Rhythm Doctor
Cardiac arrhythmias can be a frightening and unpleasant experience. “Rhythm Doctor” was built to shine a light on these conditions and provide information on how patients can best approach their condition.
Everything about
atrial fibrillation (AF)
Atrial fibrillation represents the most prevalent heart rhythm disorder, affecting an estimated 2.7 million to 6.1 million individuals in the United States. Some patients experience this condition continuously, while others may only encounter it intermittently. Atrial fibrillation heightens the risk of blood clots, particularly in the brain, and can also diminish the heart’s pumping efficiency, thereby increasing the likelihood of heart failure.
Categories
Symptoms
Indicators of atrial fibrillation
Do you experience shortness of breath? Is exercising becoming more challenging? Does your heartbeat feel irregular? Or do you find yourself needing to use the restroom more frequently? Affirmative responses to any of these inquiries may suggest the presence of atrial fibrillation.
Treatment
Various treatment options are available for atrial fibrillation, including medication, electrical cardioversion, and ablation. It is crucial to address the potential risk of blood clots during the treatment process.
Prevention
Strategies to mitigate the risk of atrial fibrillation or its advancement
Atrial fibrillation significantly elevates the risk of blood clots, especially in the brain. Fortunately, individuals can adopt lifestyle changes, including dietary adjustments and regular exercise, to lower their risk of developing this condition.
Risk Factors
Sygedom og livsstil som kan have indflydelse på hjerteflimmer
Health and lifestyle choices can affect the likelihood of atrial fibrillation Several risk factors contribute to the development of atrial fibrillation. While some of these factors can be modified, others remain beyond individual control.
Living with Atrial Fibrillation
While atrial fibrillation is unpleasant it is perfectly possible for sufferers to live a good life, enjoying all of the physical and social activities that are close to their hearts.
What actions should I consider?
You may have concerns regarding a potential diagnosis of atrial fibrillation without having received confirmation. Alternatively, you might already have a diagnosis and have commenced treatment, yet find that the current approach is not yielding satisfactory results. You may also be questioning the adequacy of your treatment plan. Additionally, you might be contemplating whether there are proactive measures you can take to enhance your condition and prevent further complications.
Explore the various scenarios and topics to gain insight into your current situation and identify potential steps forward.
Primary Methods of Prevention
Primary Methods of Prevention
No matter where you stand, it always pays to know about and prevent risk factors.
Other heart rhythm disorders
Atrial fibrillation is by far the most common heart rhythm disorder. However, there are a number of other heart rhythm disorders that can cause episodes of rapid heartbeat. They can either originate from the atria of the heart, from the AV node, from the ventricles of the heart, or be due to extra conduction pathways between the atria and ventricles.
Videos
Learn all about atrial fibrillation through our video collections
Treatment & Prevention
This video course is shorter and can be taken as a standalone or as a supplement to the video course “All about atrial fibrillation”. This course focuses primarily on treatment and primary prevention.
Inquiries from people with heart rhythm disorders
I often feel like there is a pause in my heartbeat – and then the next heartbeat is harder.
What you are experiencing is probably “extrasystoles” – also called “extra beats” or “missing beats”. Normally, the electrical activity of the heart is very well controlled. But some of us have a tendency to “extra beats”. They can come from areas in both the atria and the ventricles. Often, the extra beats will cause the heart’s own electrical impulse generator (the “sinus node”) to take a short break before it becomes active again. It is this short break that you experience as a pause in your heartbeat. And the break then gives the ventricles the opportunity to fill more than normal. This means that the first heartbeat after the break feels harder than normal.
I often experience a pressure in my chest – sometimes it can also be felt in my teeth and up into my left shoulder. I feel it most often if I have to do something physical – take up gardening or when I ride a bike.
The heart is a muscle. And the heart muscle needs more oxygen when we exert ourselves than when we are at rest. If you feel discomfort, pressure or pain in your chest when you have to do something physical – or when you go out in the cold or wind – it may be a sign of atherosclerosis in the arteries of the heart. They are called “coronary arteries”. It is important that you talk to your doctor about this – often your general practitioner will recommend that you be referred for further examinations at the hospital’s cardiac outpatient clinic or to a specialist in heart diseases.
