Arrhythmia
What Is Arrhythmia ?
Arrhythmia is a term for any of a large and heterogeneous group of conditions in which there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart. The heart beat may be too fast or too slow, and may be regular or irregular due to abnormal conduction of the stimulating impulses.
The production and conduction of the stimulating impulses precede the heartbeat. The heart pacing and conduction systems are all rhythmical, with the strongest automaticity and the highest frequency shown in sinoaterial node, which is the pacemaker and controls the cardiac action. The other parts of the heart conduction system can be viewed as the potential pacemaker which would produce stimulating impulses when the function of sinoaterial node is unavailable. Any abnormal formation and conduction of the stimulating impulses can lead to the irregular heart beat and further trigger arrhythmia.
Arrhythmia refers to all the abnormal conditions of cardiac pacemaking and conduction which cause the irregularity of the heart beat, and disorder the cardiac action.
The general causes which can be divided into three categories clinically are cardiac pacing or conduction abnormal, including: A. abnormal impulse formation with cases of sinus arrhythmia, ectopic cardiac rhythm and initiative ectopic cardiac rhythm among which the sinus arrhythmia, premature systole and arterial fibrillation are the most common ones; B. abnormal conduction including sinoatrial block, parietal block, intra-atrial block and pre-excitation syndrome; C. a combination of rational and physiological conduction disturbances which is usually taken as a physiological phenomenon with no particular treatment.
Irregular Life Could Lead to Arrhythmia
Arrhythmia is one of the most common symptoms of cardiovascular system deficiency with the clinical manifestation changed according to the heart beat frequency and regularity. For instance, paroxysmal tachycardia may cause palpitation, shortness of breath, precordial discomfort, dizziness, sweating and nausea.
Patients who suffer premature beat may get a sense of chest tightness and cardiac arrest. Generally, arrhythmia is caused by various reasons including hypertension, coronary artery disease, and body electrolyte imbalance. However, living factors can also caused arrhythmia according to the clinical observation.
1. Body position. According to the studies, the change of body position would not only influence vagal tone but also homodynamic. For those who lack adaptability and adjustment capability, even the change of body positions would lead to transient arrhythmia. Even the abnormality can be found through the instance EKG image, it would soon disappear.
2. Eating. Some people may find them palpitation, dizziness or even syncope 3 to 6 seconds after they swallow their foods; others may be troubled by tachycardia and frequent premature or bradycardia and conduction block. The symptoms could become more manifest when eating ravenously. Although most arrhythmias caused by eating may go away, many people die of the recurrence of the symptom. Therefore, taking your time in eating which would not only do good to your digestion and absorption but benefit your health is always recommended.
3. Clothing. Some clothes made of synthetic fiber may lead to ventricular premature due to the release of tissue amine occurred when the body is allergic to synthetic fiber or the abnormal heart telex triggered by the change of the surface potential difference caused by electrostatic interference.
4. Smoking. The cigarette, which contains a variety of harmful substances, may also initiate arrhythmia.
5. Drinking. Drinking too much may impose an additional burden on the heart, increasing myocardial oxygen consumption and so does the overdrinking of coffee.
6. External stimuli. The sudden drop of the body temperature, being frightened, nervous system irritation, sudden contraction of blood vessels and the increased blood pressure are all the causes of arrhythmia, resulting in death when severe enough.
7. Exercises. During the training process, the combination of the reduced parasympathetic tone and increased sympathetic tone would accelerate the heart rate, change atrioventricular conduction while increase myocardial oxygen consumption, finally causing arrhythmia.
8. Emotions. When our exuberant emotions which include pleasure, anger, sorrow, joy, fear and sad are out of control, there would be disorder of cardiac nerve function and imbalance of endocrine hormone release which finally result in arrhythmia.
Therefore, the life conditioning plays quite an important role in preventing arrhythmia. When there seemed no causes, attention should be paid to the ways of daily life. Change the bad habits timely so as to establish better working conditions for the heart.
How to Treat Arrhythmias ?
When an arrhythmia is serious, urgent treatment may be required to restore a normal rhythm. This may include:
1) Electrical “shock” therapy (defibrillation or cardioversion)
2) Implanting a temporary pacemaker to interrupt the arrhythmia
3) Medications given through a vein (intravenous)
Supraventricular arrhythmias may be treated with:
1) Medications that slow the pulse (beta blockers, calcium channel blockers)
2) Medications that cause the heart rhythm to return to normal (anti-arrhythmic drugs)
3) Bradycardias that cause symptoms can be treated by implanting a permanent pacemaker.