Why It Is Important To 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.

The heart would beat faster commonly because of emotions being felt by persons, such as nervousness, fear, and excitement. On the other end, it would beat slower because of electrolyte imbalance or metabolic issues. Dysrhythmias, which these movements are called, could be dangerous to the lives of those who experienced them. For this matter, people should learn to interpret dysrhythmias.

This term may not be familiar to most of the individuals. Dysrhythmia is a condition where irregular heartbeats can be noticed, faster or slower contractions than normal. Tachycardia refers to faster rates. Bradycardia refers to slower ones. Some of these states are considered normal, such as feeling certain emotions, but life threatening situations could also be resulted from some of them.

There are several causes why these conditions happen to humans. They can be classified into two, either external or internal forces. For the external ones, it would include emotional stress, smoking, exhaustion, drinking alcohol, and consuming stimulants such as cocaine and caffeine. For the internal factors, they are usually caused by inflammatory diseases, thyroid issues, organ defects present at birth, and congenital heart diseases.

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 can make use of available treatments for these states. Medications can be given to them. Small amounts of electric shocks can be administered to them in extreme cases through defibrillators. Certain devices are also available, such as pacemakers, which will be implanted in the bodies of those experiencing them.

Lives can be saved when individuals keep these things in their minds which is primarily the reason of its importance. The worst case scenario is that people could die because of them. Being left all too suddenly is definitely not something that individuals would like from their loved ones.




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