Heart rhythm problems, known as arrhythmias, occur when the electrical impulses that coordinate your heartbeats don’t work properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.
Types of arrhythmias:
Certain conditions can lead to, or cause, an arrhythmia, including:
Other things that can cause an arrhythmia include:
Some arrhythmias may not cause any signs or symptoms while others cause frequent symptoms, including:
To diagnose a heart arrhythmia, a Deborah physician will review the patient’s symptoms and medical history and conduct a physical examination. The doctor may ask about — or test for — conditions that may trigger an arrhythmia, such as heart disease or a problem with the thyroid gland. The doctor may also perform heart-monitoring tests specific to arrhythmias. These may include:
If the doctor doesn’t find an arrhythmia during those tests, he or she may try to trigger an arrhythmia with other tests, including:
It is estimated that between 2.7 million and 6.1 million people in the United States have atrial fibrillation and this number is expected to increase as the population ages.
When a person has AFib, the normal beating in the upper chambers of the heart is irregular, and blood doesn’t flow as well. This increases the risk for DVTs, heart attack, and stroke even when the condition is asymptomatic.
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