Arrhythmia of the heart - causes, symptoms and treatment

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Arrhythmia is a violation of the rhythm of the heartbeat. With this group of diseases, the heart beats faster or slower, and sometimes just irregularly. Most arrhythmias are not dangerous. Some are unpleasant but easy to treat. However, there are also life-threatening ones. You need to know how arrhythmia of the heart manifests itself, what it is and how to treat it.

What is arrhythmia?

The sinus-atrial nerve node is located in the right atrium. It is a bundle of nerve fibers that sets the rhythm of atrial contractions. Its continuation is the bundle of His, which coordinates the work of the atria and ventricles. It branches, innervating the left and right halves of the heart, the anterior and posterior walls of the ventricles, and then turns into Purkinje fibers, which innervate separate, very small areas of the heart muscle. All this together forms the conducting system of the heart.

Arrhythmia - this is a violation of the function not of the heart itself, but namely of its conducting system. For example, if the source of problems is in the sinus-atrial node, they talk about sinus arrhythmia of the heart. What it is and how to treat it becomes clear from the localization of the problem, which can be seen on the ECG.

Nature has provided protection mechanisms in case a small part of the conducting system begins to work inadequately: excitation impulses can bypass the damaged heart tissue, for example, after a heart attack.

But such a margin of safety is not always enough, and in this case, cardiac arrhythmia occurs.

Types of arrhythmias and their differences

Heart rate abnormalities are called tachycardia (heart rate over 80 beats per minute) or bradycardia (heart rate slows below 60 beats per minute). Bradycardia occurs in perfectly healthy people, for example, trained track and field athletes, skiers and other athletes who value endurance and the ability to accelerate.

Tachycardia - the body's natural reaction to physical or emotional stress. A rapid resting pulse often indicates illness, but sometimes it is also normal.

Heart rhythm disturbances are subdivided into sinus, atrial and ventricular, depending on in which area of the heart there is a violation of the electrical signal and, accordingly, the rhythm.

Cardiac arrhythmias are persistent and paroxysmal. With persistent arrhythmias, disturbances are usually insignificant or easily corrected with drugs.

Paroxysmal arrhythmias - This is a heart attack with a significant, up to 150-200 beats per minute, an increase in heart rate and a feeling of weakness up to loss of consciousness. With paroxysmal arrhythmias, medical attention is often indispensable.

The most common types of arrhythmias are extrasystole and atrial fibrillation.

Extrasystole - This is an additional contraction of the atria or ventricles, which, as a rule, does not require treatment and is asymptomatic.

Atrial fibrillation - this is the asynchronous work of atrial myocardiocytes, due to which the atria cannot contract normally. As a result, the work of the ventricles is disrupted, blood circulation suffers.

Causes

There are many reasons for cardiac arrhythmias. Here is some of them:

• heart diseases: ischemic heart disease, myocardial dystrophy, valvular apparatus diseases;
• dehydration, electrolyte imbalance;
• lack of oxygen;
• chest trauma;
• osteochondrosis of the cervical and thoracic spine;
• overexcitation of the vagus nerve due to diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract;
• transferred myocardial infarction;
• hypertension;
• hyperthyroidism;
• diabetes;
• smoking;
• alcohol abuse;
• abuse of coffee;
• stress;
• the use of certain medications, including those based on herbs;
• allergic reactions;
• diagnostic procedures.

Symptoms

Most often, arrhythmias are asymptomatic and are detected during a routine examination. Including this way, severe arrhythmias are detected, which are dangerous for the patient's life, so you should not neglect the directions on the ECG, even if the person's heart does not bother.

A good doctor will always find a reason to send a patient to a cardiogram, it is indicated, for example, after an acute respiratory infection with a high temperature.

If the arrhythmia is felt by a person, its symptoms in an adult are as follows:

• a feeling of an interruption in your heart rate;
• too fast or slow heartbeat;
• chest pain;
• dyspnea;
• fear;
• weakness, dizziness, fainting.

The severity of symptoms is usually not related to how dangerous the arrhythmia is in a particular person.

What drugs are prescribed for arrhythmias?

So, you have been diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia. What is it and how to treat it at home? And is it possible to treat arrhythmia at home in general? It is important to understand that a visit to the doctor and a complete examination will not replace home treatment.

In recent years, the approach to the treatment of arrhythmias has changed significantly. Some of them require treatment, and some are the opposite. First of all, this applies to extrasystoles. They are treated in the following cases:

• if extrasystoles occur more often than 10 times per hour and cause hemodynamic disturbances;
• if the patient feels interruptions in the work of the heart;
• if there is EchoCG data for deterioration in the functional state of the myocardium.

