Causes of functional disorders of the cardiovascular system
Nowadays, there are many reasons that can lead to the acquisition of the Federal Tax Service. The cause of this disease can be the harmful effects of various factors on the human nervous system. Our body is one whole, and the fact that negative influences on the nervous system lead to changes in the functioning of the entire organism has long been no secret.
The reason for the FTS may be factors such as:
- Impact of chronic diseases
- Improper lifestyle (disturbance in daily routine, poor sleep, etc.)
- Depression
- Severe stress
- Heredity
Arrhythmia - symptoms and treatment
First aid for an arrhythmia attack
First aid measures depend on the specific arrhythmia, and its type can only be determined by a doctor. Therefore, you should not self-medicate, you need to seek medical help.
Is it possible to cure arrhythmia?
Cardiac arrhythmias vary greatly in prognosis. Some are completely harmless, and some are dangerous. Treatment of cardiac arrhythmias is not always required. First, treatment is appropriate when arrhythmia reduces quality of life. Secondly, it makes sense to treat those arrhythmias that worsen the prognosis, that is, they can lead to premature death or other complications (and the reality of such complications must be proven in clinical studies). Accordingly, asymptomatic cardiac arrhythmias that do not lead to any sensations are not treated in most cases.
In addition, the doctor must try to establish what caused the arrhythmia, and then prove the connection between the suspected causative factor and the arrhythmia itself.
When the decision about the need to treat a particular cardiac arrhythmia is made, the question arises of how to treat it.
Surgery
For many decades, the doctor had no other treatment options for heart rhythm disorders other than medication. Rare exceptions include electrical shock therapy, which delivers a shock using an external defibrillator in a critical situation to eliminate a life-threatening arrhythmia, and transesophageal electrical stimulation of the heart to eliminate some supraventricular tachyarrhythmias.
Since the 90s of the last century, and in Russia since the 2000s, a new treatment method has appeared that is effective for many cardiac arrhythmias - radiofrequency ablation (RFA). The method allows in many cases to permanently relieve the patient of the need to take medications to treat arrhythmias. The essence of the method is a local radiofrequency effect on the source of arrhythmia or on the pathological path of electrical impulse circulation in the heart. The procedure is carried out using a catheter passed to a specific area in the heart through a puncture in a vessel (usually in the thigh). Due to the effect through the tip of the catheter, local heating of the heart muscle area occurs up to 70 °C. As a result, in this place there is a local death of cells involved in the unwanted generation of impulses or in their unwanted conduction. Thus, the conditions for the occurrence and maintenance of certain cardiac arrhythmias, for example, ventricular tachycardia, disappear.
Almost all supraventricular tachyarrhythmias can be treated with RFA: atrioventricular nodal tachycardia, tachycardias involving accessory pathways, atrial flutter, focal atrial tachycardia, and, with less success, atrial fibrillation.[9] In addition, this method treats many types of ventricular tachycardia and ventricular extrasystoles, if it is very frequent (tens of thousands of extrasystoles per day) and comes from one focus.[10]
Another high-tech treatment for potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmias is implantation of a cardioverter defibrillator.[10] This device is capable of eliminating already developed ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation in two ways: by electrical stimulation of the ventricles at a rhythm exceeding the tachycardia rhythm, or by applying a fairly powerful electrical discharge, which is quite painful, but saves lives. Thus, a cardioverter-defibrillator is used in cases where there is a real risk of sudden death due to ventricular arrhythmias.[13]
Electrocardioversion
Electrical cardioversion (defibrillation) is used when the arrhythmia sharply worsens the patient's condition and is accompanied by a significant drop in blood pressure. It is also sometimes performed routinely to restore sinus rhythm if atrial fibrillation persists.
Pharmacotherapy
However, in many cases, cardiac arrhythmias are treated with medications. Most often, antiarrhythmic drugs are prescribed in the case of atrial fibrillation (atrial fibrillation), in which case the effectiveness of RFA is not so high. Another situation in which antiarrhythmic drugs are often used is frequent premature beats (thousands or tens of thousands of untimely heartbeats per day) accompanied by symptoms. Less commonly, the drug method is used to treat other arrhythmias - for example, ventricular tachycardia, supraventricular tachyarrhythmias.
