Impaired heart functionality is a diagnosis that is by no means a rarity for modern humans. Moreover, not all diseases are harmless: most of them pose a danger to the health and life of the patient. What is arrhythmia, what causes this pathology and is it amenable to therapy?

What is cardiac arrhythmia?

Arrhythmia is a condition of the heart in which its muscles cease to function and contract rhythmically, relax. Movements are carried out more slowly or quickly, that is, without taking into account any rhythm, ranging from 50 to 400 and higher contractions per minute.

Causes and Risk Factors

The heart is not in vain considered one of the most important and amazing organs of the human body. Its ability to automatically reduce rhythmically is not lost even when other organs or the nervous system are damaged. But under the influence of some factors, the contractile system can malfunction. The main cause of arrhythmia is recognized as changes in the conditions of the process during which the excitation of the heart muscle occurs.

There are several reasons that affect the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmia:

  1. Cardinal pathologies of the heart. They include all disorders associated with the functionality and structure of the organ: ischemia, valve defects, heart attack, heart failure.
  2. Extracardial diseases. These include pathologies that affect the heart muscle, slowing down the activity of the organ.Thus, failures of the nervous system, impaired functionality of the thyroid gland and adrenal glands have a basic effect in this matter. Also, a digestive tract disorder, pancreatitis and gastritis can affect the condition of the heart.
  3. The effects of medications. Incorrect dosage of medications can interfere with the smooth functioning of the heart. Most often this occurs as a result of taking diuretics, antiarrhythmic drugs, as well as glycosides.
  4. Exposure to toxic substances. A particularly negative impact is the use of alcohol and drugs, smoking.

Note! In some cases, arrhythmia is capable of developing for no reason. It is not possible to establish the etiology of such a disease even with a thorough and long-term examination of the patient.

Risk factors for arrhythmia:

  1. Increased blood pressure. The degree of influence of hypertension on the heart rhythm depends on the severity of the pathology. The numbers on the tonometer, exceeding the norm, often result from the development of atrial fibrillation.
  2. Hereditary factor. Often, cardiovascular pathologies are inherited from parents to children. This is especially true of congenital malformations of the valves of the body.
  3. Increased glucose. This condition is especially characteristic for patients suffering from diabetes, including in the latter stages. Jumps in blood glucose cause heart rhythm disturbances.
  4. Reception of psychostimulants. Frequent uncontrolled use of such drugs can provoke pathologies of the nervous system, which lead to the occurrence of heart failure.
  5. Lack of exercise. The heart needs a continuous supply of oxygen. The latter is best enriches the body during exercise. Systematic sedentary work provokes heart problems.
  6. Obesity and overweight. Often occur against the backdrop of physical inactivity. Overweight increases the load on the heart, exacerbating the general condition of the organ and adding, in addition to arrhythmia, more serious pathologies - the risk of heart failure or heart attack.

By the way! One of the most important risk factors for the development of arrhythmia is recognized stress. It is against the background of emotional experiences that patients are admitted to a specialist with complaints of interruptions in the heart rhythm.

Types of Arrhythmia

Cardiac arrhythmia is divided into several subspecies:

