Tachycardia: Fast Heart Rate Symptoms and Treatments with Dr. David Cork | San Diego Health

[Music] hi i'm susan taylor with scripps health in san diego california are you dizzy lightheaded have a rapid heartbeat or palpitations of fluttering in your chest according to the american heart association you might have tachycardia it is a heart rate that is too fast joining us to talk about this is dr david cork he is a cardiologist with the scripps clinic medical group in la jolla california doctor thanks so much for being with us thank you very much susan so why is this fast heart rate bad for you well there's heart rhythm disorders including tachycardias mean that the heart is going faster than 100 beats per minute and we like to differentiate between top and bottom chamber tachycardias so to show you this heart model here when we say top or supraventricular tachycardias we talk about heart rhythm disorders that originate in the top two chambers these kind of pink chambers here they're supraventricular this is the ventricle the main pumping chamber ventricular tachycardias can also arise and those are arising from the bottom chamber patients can develop pretty dramatic symptoms from both disorders both supra ventricular attack cardiacs as well as ventricular tachycardias and those may include symptoms of lightheadedness palpitations feeling dizzy almost passing out or actually passing out um the bottom chamber ventricular tachycardias can be more dangerous and have been associated with sudden cardiac death so what are the different types of superventricular tachycardia yeah great question there's a wide variety of different superventricular tachycardias again tachycardias that originate in the top chamber there are a couple of supraventricular tachycardias that can be more dangerous because they're inherently associated with the higher risk of stroke those rhythm disorders are atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter there's other so we do a job by the way trying to differentiate and making sure that we have not identified those heart rhythm disorders when we see patients with this with tachycardia in general there's other tachycardias originated from the top chamber including atrial tachycardia and others that are problematic from a symptomatic perspective but are a little bit less dangerous in patient and what about sinus tachycardia the sinus node is the node that is the primary pacemaker cell of the heart and so when we say sinus tachycardia that means we're having a normal heart rate a normal physiologic response to the body's demands the heart rate's going fast because it's answering the metabolic demands of the body and if you're exercising you have a sinus tachycardia we also see it in conditions of uh anemia thyroid disorders um pulmonary embolism or a clot in the lung we see it in various entities so we need to be careful with the clinical context there is also a rare entity called inappropriate sinus tachycardia where someone's heart rate is just running too fast inappropriately this is a more rare phenomenon but we do come across it clinically so what causes this tachycardia there are a number of risk factors for tachycardia there are some lifestyle reasons we see various tachycardias lifestyle reasons lifestyle choices including excessive alcohol excessive caffeine tobacco use there are many other reasons electrically why we see it you know there are reasons of um electrical aberrations including electrolyte disorders that may make the heart more irritable and more susceptible to having arrhythmia and there are also states um is a body under stress emotionally or physically uh is there an underlying anemia um is there problems with the pulmonary system um so these are there's a wide variety of entities that can can derive can drive these heart rhythm abnormalities and we need to tease through um each patient with a comprehensive evaluation to make sure we've looked for an underlying cause and so who is most at risk ventricular tachycardia patients are typically patients who have a cardiomyopathy or abnormal heart structurally so they might have a dilated heart they may have coronary artery disease we see these rhythm disorders ventricular tachycardia when someone has a scar in the heart so these are things we want to rule out when someone has this type of abnormality identified now there also are lifestyle reasons why someone can present with either heart rhythm disorder either tachycardia and that would include tobacco use excessive alcohol use and excessive exercise sometimes dehydration electrolyte derangement those are kind of reasons why we would look for we always also evaluate for any endocrine problem including thyroid disorders so when should you go see a doctor and when should you say i've got to go to the emergency room well certainly any new unexplained symptom that that develops you should see your primary care physician about they'll be able to take an adequate history from you and they may want to they may choose to perform what's called a 12-lead electrocardiogram which is a way to assess heart rhythm and it gives us a lot of information that way certainly if symptoms arise very suddenly or you're having new dramatic symptoms you know of a wide variety if you pass out for example or having new unexplained palpitations or chest pain you know certainly you would have a low threshold to want to see you more urgently shortness of breath yeah absolutely there's a wide variety of symptoms that that can come that can arise from different tachycardia specifically often palpitations heart heart palsy pulsation in the neck uh nausea can be shortness of breath exerting yourself sometimes patients develop chest discomfort and shortness of breath is certainly another feature that we often see so how do you treat this tachycardia well when it comes to supraventricular tachycardias we like to address any lifestyle issues that may be contributing once those are adequately addressed we we want to make sure we know what what rhythm disorder we're treating and if there is uh identifiable symptoms associated with a certain svt for example or superventricular tachycardia then we would consider institution of medical therapy some medicines that would slow down conduction through the electrical fibers in the in the case that medical therapy fails to relieve symptoms um or the rhythm disorder is persistent or patients cannot tolerate medications we would consider a referral to one of our heart rhythm experts one of the electrophysiologists who perform what's called an electrophysiology study where they can take catheters in and put up catheters inside the heart and they put up a little electrodes inside the different chambers and find where exactly the art rhythm is originating and they can apply some what's called radial frequency and they can perform an ablation or perform a little procedure to terminate the heart rhythm disorder sometimes that's permanently sometimes that could be a curable fix if left untreated though what could happen well patients tend to develop fairly dramatic symptoms if there's a recurrent or persistent heart rhythm abnormality if your heart rate is going very fast in excess of 150 beats per minute for hours or days you'll ultimately end up with swelling and shortness of breath you'll end up with excessive fatigue you just won't feel well so it can have fluid can back up into the lungs in that scenario in the case of the bottom chamber arrhythmia you know that that ventricular tachycardia where the heart rhythm abnormality is initiating in one of the right or left right or left ventricle for example these can be again more dangerous by nature and we need to be very careful about the co the comprehensive evaluation for patients we need to make sure they're closely monitored and sometimes there's even device therapies that can terminate those those heart rhythm abnormalities and some of these devices are you you actually implant it in the body correct there's there's devices called implantable defibrillators that are implanted under the skin and are there to monitor the heart rhythm at all times should someone have a dangerous heart rhythm the devices can shock the heart out of the heart rhythm back to a normal rhythm so it can be life-saving technology any final thoughts doctor well i think that we cover a wide variety of heart rhythm disorders in a short amount of time and so i would summarize by saying patients present with all types of symptoms and if you're a patient who is experiencing unusual symptoms it's important to see your physician and have a discussion and initiate a diagnostic workup certainly the old-fashioned medicine of eating eating right and exercising is still some of the best best measures for optimal health doctor thanks so much for being with us we appreciate you taking the time thank you so much susan i want to learn more about the fast heart rate of tachycardia just click on the link or go to scripps.org forward slash videos want more critical information about your health please subscribe to our scripps health youtube channel and follow us on social media at scripps health at scripps we're here for good i'm susan taylor thanks for joining us

Channel: Scripps Health

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Keywords: health, scripps health, scripps, san diego, california, healthcare, health care, doctor, tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, supraventricular tachycardia, sinus tachycardia, arrhythmia, treating tachycardia, fast heart rate, cardiology, cardiac, irregular heart beat, heart condition, fast heart beat, how to lower heart rate, rapid heart beat, palpitations, heart palpitations, pulse rate, what causes tachycardia, what is tachycardia, symptoms of tachycardia

Id: ilyLq-MGLco

Length: 9min 47sec (587 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 07 2022