Atrial Fibrillation - Symptom, Treatment And Causes

Irregular beating of the heart is known as atrial fibrillation. It increases the incidences for heart disease and stroke. Fatigue, weakness and dizziness are all signs of an atrial fibrillation. Treating it requires lifestyle changes and medications and often procedures like ablation, cardioversion, and surgery or pacemaker placement. The heart has an abnormal functioning electrical system in atrial fibrillation. Other problems in health cause wearing out of the heart and makes it difficult for the cardio vascular system to perform at its best.

Often heart affecting health problems cause atrial fibrillation, such as:

• Coronary-artery disease
• High BP
• Heart failure
• Heart attack
• Cardiomyopathy
• Heart valve disease
• Lung diseases like COPD
Hyperthyroidism
• Having had heart surgery or any other open chested surgeries

An incidence of hyperthyroidism or pneumonia can cause atrial fibrillation. It goes away after the underlying disease has been treated. Sometimes the doctor may not be able to find the underlying cause for atrial fibrillation.

An electrocardiogram can be the simplest and best way to detect the presence of any atrial fibrillation. A physical examination and medical history is also usually done along with it. You may be asked by your doctor to record the heart rhythm in instances when they think you have an atrial fibrillation which undulates. This is known by different names like ambulatory EKG, 24 hour EKG, ambulatory electrocardiogram and cardiac-event monitoring. This device may be used by your doctor to see the efficiency of a medicine.

It is difficult to predict the atrial fibrillation treatment for you as a lot of it is dependent on the symptoms you show and the risks you have for other medical problems.

Treatments for atrial fibrillation are designed to make your overall health improve and avoiding any future problems, mainly heart failure and stroke.

Three main treatment types are available:

• Treatments for slowing the heart rate
• Treatments aimed at controlling the heart rhythm
• Treatments for avoiding a stroke

Treatment for Stroke Prevention

Atrial fibrillation can become dangerous when the heartbeat isn’t steady or strong as blood might pool or collect in the atrium. Pooled blood has greater chances of forming clots. Clots can spread via the blood vessels to anywhere in the body, like the brain and lead to a stroke. A doctor can predict the likeliness for you to have a stroke by assessing your health and age. This can be of utmost importance for both your doctor and you to lower the risks.