  1. Sinus tachycardia. It is characterized by an excess of heart rate over 80 beats per minute. The heart rate may increase during emotional or mental stress. Hyperthermia also provokes tachycardia: an increase in temperature by 1 degree = an increase in the number of contractions by 10 strokes. Interestingly, tachycardia can act as a symptom of multiple pathologies.
  2. Sinus bradycardia. This condition is characterized by a heart rate below 60 beats per minute. This diagnosis is also noted in healthy people. Moderate bradycardia allows you to better supply the heart muscles with blood. The situation is different when failures occur suddenly. The latter can significantly worsen human health.
  3. Sinus arrhythmia. It can also be considered a variant of the norm. Very often, you can track sinus arrhythmia in a child. Even in a healthy person, an irregular sinus rhythm of the heart can be observed (the difference in contractions can be 10%). Such a “scatter” is completely invisible to the naked eye and is not felt by a person. Such a condition is considered pathological in the case when the frequency of contractions increases by 2 times during inspiration and decreases during exhalation. This indicates abnormal conduction and fullness of blood in the heart when breathing.
  4. Paroxysmal rhythm disturbances. A similar condition can occur in a healthy person who suddenly felt a rapid heartbeat. In this case, the pulse rate is capable of reaching 150-200 beats per minute.A person at this moment may experience weakness or even suddenly lose consciousness. An attack can end as suddenly as it started.
  5. Extrasystole. This condition is said if the heart rate is complicated by premature muscle contractions. Often this phenomenon is caused by stress, vegetative-vascular dystonia, pathologies of the gallbladder. In a normal state, a visually healthy person can have up to 1,500 extrasystoles that do not need the intervention of doctors.
  6. Atrial fibrillation. This condition is characterized by the loss of one of the phases of the cardiac cycle - atrial contraction. At the same time, their muscle fibers do not function synchronously, and the atria can only twitch, that is, flicker. Following them, the ventricles contract in a similar way. The main symptoms of atrial fibrillation: palpitations, shortness of breath and urination, dizziness, fainting.

Note! Almost all of these types of arrhythmias require systematic monitoring by a cardiologist.

Symptoms in adults and children

Symptoms of arrhythmia are generally typical, but may differ in age.

So, the main symptoms of arrhythmia in people of mature age are:

  • pain and heaviness in the chest area;
  • dyspnea;
  • anxiety, growing anxiety;
  • general weakness, fainting;
  • sharp blanching or bluishness of the skin.

Note! Men are prone to arrhythmias one and a half times more often than women.

Pediatric arrhythmia is a fairly common diagnosis. Most often, this condition is a variant of the norm, and children, especially infants, practically do not feel it.

Heart problems in a baby can be suspected in the presence of the following symptoms:

  • dyspnea;
  • periodic blanching or blueness of the skin;
  • restlessness, causeless crying;
  • refusal of food caused by loss of appetite;
  • small weight gain;
  • sleep disturbances.

In older children and adolescents, fainting, weakness, and deterioration in well-being after physical exertion can be observed.

Pathology during pregnancy

The heart of expectant mothers has to work harder and provide for the needs of the woman and the fetus. There are frequent cases when the body cannot cope with such a load, as a result of which various pathologies arise. Often, such arrhythmia is caused by hormonal changes. A serious form of the disease can threaten the health and life of the child, as well as the mother. With an increase in the gestational age, pathologies can progress and require compulsory observation by a cardiologist.

In pregnant women, the following types of heart rhythm disturbances can be observed:

  1. Extrasystole. Often occurs as a result of toxicosis, which affects the metabolism of potassium in the body, as well as poisoning and pathology of the kidneys, thyroid gland.
  2. Atrial fibrillation. Expectant mother often feels an attack of panic fear, trembling in her body, dizziness, a "jumping out" heart.
  3. Ventricular tachycardia. As a rule, it is provoked by ischemic disorders of the organ, manifested even before pregnancy. This condition begins unexpectedly and can pass away just as suddenly.

Important! The prognosis of ventricular tachycardia is often unfavorable and requires serious therapy, medical supervision.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias is carried out by conducting laboratory and instrumental studies:

  1. Complete blood count (KLA). Helps to track the general condition of the body, to eliminate the presence of additional diseases.
  2. General urine analysis.
  3. Blood biochemistry. Helps determine the cause of arrhythmia.
  4. Thyroid hormones. The analysis is necessary to confirm or exclude the presence of thyroid pathologies, which can indirectly affect the occurrence of arrhythmias.
  5. Coagulogram. Helps track blood coagulation.By these indicators, one can judge the risk of thrombosis, stroke or heart attack.
  6. Electrocardiogram (ECG). It is considered the safest way to diagnose arrhythmias. Allows you to evaluate heart rate and track ischemia.
  7. Echocardiography. Allows you to identify structural changes in the heart.
  8. Holter monitoring. Differs from an ECG in duration of carrying out. Through continuous patient wearing of a special device with a locking device for a cardiogram, monitoring allows you to track the features of heart rhythm failures.

