How serious is a heart arrhythmia?
Can an arrhythmia go away on its own?
What is the best treatment for irregular heartbeat?
What can trigger arrhythmia?
Treatment
Most arrhythmias are considered harmless and are left untreated. Once your doctor has documented that you have an arrhythmia, he or she will need to find out whether it’s abnormal or merely reflects the heart’s normal processes. He or she will also determine whether your arrhythmia is clinically significant that is, whether it causes symptoms or puts you at risk for more serious arrhythmias or complications of arrhythmias in the future. If your arrhythmia is abnormal and clinically significant, your doctor will set a treatment plan.
If you have an arrhythmia, treatment may or may not be necessary. Usually, it’s required only if the arrhythmia is causing significant symptoms or if it’s putting you at risk of a more serious arrhythmia or arrhythmia complication.
Treating slow heartbeats
If slow heartbeats (bradycardias) don’t have a cause that can be corrected, doctors often treat them with a pacemaker because there aren’t any medications that can reliably speed up your heart.
A pacemaker is a small device that’s usually implanted near your collarbone. One or more electrode-tipped wires run from the pacemaker through your blood vessels to your inner heart. If your heart rate is too slow or if it stops, the pacemaker sends out electrical impulses that stimulate your heart to beat at a steady rate.
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Treating fast heartbeats
Cardiac catheter ablation
For fast heartbeats (tachycardias), treatments may include one or more of the following:
- Vagal maneuvers.You may be able to stop an arrhythmia that begins above the lower half of your heart (supraventricular tachycardia) by using particular maneuvers that include holding your breath and straining, dunking your face in ice water, or coughing.
These maneuvers affect the nervous system that controls your heartbeat (vagus nerves), often causing your heart rate to slow. However, vagal maneuvers don’t work for all types of arrhythmias.
- For many types of tachycardia, you may be prescribed medication to control your heart rate or restore a normal heart rhythm. It’s very important to take any anti-arrhythmic medication exactly as directed by your doctor in order to minimize complications.
If you have atrial fibrillation, your doctor may prescribe blood-thinning medications to help keep dangerous blood clots from forming.
- If you have a certain type of arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation, your doctor may use cardioversion, which can be conducted as a procedure or by using medications.
In the procedure, a shock is delivered to your heart through paddles or patches on your chest. The current affects the electrical impulses in your heart and can restore a normal rhythm.
- Catheter ablation.In this procedure, your doctor threads one or more catheters through your blood vessels to your heart. Electrodes at the catheter tips can use heat, extreme cold or radiofrequency energy to damage (ablate) a small spot of heart tissue and create an electrical block along the pathway.
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Living with Arrhythmias
Taking medications
- Take all medications exactly as prescribed.
- Never stop taking any prescription medication without first consulting your healthcare provider.
- If you have any side effects, tell your healthcare provider about them.
- Tell your healthcare provider about all your other drugs and supplements, including over-the-counter medications and vitamins.
Monitor your pulse
You should know how to take your pulse especially if you have an artificial pacemaker.
- Put the second and third fingers of one hand on the inside of the wrist of the other hand, just below the thumb OR on the side of your neck, just below the corner of your jaw.
- Feel for the pulse.
- Count the number of beats in one full minute.
- Keep a record of your pulse along with the day and time taken and notes about how you felt at the time. Use our blood pressure/pulse tracker (PDF).
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Certain substances can contribute to an abnormal/irregular heartbeat, including:
- Caffeine
- Tobacco
- Alcohol
- Cold and cough medications
- Appetite suppressants
- Psychotropic drugs (used to treat certain mental illnesses)
- Antiarrhythmics (paradoxically, the same drugs used to treat arrhythmia can also cause arrhythmia. Your healthcare team will monitor you carefully if you’re taking antiarrhythmic medication.)
- Beta-blockers for high blood pressure
- Street drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and “speed” or methamphetamines
How serious is a heart arrhythmia?
Many heart arrhythmias are harmless. However, if they are highly irregular or result from a weak or damaged heart, arrhythmias can cause severe and potentially fatal symptoms and complications. If arrhythmia is left untreated, the heart may not be able to pump enough blood to the body. This can damage the heart, the brain, or other organs.
Can an arrhythmia go away on its own?
While medications are used to control abnormal heart rhythms, ablation procedures can cure some types of arrhythmia completely. Sometimes atrial fibrillation does not cause any symptoms and a person who has it is completely unaware that their heart rate is irregular. Sometimes atrial fibrillation seems to go away and the heart goes back to its normal rhythm -the condition may then be deemed to have ‘resolved’. This can be caused by pericarditis (membrane or sac around your heart is inflamed), alcohol or other drugs, acute illness, or electrolyte abnormalities.
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What is the best treatment for irregular heartbeat?
The treatments used for arrhythmias include: medication to stop or prevent an arrhythmia or control the rate of an arrhythmia. cardioversion a treatment that uses electricity to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm while you are anaesthetised or sedated.
What can trigger arrhythmia?
Arrhythmias can be caused by:
- Coronary artery disease
- High blood pressure
- Changes in the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)
- Valve disorders
- Electrolyte imbalances in the blood, such as sodium or potassium
- Injury from a heart attack
- The healing process after heart surgery
- Other medical conditions
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