Sometimes I feel my heart rate go completely off the charts. All of a sudden it can go from normal to 180 beats per minute. And then – after a few minutes – it goes back to normal.
What you are experiencing is probably an attack of a heart rhythm disorder. If your heart rate behaves like this – suddenly increases to a very high heart rate, then drops just as suddenly again after a few minutes or longer – you may have a heart rhythm disorder that you should talk to a cardiologist about. The most common heart rhythm disorder that exists is “atrial fibrillation”. But it will typically not behave as you describe – with a sudden start and a sudden stop. And a high heart rate that is constantly at, for example, 180/min or more will not be typical of atrial fibrillation either. On the other hand, it may be a different type of heart rhythm disorder (AVNRT and WPW).
Sometimes I feel very dizzy – almost as if I am going to faint.
This may be because the heart sometimes does not produce enough heartbeats. Either because the “sinus node” is not working properly, or because the electrical impulses in the heart are not conducted well enough from the atria to the ventricles. Sometimes the cardiologist can see from an ECG recording that there is something wrong with the impulse conduction. Often the cardiologist will recommend that you have a long-term recording of your heart rhythm (Holter recording). If it can be shown that your heart is either too weak to produce enough electrical impulses or is too weak to conduct the electrical impulses from the atria to the ventricles, it may be necessary to have a pacemaker inserted.
I often wake up at night and can feel my heart beating uneasily.
Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation occurs frequently at night. Most people experience that atrial fibrillation attacks start when they are at rest. Sitting on the couch in the evening watching TV, or when they are sleeping most heavily at night. Many also experience that they have a pronounced “urgent need to urinate” – often, so that they have to urinate several times in a short time. If you experience that your heartbeat is uneasy at times – and often fast and irregular – it is important that you talk to your general practitioner about it.
Over the past year, I have occasionally experienced that when we go for a walk, I can’t keep up. It’s usually always me who gets ahead.
When you experience over a short period of time – from one year to the next – or in periods that you can’t do what you usually do, it’s important that you talk to your doctor about it. Far too many people “just put it down” to the fact that you’ve gotten older. Or that you’ve probably been a bit lazy for a while. And that can of course also be true. But, not infrequently, it turns out that there’s something else going on. Which should be investigated and treated. Both so that you can get better again and to prevent it from developing further.
When I take my blood pressure at home, the blood pressure monitor often shows a mark for an irregular pulse.
Many blood pressure monitors have an automatic indicator of whether the pulse is rhythmic (regular) or arrhythmic (irregular). If the monitor signals that the pulse is arrhythmic, it may be due to atrial fibrillation.
After I started taking heart medication, I can’t do anything I used to.
Some heart medications affect both the formation of the pulse and the conduction of electrical impulses from the atria to the ventricles. This can mean that your resting heart rate and maximum heart rate are lower than normal. But – even more importantly – your ability to increase your heart rate when you have to perform something is impaired. The medication, so to speak, steps on the brake – while you try to step on the accelerator. It is often medications of the “beta blocker” type that are experienced this way.
After I started taking the beta blocker, I gained 10 kg.
A frequent side effect of medication with “beta blockers” (e.g. metoprolol succinate, metoprolol, bisoprolol) is that the pulse does not keep up as well anymore when you want to do something physical. This means that you lose breath more easily – and thus do not have the same physical capacity as usual. And this in turn means that you will often start to limit your physical activities. You take fewer and shorter walks. Stop cycling, running or swimming. Do not do as much gardening or housework. And all this limits your energy consumption – your metabolism becomes less. Often this is not accompanied by you also consuming less energy – eating less. And this means, in short, that you consume more energy than you burn. And therefore gain weight. Fortunately, there are other ways to treat your heart rhythm problem – it is therefore important that you talk to your doctor about it. And you may be referred to the hospital’s cardiac outpatient clinic or to a practicing heart specialist (“cardiologist”).