What is Arrhythmia?
What is Arrhythmia?
Heart rhythm problems (heart arrhythmias) occur when the electrical impulses in your heart that coordinate your heartbeats don't function properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.
Heart arrhythmias are common and usually harmless. Most people have occasional, irregular heartbeats that may feel like a fluttering or racing heart. However, some heart arrhythmias may cause bothersome —
sometimes even life-threatening — signs and symptoms.
Heart arrhythmia treatment can often control or eliminate irregular heartbeats. In addition, because troublesome heart arrhythmias are often made worse — or are even caused — by a weak or damaged heart, you may be able to reduce your arrhythmia risk by adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle.
Symptoms
A fluttering in your chest
A racing heartbeat (tachycardia)
A slow heartbeat (bradycardia)
Chest pain
Shortness of breath
Lightheadedness
Dizziness
Fainting (syncope) or near fainting
Causes
Many things can lead to, or cause, an arrhythmia, including:
Scarring of heart tissue (such as from a heart attack)
Heart disease
High blood pressure
Diabetes
Overactive thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism)
Smoking
Excessive alcohol or caffeine intake
Drug abuse
Stress
Medications
Dietary supplements and herbal treatments
Western Medicine Treatment
If you have an arrhythmia, treatment may or may not be necessary. Usually it's required only if the arrhythmia is causing
significant symptoms or if it's putting you at risk of a more serious arrhythmia or arrhythmia complication. If slow heartbeats (bradycardias) don't have a cause that can be corrected — such as low thyroid hormone levels or a drug side effect — doctors often treat them with a pacemaker.
For fast heartbeats (tachycardias), treatments may include one or more of the following:
Vagal maneuvers.
Medications.
Cardioversion.
Ablation Therapy.
Implantable devices
Pacemaker
Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD).
Surgical treatments
Maze procedure
Coronary bypass surgery
Adopted from Wei Laboratories, Inc.