Conditions of Abnormal Rapid Heartbeat
Normally, the heart beats at a rate of 60 – 100 beats per minute. A condition of arrhythmia means the heart beats faster or slower than normal, which may result from congenital abnormalities in the heart’s electrical generation or conduction, or both. It can be found in several types of heart disease, both with pathology, such as abnormal heart valves, abnormal heart muscle, or narrowed coronary arteries, and without pathology, such as electrical shortcut circuits in the heart.
Symptoms of Abnormal Rapid Heartbeat
Patients may experience the following symptoms:- Palpitations
- Dizziness
- Chest pain
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Fainting
- Cardiac arrest depending on the rate of speed, duration, and pathology of the heart
Care and Reduction of Risk Factors
Triggering factors for abnormal rapid heartbeats that should be avoided include:
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Overexertion
- Insufficient rest
- Excessive exercise
- Smoking
- Consumption of tea, coffee, energy drinks, carbonated drinks containing caffeine, alcohol
- Taking or injecting heart-stimulating drugs
Diagnosis of Abnormal Heart Rhythms
To diagnose the type of abnormal heart rhythm and whether there is accompanying heart pathology, doctors often check the electrocardiogram (ECG), or a 24-hour ECG, treadmill test (especially in patients with arrhythmias during exercise), telemonitoring of the ECG, and heart stimulation in the laboratory, which is currently used to find the cause in patients suspected of having upper heart chamber abnormalities, lower heart chamber conduction abnormalities, irregular fast heartbeats, patients who survived life-saving operations, and patients who frequently faint without identifiable causes.
Seek Treatment Before It Gets Worse
Some patients with abnormal heart rhythms do not experience symptoms, leading to a lack of awareness of the importance and potential complications that can cause difficulty for the patient and family, ranging from stroke to death. The most common arrhythmia is Atrial Fibrillation, with patients having a high risk of stroke up to 10 – 15% per year because of blood clots formed in the heart from irregular beating dislodged to block brain arteries, leading to a weaker heart condition, which increases mortality especially when found in combination with diabetes, blocked coronary arteries. Thus, long-term complications can make it difficult to treat patients back to good health and quality of life.
Treatment of Abnormal Heart Rhythms
Treatment of abnormal heart rhythms can be done by:
1) Medication Doctors may treat with medication alone, starting with stress-relief medications, arrhythmia inhibitors, or heart stimulants.
2) Ablation therapy using radiofrequency energy by special catheter (Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation) It is a method for treating abnormal rapid heart rhythms with very good results (80 – 95%) by inserting a catheter to various positions in the heart to measure the electrical waves of the heart and stimulating the heart. After that, a special catheter is inserted to locate where the electrical conduction in the heart is faster than normal. Once found, high-frequency electrical current is released which turns into heat energy at the catheter tip, destroying the pathological conduction spot so the heart does not beat abnormally again.
Many patients are concerned that ablation therapy with radiofrequency energy could be dangerous, which is very minimal as the electrical wave used has a low electrical current around 40 – 60 volts, which turns into heat energy at the tissue at a temperature of 55 – 60 degrees Celsius. This energy does not stimulate the heart muscle or nerves. Patients may feel only a slight chest pain, thus it can be done without the need for general anesthesia.
3) Implantation of special devices For rapid abnormal heart rhythms resulting from the lower heart chambers beating too fast, leading to low blood pressure, undetectable pulse, or switching between multiple patterns, or a fluttering lower heart chamber, if not quickly returned to normal, the patient may die. Doctors recommend implanting an automatic defibrillator along with taking arrhythmia inhibiting drugs. For slow heart rhythms, a heart pacemaker will be implanted, which comes in two types: single-chamber and dual-chamber, depending on the heart pathology of the patient.
