Monday, November 3, 2014

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.

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.

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.

These conditions occur to humans because of several reasons. There are two classifications for this, external forces or internal ones. Being stressed emotionally, smoking, feeling exhausted, consuming alcohol and stimulants such as caffeine and cocaine are some of the external factors. Congenital heart diseases, organ defects already present at birth, thyroid issues, and inflammatory diseases are the most common internal factors.

If the activities inside the human body are being checked, there are several cases when these conditions will occur. Sometimes, it will happen if a part of the heart, especially its natural pacemaker, is defective. It can also happen if the pathway to the ventricles and nodes is interrupted or something is blocking the way.

There are different types of these movements. Each type have an equivalent of certain beats per minute. Aside from tachycardia and bradycardia, they can also include sick sinus syndrome, atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, and premature ventricular contractions.

The conditions can be determined by people through the presence of various symptoms. Shortness of breath, fainting, palpitations, lightheadedness, dizziness, and fatigue could be included in the symptoms. However, there are instances where symptoms are not present. For this, gadgets will have to be used by professionals, like the ECG monitors, for the heartbeats to be tracked in one whole day. This way, irregular contractions can be checked.

Treatments are actually available for patients who are experiencing these states. Professionals can give medications to the patients. They may also administer small amounts of electric shocks in extreme cases, such as defibrillators. Pacemakers are also available and these devices will be implanted inside the bodies of the individuals experiencing certain conditions.

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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