Unfortunately, few antiarrhythmic drugs are registered in Russia compared to Europe or the USA. Available in our country are “Novocainamide” (still used for intravenous administration in the emergency treatment of paroxysms of atrial fibrillation and rarely ventricular tachycardia), “Lidocaine” (for intravenous administration for ventricular tachycardia), “Etatsizin”, “Allapinin” and “Propafenone”. " These drugs exist in the form of tablets and are prescribed for long-term use in order to prevent the occurrence of a wide range of ari in the form of tablets and solution is also used to eliminate paroxysms of atrial fibrillation - a universal antiarrhythmic drug, but is used mainly as a backup antiarrhythmic. But it can be prescribed for organic damage to the heart (previous myocardial infarction, low cardiac contractility, severe left ventricular hypertrophy, etc.), while Etatsizin, Propafenone and Allapinin cannot be used in these conditions.[11]
Sotalol is an antiarrhythmic drug to prevent attacks of atrial fibrillation, as well as ventricular arrhythmias. Available in tablets.
Another class of drugs for arrhythmia are calcium antagonists - Verapamil and Diltiazem. They are used for some supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, both for long-term use in tablets and to eliminate developed attacks of arrhythmias with a high heart rate.
Beta-blockers form an independent class of antiarrhythmic drugs, although their direct antiarrhythmic activity is low. Their main effect is their ability to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death, mainly in people with low cardiac contractility and associated heart failure.[11] The most studied in this regard are Metoprolol succinate, Bisoprolol, Carvedilol and Nebivolol.
In the treatment of atrial fibrillation and flutter, the most important place is occupied by antithrombotic drugs, which reduce blood clotting and thereby reduce the risk of blood clots (in these cardiac arrhythmias it is increased). These are Warfarin, Dabigatran, Rivaroxaban, Apixaban, Edoxaban. Accordingly, taking these medications reduces the risk of stroke associated with thromboembolism.
Lifestyle
Some arrhythmias are provoked by stress, abuse of coffee and caffeine-containing drinks, smoking, lack of sleep, physical activity and taking certain medications. Therefore, the doctor first of all looks for a cause-and-effect relationship between lifestyle factors and the occurrence of arrhythmia. Sometimes the patient himself notices this connection. In such cases, if you eliminate the provoking factor, you can get rid of the arrhythmia. However, it is not always possible to detect such a connection.
Folk remedies
If you suspect an arrhythmia, you should consult a doctor, get diagnosed and adhere to the prescribed treatment. Traditional methods of therapy are not scientifically substantiated and can be hazardous to health. Without adequate treatment, arrhythmia can cause serious complications: angina pectoris, myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke.
Symptoms of functional disorders of the cardiovascular system
Symptoms of FNS include increased sweating, pallor or slight redness of the skin on the face, periodic fainting, headache, paroxysmal or constantly increased beating of the heart muscle (tachycardia), tachypnea, heaviness and pressure in the chest, impaired blood pressure, shortness of breath. The patient may also experience rapid fatigue, decreased attention and memory, be overly hot-tempered, irritable, suffer from insomnia and experience a constant state of anxiety. There may be various jumps in body temperature (from 35 to 37-38 degrees), nausea, vomiting, belching, diarrhea, frequent urination, anorgasmia with normal sexual desire, constipation. All this signals the Federal Tax Service.
Changes in heart rate: when to worry
If the heart works like a clock, this is not yet a sign of good health. Oddly enough, a healthy person always shows some variability in the functioning of this organ. Physiological mobility of the heart rhythm is a sign of the health of the muscle itself, but a mechanical or rigid rhythm is associated with depletion of heart reserves.
However, everything is good in moderation: a difference between heartbeats of more than 10 percent is already a sign of the disease. A specialist in the field of treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, head of the laboratory of interventional methods for diagnosing and treating rhythm disturbances, cardiac conduction and syncope, specialist at the National Medical Research Center for Cardiology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, professor, spoke about this in more detail in the “Advise, Doctor” program on Radio Russia. Alexander Pevzner.
It is believed that a normal heart rate should be between 60 and 90 beats per minute. If a person, while awake, repeatedly detects a pulse rate below 60 beats per minute, this may indicate pathology. Although every rule has exceptions: in professional athletes, for example, while awake, but at rest, the heart rate can be 50 beats per minute.
If you are not a professional athlete and your heart rate is below 60 beats per minute, this may be a sign of bradycardia.
“The causes of pathological bradycardia may be a violation of the formation of an impulse in the area of the pacemaker, that is, the sinus node, or a violation of the output of the impulse from the sinus node. This is one of the main reasons,” Pevzner noted.
A low heart rate can be observed in patients who take beta-blockers - drugs that are prescribed for hypertension, coronary artery disease, and after a heart attack. Drug-induced bradycardia is not considered a serious pathology. If a heart rate of about 50 beats per minute does not cause unpleasant symptoms in the patient, such as weakness and dizziness, it is considered acceptable. If it causes such symptoms, then the dose of beta blockers should be reduced, this is individual for each patient. Bradycardia, which has clinical manifestations - weakness, even fainting - requires treatment and installation of a pacemaker.
The heart rate may slow down in those who suffer from sleep apnea. Actually, during an episode of apnea, the rhythm decreases, and when coming out of it, associated with hyperventilation, the heart begins to beat faster.
If a person’s pulse increases sharply for no apparent reason, and after some time returns to normal on its own, we may be talking about pathological tachycardia. Her attack may be accompanied by dizziness, shortness of breath, even fainting. In case of such attacks, you should consult a doctor, since there are two types of tachycardia, supraventricular and ventricular; and if the first in itself most often does not lead to death, the second can have fatal consequences. Only a doctor can make an accurate diagnosis.
The correct rhythm of the human heart is maintained by blood electrolytes. Electrolyte imbalance is a common cause of heart rhythm disturbances.
“Impaired not only potassium metabolism, but also impaired metabolism of calcium, magnesium, barium - all this can negatively affect the rhythm of a person’s heart, including leading to potentially dangerous arrhythmias,” Pevzner pointed out.
Therefore, according to him, it is important to eat right to get the necessary micronutrients. Eating protein-free and salt-restricted diets can lead to adverse effects on the heart.
Treatment of functional disorders of the cardiovascular system
Healing from this disease implies complex and individual therapy, which is carried out only under the close supervision of a cardiologist, neurologist and always a psychotherapist. Treatment of a functional disorder of the cardiovascular system depends on the manifestation of symptoms in the patient. It is recommended to avoid stressful situations, proper rest and good nutrition are recommended. Massage, water treatments and reflexology are also prescribed. It is possible to prescribe medications: lemon balm, St. John's wort, valerian, motherwort, glycine, antidepressants, glutamic acid.
Arrhythmia can occur unnoticed, but at the same time lead to serious consequences
Do you often listen to your fiery engine beat?
In fact, if everything is in order, you practically do not pay attention to its work. It knocks and knocks... But there are states when it suddenly begins to throw somersaults, losing its usual rhythm: it treacherously freezes or, on the contrary, pounding furiously. There can be many reasons for disruption of the usual heart “melody”. Sometimes one of them is arrhythmia. What to do if your heart loses its rhythm? On the one hand, cardiologists urge not to panic. On the other hand, be more attentive to your health, learn to listen to your body. Leading researcher at the laboratory of cardiac disorders, Alexander CHASNOYT, confirms that “finding” the symptoms of an insidious disease is not so easy. — Alexander Robertovich, what diseases can cause the development of arrhythmia?
— First of all, arterial hypertension. It’s not for nothing that they say that hypertension is a silent epidemic that is actually raging in the world. More and more people are becoming ill with it under conditions of increased stress and psycho-emotional tension. And also coronary heart disease, heart failure.
Arrhythmias are divided into two large groups: tachyarrhythmia and bradyarrhythmia. The first is due to the fact that the heart beats frequently, and extraordinary excessive contractions occur - those that should not normally exist. The most common in the world today is ciliated. In the European population, it is diagnosed in 2-3 percent of the population. In Belarus the figure is approximately the same. The second large group is bradyarrhythmia, when the pulse beats rarely. Associated with insufficient heart rate.
The insidiousness of the disease is that it can proceed without expressing itself in any way. But in both cases, our heart has a hard time, its activity is disrupted, and this can cause complications.
- But is it possible to determine by any change in well-being, for example, by pulse, that the rhythm is starting to go crazy? What are the first signs?
- The pulse rate will reflect pronounced rhythm disturbances - blockade or tachycardia. But between them, for example, extrasystole is masked. It is impossible to determine it by the beating of the pulse. The fact is that extrasystoles are single extraordinary contractions. And that’s why you simply won’t “hear” them when you feel those very normal 80 beats per minute for a healthy person. But it will tell you that there is a rhythm disturbance, not in their number, but in their unevenness.
- Will a person somehow feel it?
— There are people who do not feel any disturbance in their heart rhythm at all. That is, they experience them, and they are quite severe, even tachycardia, atrial fibrillation with a high pulse rate, but they do not feel it. Such violations can be detected completely by accident, for example, during a routine medical examination or medical examination.
Arrhythmia - from the ancient Greek word “inconsistency, awkwardness.” A pathological condition leading to a violation of the frequency, rhythm and sequence of heart contraction. Essentially, it is any heart rhythm that deviates from the normal sinus rhythm, which can lead to serious health complications.
— They say that modern blood pressure monitors indicate a problem...
— Those equipped with an arrhythmia indicator function. Today, many manufacturers have such technologies. They evaluate how rhythmic or arrhythmic the pulse is, and if certain heartbeat irregularities occur, they will let you know with an icon or signal. There are also devices that can detect atrial fibrillation. This, by the way, is one of those arrhythmias that, along with atrial flutter, has an unfavorable long-term prognosis. It is associated not only with pathology of the heart, but also of the brain, in the form of complications such as stroke. Therefore, certain efforts of world science are aimed at early diagnosis of the so-called hidden, “silent” atrial fibrillation in order to prevent adverse consequences in time. On a regular short ECG, especially if a person rarely visits a doctor, it is also difficult to register. Therefore, today they are trying to detect it by introducing a special algorithm in a tonometer. First of all, this applies to patients aged 60 years and older (at this age the likelihood of atrial fibrillation significantly increases).
By the way, today there are already devices that, if connected to a smartphone, allow you to register an ECG. Just touch it with your fingers, and the phone will record your cardiogram. This helps to explore the rhythm and pulse.
— While a person feels healthy, he, you see, doesn’t particularly want to contact doctors or go to the clinic.
- Alas. But this would help in the early detection of any diseases. We are now trying to identify patients who have an increased risk of sudden death from heart failure. For such people, we have developed special diagnostic and treatment methods, including the implantation of radioverter-defibrillators - devices that are implanted under the skin and can restore the rhythm, saving lives. They monitor the work of the heart around the clock, detect a failure, and automatically carry out therapy. Republican Scientific and Practical Center "Cardiology" is the leader in the number of patients treated with rhythm disturbances of a vital organ. Every year we perform about a thousand such interventions.
Thus, today in every region we routinely implant pacemakers and other devices. Last year, more than 3,300 of them were implanted across the republic. About 1,200 radiofrequency ablations of tachyarrhythmias were performed - procedures in which a problem area is “cauterized” in the heart, which allows one to alleviate or get rid of the symptoms of arrhythmia. Regarding the work of our Heart Rhythm Laboratory, its staff has extensive scientific experience. We pay considerable attention to atrial fibrillation and flutter. We have developed several algorithms for diagnostic approaches, complex and hybrid methods for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Development is currently underway to help and prevent the risk of sudden cardiac death.
Among the reasons
heart rhythm disturbances are called coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, heart failure, acquired defects, myocarditis, mitral valve prolapse.
Congenital diseases and hormonal imbalances can affect the development of arrhythmia. In addition, taking certain medications - cardiac glycosides, diuretics, antiarrhythmics, concomitant and chronic diseases, and, of course, the well-known bad habits - smoking and alcohol. With arrhythmia, a person may complain
of weakness, lack of air, dizziness, and darkening of the eyes. This happens because the heart does not supply as much oxygen to the body as required.If the rhythm is rare, even loss of consciousness is possible.
— But are surgical methods a last resort when conservative methods are no longer effective?
- Exactly. That is why prevention, a healthy lifestyle, and the correction of concomitant, chronic diseases are so important. Practice shows that those diagnosed with arterial hypertension do not always adhere to treatment and do not properly control their blood pressure. And this is all the key to the formation of pathology of the cardiovascular system for the future, including the development of heart rhythm disturbances.
— Can arrhythmia manifest itself during stress, climbing stairs, or light jogging?
