Disturbances in heart rhythm (arrhythmia) can be life-threatening in some situations. Therefore, when your heart beats unevenly, you cannot take it lightly. What are the most common causes of heart palpitations or fluttering? Find out why the heart speeds up or slows down in certain situations and when an arrhythmic preparation will be needed.

Disorders of work( of rhythm )of the heartotherwise known as arrhythmia. Heart disorders often occur in he althy people under the influence of emotions, fatigue, alcohol, coffee. It is enough to calm down, rest, limit stimulants for everything to return to normal. But uneven heartbeat can also signal diseases of the heart and circulatory system (atherosclerosis, hypertension, circulatory failure), potassium, magnesium and calcium deficiency. Accompanies fever, hyperthyroidism, and menopause.

How does the heart work?

The heart may beat too fast (tachycardia) or too slow (bradycardia). The rhythm disturbance is either regular (the heart always beats in one rhythm, e.g. too fast) or irregular (it beats irregularly). The cyclical work of the heart is caused by electrical impulses sent by the natural pacemaker, which is the sinus node located in the right atrium. From there, the electrical current flows first into the atria and then into the chambers, enabling them to alternate between them. The blood from the atria goes to the ventricles through the valves (tricuspid and mitral). When both chambers are filled with blood, an electrical stimulus is created again. The mitral and tricuspid valves close, while the pulmonary and aortic valves open. From the right ventricle, blood is ejected to the pulmonary trunk and pulmonary arteries, and from the left ventricle - to the aorta, from where it is distributed through arteries to all organs.

Why does the heart speed up and slow down?

Sometimes impulses are produced in places other than the sinus node in the atria or in the ventricles. Then the heart rhythm is disturbed. When an additional contraction occurs before a contraction triggered by the normal rhythm, the heart beats unevenly. If the sinus node does not produce enough beats, or if the atrial stimulations do not reach the ventricles, contractions occur less frequently than normal. Sometimes the extra contractions are sporadic,then you may not notice them. Sometimes, however, you experience choking or a strong contraction in the chest, but these symptoms last for a short time and disappear on their own, although sometimes they can recur.

Palpitations, fluttering - serious arrhythmias

Additional contractions are more dangerous, which combine into the so-called tachycardia. Then the patient may experience palpitations, interruptions in its work, fluttering, rapid beating or its slowdown. Sometimes it is accompanied by shortness of breath, weakness, drowsiness, dizziness. It all depends on your general he alth and where the abnormal stimuli arise and how fast their rhythm is. A special form of tachycardia is atrial fibrillation (chaotic impulses arise in different places in the atria and only some reach the ventricles, so although the atrial muscle works very quickly, the heart pumps very little blood to the aorta and pulmonary trunk) and ventricular fibrillation. This is the most serious arrhythmia, because as a result of uncontrolled impulses in various places in the ventricles, the heart stops working and clinical death is needed, so an immediate rescue action is needed - defibrillation to restore the heart.

How to equalize the work of the heart?

You should be concerned about symptoms that appear for no apparent reason, persist for more than 2-3 minutes, recur several times a day, and those accompanied by chest pain or fainting.

If you feel that your heart is not working normally, see a doctor as soon as possible! After an EKG and a biochemical blood test are done, he will prescribe therapy as needed. It may be necessary, for example, to discontinue certain medications, treat thyroid disease, change lifestyle and fight stress.

In the treatment of tachycardia, antiarrhythmic preparations are most often administered. In emergency cases and when pharmacological treatment does not bring improvement, electrical cardioversion is used. The procedure consists in restoring the normal work of the heart by means of electrical impulses generated by the cardioverter. It is performed in a hospital setting under short-term general anesthesia. Sometimes ablation is needed - it involves the inoperable destruction of the additional impulse conduction pathway causing the arrhythmia. The procedure is performed under local anesthesia. If the heart is working too slowly, a pacemaker must be implanted. It is a battery-powered device that produces electrical impulses that stimulate the heart.

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Category:

Cardiology