphy is inherently biased against truth-tellers.

I took a polygraph in 2006 and it showed deception and I resigned from a job in law enforcement. I knew that I had a heart murmur. A few years later, I had mechanical valve put in and also a Maze operation to get my heart in rhythm. My parents also have had heart problems and heart surgeries. I did not lie on the test. Could these medical issues and history of heart problems affect my polygraph?

My friend Misty Croslin was recently told by prison doctor that she has heart mumor. She already knew because she was born with it. Failing poloy has caused her major problems.

Lena,

While there is scant research on the effects of any medical conditions on polygraph results, it seems unlikely that such conditions as you mention would directly cause a false positive. But you should be aware that polygraphy has no scientific basis to begin with and is inherently biased against the truthful. False positives are common. For more on the scientific status of polygraphy, see Chapter 1 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector and the sources cited there:

https://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf

I have mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation and also a heart murmur. Can either of these conditions, seperately or together, produce a false positive during an examination?

I recentl took a polygraph test and fail and i do have heart problems. My heart races from time to time and i do have high blood pressure prolems. The prblem with this whole thing is i was telling the truth and i still failed, I even failed my name. The thing is no machine no matter how much we rely on them can tell you about you. It cant look into the past or say whats on your mind. It supposedly can only tell you if you are being DECEPTIVE or not. Not if you are telling the truth or not.
And can one be deceptive about his/her name. Test of the polygraph have shown that a liar can pass the test and those you are telling the truth can fail. So my advice is to take this test at your own risk.

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First, that's wrong - yet another indication that you don't read the literature.  Secondly, even if it were true, why would that be bad?  That is what most here do.  Do you want me to hold you up so you can take a breath?

Barry_C wrote on Nov 20^th, 2007 at 2:31am:


Quote:


Noodle suffers from selective factual retention. What also transpires is that he has apparently never carried out any of his own research - published or not. His greatest talent demonstrated to date is the parrotting of "the literature and the reading" - which he has now also 
claimed as his sole preserve. 

Quote:


Like I said, you would need to be comatose before BC deemed you to be unsuitable for polygraph testing.

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I'm not sure how he knows that as what little research we have on them shows they do nothing as far as a decision of truth or deception goes.  Not surprising, given they are usually pretty benign and few require treatment of any kind. They don't typically result in an increase in BP, which is what we look for on a polygraph test.  It's a better question for your physician if you think it's a problem.

You'll find your physician might need an explanation of polygraph to make a determination, but if you want or need the test, doctors will often help make the decision (with the examiner) as to the appropriateness of polygraph.  Many of us have refused a person a doctor later cleared.  Examiners are trained to err on the side of caution when it comes to heart conditions of any sort.  There are a few that are so common (such as this and Mitral-valve prolapse) that they don't scare us as easily.

Upsddwnnsdout wrote on Nov 18^th, 2007 at 11:02pm:


Premature arterial contractions originate in the atrial chambers (PAC's) or in the ventricles (premature ventricular contractions - PVC's). 

There are varying underlying causes of both PAC's & PVC's -  most of which will produce unreliable cardio tracings on the p/graph.

Arrythmias(or murmurs) usually occur during the diastolic phase of the cardiac cycle - resulting in irregular and  'dropped' diastole tracings. This often requires frequent re-centering of the cardio tracing.

If your PAC or PVC activity is frequent and regular, you should be deemed unsuitable for polygraph testing.

Unfortunately, you would probably have to be in a coma before an examiner deemed you to be unsuitable for testing.

Hey,
Does anyone know if premature arterial contractions will affect the results of a polygraph???  Need to know!