Share
Arrhythmia is also called as cardiac dysrhythmia. It is a group of the diverse conditions of abnormal activity in the heart or abnormal heartbeat. In arrhythmia, the heart beat may be too slow or too fast and irregular. The condition at which is the heartbeat is too fast is called as tachycardia and when the heartbeat is too slow, it is called as bradycardia. Arrhythmia may be harmless or life threatening. Life threatening arrhythmia can result in cardiac arrest and sudden death. Either of the abnormal heartbeats may not pump enough blood and lack of enough blood flow can cause damage to brain, heart and other organs.
Cardiac arrhythmia includes a very large number of varied conditions. So the symptoms of arrhythmia may also include various conditions. One of the important arrhythmia symptoms is palpitations or heartbeats go abnormal. The irregular heartbeat may be very frequent, infrequent and continuous. Many of these symptoms are harmless as it can occur after physical exertions or after strong emotions. But some of them predict the adverse conditions.
The common symptoms of arrhythmia include irregular palpitations, light headache, tiredness, chest pain, unconsciousness and shortness of breath. Arrhythmia symptoms also vary according to the rate of heartbeat. If the individual experiences a very slow heartbeat or has bradycardia, the symptoms observed are tiredness, dizziness and shortness of breath. Tachycardia symptoms include a feeling of strong pulse in the neck, fluttering, shortness of breath, clammy, dizziness etc. Though these symptoms of arrhythmia are common, not all the symptoms are experienced by everyone.
Arrhythmia symptoms can occur in any individual and it is not necessary that there would be other complications. These symptoms can just alarm you to avoid the adverse events in the future. In fact some arrhythmia are asymptomatic which may or may not lead to adverse events. Cases related to arrhythmia leads to cardiac arrest which necessitates hospitalization and some adverse events may even lead to sudden death after cardiac arrest. Arrhythmia can lead to insufficient blood supply to other parts of the body, which in turn leads to low blood pressure.
An electrocardiogram assessment as soon as the symptoms of arrhythmia occur can deprive anyone from worrying. The early detection of any complication can be cured, with healthy life style and medications. Anti-arrhythmic drugs are prescribed by doctors in case of abnormality seen in electrocardiogram. These drugs sometimes may paradoxically produce pro-arrhythmia as side effects. Apart from these anti-arrhythmic drugs, some of the other drugs too have arrhythmia as a side effect. These arrhythmias shall not be considered seriously as it will vanish when the drug consumption is discontinued. Checking the pulse rate regularly can detect any abnormal heartbeat.
