Why Persons Must Learn To Interpret Dysrhythmias

By Estelle Larsen


One important component of a human body is its heart. This organ is pumping blood which is necessary for the survival of mankind. If an individual would put a hand to the area where the organ is located, he would feel it beating and following a rhythm since it is pumping blood. However, there are times where heartbeats could be faster or slower than the normal rate for humans.

Emotions such as excitement, fear, and nervousness would cause the heart to beat faster. On the other hand, electrolyte imbalance and metabolic issues could cause it to beat slower. These movements, called dysrhythmias, may be life threatening to the individuals experiencing them. For this matter, it is important for people to learn to interpret dysrhythmias.

Individuals may find this term unfamiliar to them. Dysrhythmia is a specific condition where a heart would be beating irregularly, such as faster or slower than the normal rate for persons. Tachycardia is referring to faster beats while bradycardia would be referring to slower ones. A person feeling certain emotions would be considered normal contractions but there are also several of these that could threaten the lives of individuals.

Humans could be experiencing these conditions due to some reasons. External and internal forces are used in classifying them. External factors would be where people are feeling emotionally stress or exhausted, smoking, and consuming stimulants like caffeine and cocaine as well as alcohol. Internal factors would be those where they already have defects on this organ since birth, congenital heart and inflammatory diseases, as well as issues in the thyroid.

If persons check the activities happening inside the body, these conditions will happen in several cases. Sometimes, they could occur if the part of the organ considered as the natural pacemaker is not working properly. They could happen if interruptions or blockages are present in the pathway to the nodes and ventricles.

The movements are classified further into various types. One type can be differentiated from the other through checking on the number of heartbeats per minute. Apart from the common ones like bradycardia and tachycardia, they could be referring to sick sinus syndrome, premature ventricular contractions, atrial flutter, ventricular fibrillation, atrial fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia.

People could be checking on several symptoms in determining the presence of these conditions. These symptoms might be fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, and palpitations. However, the presence of these symptoms may not be visible. For this, professionals need to be utilizing gadgets, like ECG monitors, in tracking heartbeats for 24 hours. In this manner, they could be spotting contractions considered irregular.

Patients could be undergoing treatments available for these conditions. Professionals could be giving medications to those affected. They could also be administering electric shocks in small amounts during extreme cases, like defibrillators. The bodies of the affected patients can also be implanted with certain devices such as the pacemakers.

With these things in mind, the reason why it is important to know these states is because it can help save lives. Death would be the ultimate result and worst case scenario for people who are experiencing the symptoms provided. Individuals would not certainly want to be left all of a sudden by those persons they love.




About the Author: