A healthy heart beats as regularly as an old-fashioned pendulum clock. If it starts racing or thumping unrhythmically, it scares us. However, not every cardiac arrest is dangerous. FOCUS Online explains which arrhythmia you really need to go to the doctor.
Some people only really notice on hot summer days how fast their heart beats sometimes or that they run out of breath at the slightest exertion.
In fact, heat and the body’s cooling response to it strains the circulatory system and requires more pumping power. Sometimes the heartbeat gets out of step. It can be harmless, but it can also end dramatically.
It feels as if the heart is somersaulting when extra beats (extrasystoles) slide in between the regular heartbeats and disrupt the usual beat. Those affected often feel clearly when the heart is beating irregularly.
However, if the extrasystoles occur more frequently during the day, repeatedly after exertion or if they last longer than 30 seconds, a doctor should clarify whether a disease of the cardiovascular system is behind it. High blood pressure, for example, promotes extrasystoles.
A doctor is also sought after if the palpitations are accompanied by dizziness, impaired consciousness, chest pain or shortness of breath.
Since even harmless heart palpitations are unpleasant and somewhat frightening, patients can counteract this with the mineral potassium: for example with one or two bananas or a handful of apricots a day. If you want to take a potassium supplement, you should definitely clarify this with your doctor. Too high a dose of potassium can lead to arrhythmias instead of normalizing the heartbeat.
Now save articles for later in “Pocket”.
A fast pulse is not just a completely normal reaction to physical stress, excitement or fearful situations. Palpitations, also called tachycardia, can also be a form of cardiac arrhythmia.
Cardiologists speak of benign tachycardia when the seizures begin unexpectedly and end suddenly, are not dependent on specific situations and also occur during periods of rest. According to the German Heart Foundation, around one hundred thousand people in Germany suffer from benign tachycardia. Even if tachycardia is not dangerous in many cases, it is stressful for those affected.
An ECG can determine whether it is a benign tachycardia or perhaps atrial fibrillation, the main symptom of which is also a rapid pulse. However, the measurement only works when the heart is beating fast, not afterwards. If you want to assess your own risk in advance, you can find a self-test for tachycardia on the website of the German Heart Foundation.
Almost two million Germans suffer from atrial fibrillation. However, those affected often do not even feel that their heart is beating irregularly.
In atrial fibrillation, the electrical impulses that control the pumping function of the heart are disrupted. Unrhythmic electrical waves occur. The atria no longer contract, but twitch (“flicker”) up to 600 times per minute. The atria then no longer contribute much to the pumping function of the heart. The consequences:
Blood clots can form, which are then carried by the blood flow to the brain, where they clog the vessels and cause a stroke. One in five strokes is caused by untreated atrial fibrillation.
Also read:
A normal resting heart rate is 60 to 80 heartbeats per minute. In atrial fibrillation, the heart can beat 100+ times per minute. Other symptoms, individually or in combination, are:
While heart symptoms may be startling at first, some patients become accustomed to them. Atrial fibrillation remains untreated and may only become noticeable after a stroke.
Predisposition and age are among the risk factors for atrial fibrillation that cannot be influenced. Only one percent of under-50 year olds is affected, among 80 year olds it is more than 15 percent. Other risk factors are:
The following examinations can be used to determine atrial fibrillation and its characteristics:
With any therapy, it is important not only to treat the atrial fibrillation, but also the risk factors and underlying diseases. It also includes stroke prevention.
If the heart keeps getting out of rhythm, a potassium level that is too low or too high can be to blame. The normalization of the potassium level is therefore an important part of the therapy for atrial fibrillation as well as for other cardiac arrhythmias.
Antiarrhythmics, beta-blockers and anticoagulants for the blood come into consideration as medication. When and in what combination they are used is determined by the status of the disease. Physicians distinguish between paroxysmal, persistent and permanent atrial fibrillation.
Surgery is also possible in many cases: During catheter ablation, heart muscle cells in the left atrium are destroyed so that scars form. This cuts off the path of the disturbing electrical impulses. The procedure is not an option for all patients and there is no guarantee of success, but if successful, it can free you from long-term medication and its side effects.
One speaks of ventricular fibrillation when the entire heart muscle suddenly just twitches. The heart no longer fills up and no longer pumps blood into the circulatory system. It finally stands still. In the OR, the patient is then immediately given electric shocks.
In everyday life, where a defibrillator is not necessarily nearby, a patient with ventricular fibrillation will collapse unconscious and die within minutes if CPR is not performed immediately with chest compressions. Because after about ten minutes it’s too late for any rescue.
Sudden cardiac death often affects young, completely healthy people, including athletes. However, they only appear healthy. Because the acute event is almost always based on either a previously unknown congenital heart disease or an equally undiscovered inflammation of the heart muscle.
