7 things about arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat that you need to know!

Dr Suresh Rao, HOD - Cardiac Critical Care and Cardiac Anesthesia, Fortis Malar Hospital, Chennai tells us more about this condition

Debjani Arora | Published: June 13, 2018 6:44 pm

The matters of the heart are really tricky and we are not talking in any romantic aspect over here but about the real organ that beats 24/7 to help you stay alive and kicking. We seldom pay attention to it unless there is an urgent need. But your heart could be in trouble even before you know it and send you SOS from time to time. We tend to ignore the obvious ones – chest pains, panting, difficulty in breathing et al. And then comes a time when we have to pay a hefty price for our ignorance. Another problem that many of us avoid is palpitation of heart or irregular heartbeats. This condition called arrhythmia, however, could be fatal. We spoke to Dr Suresh Rao, HOD – Cardiac Critical Care and Cardiac Anesthesia, Fortis Malar Hospital, Chennai to know more about this condition.

It is a condition where the heartbeats go haywire

Normally a heart beats on a regular rhythm at a rate of 70 to 80 beats per minutes. But if it starts beating irregularly it’s called arrhythmia. In arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast or too slow. This is a sign that your heart is in danger and its muscles start to contract inappropriately, without a proper rhythm hampering circulation and breathing. Usually, it settles on its own but in rare cases, this incident can be life-threatening and lead to heart failure or stroke.

Its causes can be varied

In some cases, arrhythmia could be idiopathic, which means the cause remains unknown. But in some cases, there could be a probable cause like -structural heart disease, congenital heart block, coronary heart disease, heart failure. Also, foods like caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, certain drugs, conduction abnormalities of the heart could be the reason. Here are 12 signs of heart problems that you should know.

Its symptoms are very generic

The most common symptoms of arrhythmia are – palpitation of heart (awareness of once own heartbeat), breathlessness in some cases, generalized weakness, giddiness and syncope. Sometimes these irregular heartbeats can lead to chest pain or stroke which could be life-threatening.

It is treatable

Arrhythmia is very much treatable. First, it’s important to treat the cause. There are also antiarrhythmic drugs, if not controlled with drugs electrical ablation of the origin of arrhythmia can be done by the electrophysiologists. If all attempts of treating fails and the heart fail to perform to the optimum then heart transplant can give relief.

It can be aggravated due to certain lifestyle habits

Smoking, alcohol intake, coronary artery disease can increase chances of suffering from the same. The other causes that can aggravate arrhythmia are diabetes, hypertension, valvular heart disease, old age, drugs etc. Complications of this condition may involve- clot formation and thromboembolism, stroke, heart failure, cardiac arrest and death. Here is what happens to your body when you have a heart attack.

It can be of different types

Different types of arrhythmia – slow arrhythmia – e.g. heart block, fast arrhythmias – atrial tachycardia, supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, ectopic heartbeats.

Image source: Shutterstock

Published: June 13, 2018 6:44 pm

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