Extrasystoles - what is it? These are additional contractions of the atria, ventricles, or all parts of the heart. They are associated with the risk of developing atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac death.

For a long time it was believed that the suppression of extrasystoles with the help of medications reduces the risk of death from cardiac causes, but it was recently found that the effect is just the opposite: when using antiarrhythmic drugs with extrasystoles, mortality is more than 2 times higher than without them, although extrasystoles are suppressed by them OK.

Therefore, extrasystoles are not treated at all if the patient has no symptoms, but their condition is monitored, echocardiography is performed twice a year.

How is arrhythmia treated? With extrasystoles, lifestyle changes often help well: refusal from coffee, strong tea, tobacco and alcohol, weight loss, exercise. And only if this does not help, β-blockers are prescribed or, if the heart muscle is not changed, class I antiarrhythmic drugs.

It is important to remember that in some conditions, for example, a fourfold increase in the total number of ventricular extrasystoles, ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, antiarrhythmic drugs have arrhythmogenic properties.

With extrasystoles, psychotropic drugs help well, which have a calming and relaxing effect. If it is necessary to correct extrasystoles, it makes sense to start with them.

There is a surgical method for treating arrhythmias: catheter ablation of the area of the myocardium in which pathological excitement occurs. However, this method is not always shown.

When prescribing pills for arrhythmia, the doctor must always assess the ratio of potential harm to the expected benefit: some of the side effects of these drugs are much more dangerous than extrasystoles.

In case of atrial fibrillation, on the contrary, antiarrhythmic drugs are prescribed. They must be selected individually, and it is impossible to predict which drug will suit which patient. Medications help 60-80% of seizures, sometimes requiring intravenous administration. If they did not work, there are hardware methods for relieving seizures, but they are used strictly in hospitals.

For example, electrical cardioversion is a method in which a patient is put into short anesthesia, and at a certain point, inconsistent contractions of atrial myocardiocytes are removed using an electrical discharge. As a result, the normal heart rhythm is restored.

Nowadays, implantable cardioverters are being actively developed and implemented - devices that determine that a person has an attack of atrial fibrillation and stop it.

Folk recipes for arrhythmia

How to treat arrhythmia with folk remedies is well known. The main thing here is not to harm: the rule "in some situations antiarrhythmic drugs cause arrhythmia" works here as well.

A tablespoon of dried rose hips is crushed, poured with 2 cups of boiling water and heated in a water bath for 10 minutes, filtered, honey is added. Drink half a glass 2 r / d before meals.

Take dried apricots, raisins and walnuts in approximately equal proportions and grind. In 200 g of the mixture, add 5 tablespoons of honey and a little lemon juice and stir until smooth. Take 2 tablespoons after breakfast for a month.

A tablespoon of lemon balm is brewed in 500 ml of boiling water, infused for 20 minutes, drunk in half a glass 3 r / d.

Hawthorn, valerian, motherwort in folk medicine is not customary to insist on alcohol. They are brewed, often making a fresh infusion. In hawthorn, both fruits and leaves can be used.

Infusion on water allows you to abandon ethyl alcohol, which is bad for the heart. Mix motherwort herb, hawthorn fruit and valerian root in equal proportions, put in a thermos and pour boiling water in a ratio of 1:10 (for every 10 grams of the mixture, 100 ml of water). It takes a lot of collection: they replace tea. Before use, you can add honey to the drink - of course, if there is no diabetes mellitus. The mineral composition of honey has a beneficial effect on the heart.

A collection of valerian root, mint and chamomile herbs is also prepared. It is not entirely clear whether it affects the heart or heals the nervous system, but even if attacks occur daily, this collection helps well.

Why arrhythmia is dangerous - prognosis, consequences

The two dangerous outcomes of arrhythmias are stroke, pulmonary embolism, and congestive heart failure.

A stroke as a consequence of atrial fibrillation develops as follows. Atrial fibrillation cannot normally transfer blood to the ventricles, it stagnates, and clots form, which turn into blood clots. A blood clot or part of it can enter the circulatory system and block a vessel in any organ, including the brain and lungs, which leads to ischemic stroke - the death of tissue in which blood supply is impaired.

Congestive heart failure with arrhythmias develops due to ineffective heart contractions.

Prophylaxis

Prevention of arrhythmias is primarily in the control of hypertension, hyperthyroidism and diabetes mellitus, rejection of bad habits, moderation in the use of coffee and alcohol, dosed physical activity.

The exercises recommended by Dr. Bubnovsky help well. They strengthen the muscles, which are involved in blood circulation, thereby relieving the heart.

Potassium and magnesium supplements also reduce the likelihood of developing arrhythmias. But the most important prevention of cardiovascular disease is stress avoidance. If your life is full of unpleasant experiences, mild herbal sedatives may help.