Diagnostic features are determined by the cardiologist for each individual patient.

Drug treatment for cardiac arrhythmias

The most common treatment for arrhythmias is medication. As a rule, the course of administration is different in duration.

The main drugs prescribed for arrhythmias include:

  • sodium channel blockers: Novocainamide, Lidocaine, Allapinin;
  • potassium channel blockers: Sotalol, Amiodarone, Tosylate;
  • calcium channel blockers: verapamil, nifedipine.

Additionally, patients suffering from manifestations of arrhythmia can be prescribed antithrombotic drugs: Lyoton, Venitan, Laventum, etc.

Folk remedies

The elimination of the symptoms of arrhythmias by folk remedies cannot become a full-fledged therapy and replace drug treatment. In addition, the use of alternative recipes should be agreed with the attending physician.

Most often, herbal infusions of sedative action are used to relieve signs of heart rhythm disturbances. They promote muscle relaxation, relieve fatigue and improve sleep, and also reduce the heart rate. The most effective fees are those containing valerian and motherwort. Additionally, you can use decoctions of lemon balm, yarrow, hawthorn, marigold flowers.

In order to maintain the normal functioning of the cardiovascular system, it is imperative to take into account the principles of proper nutrition and the use of vitamins. Patients are advised to eat fruit, drink a rosehip broth. You can fill the shortage of multiple trace elements by connecting sour-milk products, corn potatoes, greens, fish, buckwheat to the menu. You should also minimize the use of fatty and fried foods, which contribute to cholesterol levels and as a result causes the development of atherosclerosis.

You can control the pressure by abandoning bad habits - smoking and alcohol abuse, coffee. Nicotine and coffee create pathological foci of heart rhythm disturbances.

Consequences and forecasts

There are several types of prognoses for arrhythmia:

  1. Favorable. Marked by a full recovery in case of timely and successful therapy.
  2. Adverse. The disease, accompanied by partial recovery, proceeds in a complex form.
  3. Doubtful. It is impossible to determine the course of development of a pathology - it can occur malignant or benign.
  4. Fatal. Estimated deaths may be indicated.

Severe forms of arrhythmia and lack of timely therapy can cause the following complications:

  1. Thromboembolism. It occurs against the background of arrhythmia, because with a rapid heartbeat, the blood is pumped not by the type of pump action, but as if mixed in the atrium, forming blood clots in certain areas of the heart.
  2. Heart failure. Appearing against the background of arrhythmia, it reduces the ability of the heart to fully pump blood, and the body suffers from oxygen deficiency. This can provoke a number of diseases, for example, stroke and myocardial infarction.

Preventive measures

You can minimize the risks of occurrence and subsequent complications by adhering to the basic rules of prevention:

  1. Timely treatment of the main diseases - ischemia, tachycardia, etc.It is best not to abandon the hospital if the specialist insists on the patient staying in it.
  2. Systematic examinations. If in the patient’s history there is a change in the functionality of the cardiovascular system (even the most minimal ones), an electrocardiogram should be done monthly.
  3. Following a balanced diet, minimal consumption of salty foods.
  4. Elimination of bad habits - the use of alcohol and tobacco products.
  5. Optimal physical activity - systematic walking has a positive effect on your health.
  6. Maintaining weight, tracking blood sugar.

Arrhythmia is a disease that includes several varieties of pathologies of heart rhythm disturbance. Some of them are typical of the human heart and do not pose a health hazard. If the examination confirms the opposite, the patient should seriously attend to the treatment of arrhythmia, being under the watchful eye of the attending physician.

Similar:More from the author: