What Causes Bradycardia?
What Causes Bradycardia
What Causes BradycardiaWhat Causes Bradycardia?
Bradycardia means a low heart rate. The normal heart rate of an adult sitting still is at the level of 60-100 per minute. In order to talk about the problem of bradycardia, the pulse must be below 60.
In order to more easily understand the problems that bradycardia can cause, it is useful to understand how the heart beats. There are four chambers in the human heart, two at the top and two at the bottom. Inside the upper right chamber is a structure called the sinus node. The task of the sinus node is to produce the heartbeat signal. When the sinus node gives the signal that triggers the heart, the heart muscles once, causing the heart to beat. This cycle repeats itself constantly. We can also characterize the sinus node as the born battery of the heart.
Bradycardia does not cause any problems or complaints in some people. Nevertheless, you need to see a specialist, as a low pulse may be due to a problem with the electrical system in your heart.
Due to bradycardia, some problems arise when the heart cannot send the high oxygen-containing blood that the body needs to the body.
Symptoms of Bradycardia
The cause of the symptoms that appear due to bradycardia is insufficient oxygen, which is delivered to the brain and other organs through the blood. Among the symptoms of bradycardia are the following Decays:
* Don't get tired quickly,
* Shortness of breath,
* Pain in the chest area,
* Fainting for no reason,
* Confusion, difficulty focusing
* Problems with memory,
* Dizziness, darkening in the eye
* Lack of energy,
* Heart palpitations.
What Causes Bradycardia?
There can be many different causes behind bradycardia. An important part of these reasons are problems related to heart health. We can list the causes of bradycardia as follows…
• Hypertension,
* Congenital heart diseases,
* Myocarditis, that is, inflammation of the heart muscle November,
* Trouble with heart valves,
* Tissue damage to the heart due to advancing age,
* Tissue damage to the heart due to a heart attack,
* The effect of heart surgery,
* LYME disease,
* Hypothyroidism, that is, low secretion of thyroid hormones,
* Medications used (rhythm disturbance, blood pressure medications, sedatives, etc.)
• Sleep apnea,
* There are problems with chemicals in the blood,
* Inflammatory diseases such as rheumatic fever or lupus,
* Cigarette consumption,
* Consumption of drugs and high amounts of alcohol,
* Stress and anxiety.
You Can Take These Measures to Avoid Experiencing Bradycardia
You should take care of your heart health to avoid bradycardia problems. To take care of your heart health, you can make the following behaviors a habit…
• Do not use your medication doses more than the dose given by your doctor.
• Let the weight required by your body mass index be your base weight, do not gain excess weight.
• Eat a balanced diet. Include fruits, vegetables and whole grains in your diet, reduce salt, fat and sugar.
* High blood pressure, try to maintain your cholesterol levels, do not neglect it if you are taking medication.
• Do not skimp on sports and exercise from your life.
* Reduce the sources of stress in your life, don't be a prisoner of stress.
* Do not smoke or drink alcohol.
* Go to a regular doctor's check-up for your current health problems.
How Does Bradycardia Pass?
The treatment for bradycardia varies according to the health problem that caused the bradycardia. For example, if you are having a health problem related to a low thyroid, your bradycardia problem may also disappear by treating it.
If there is a problem caused by the medications you are taking, reducing the dose of the drug that causes bradycardia may come up.
The Use of Pacemakers in the Treatment of Bradycardia
Despite these arrangements, if your bradycardia problem persists and there is an opinion that it will cause serious damage to your health, in this case, it may be decided to install a pacemaker.
During the installation of a pacemaker, a small incision is opened to the left of the patient's chest. From this discovery, a pacemaker is placed under the skin, while the pacemaker's cables are placed in the heart. When an electrical irregularity occurs in your heart, the pacemaker activates, allowing your heart to contract and your heart rhythm to recover.
How Is Bradycardia Diagnosed?
Diagnosing bradycardia can sometimes be difficult. The reason for this is that the person's pulse is not low at all times. Your doctor measures the electrical activity that occurs during the beating of your heart using the ECG method. If there are no traces of bradycardia in the measurement, but you show symptoms of bradycardia, in this case, a holter ECG device is installed to observe your heart for 24 hours. Thanks to this device, the electrical activity of your heart is measured for 24 hours. If your symptoms match the Holter ECG recordings, bradycardia is diagnosed.