One of the simplest types of diagnostics that allows you to get information about the state of the vascular system and the heart is measuring a person's pulse. In this case, the frequency is assessed, as well as the degree of filling of the arteries. This is directly related to the cycle of the heart muscle. With a decrease in heart rate to values less than 55-60 beats per minute in adults, as well as 70-80 in children under the age of sixteen, and 100 in newborn babies, the presence of a pathology called "bradycardia" is likely.
Why does a person's heart begin to beat not very smoothly, and sometimes frighteningly slowly, and how to eliminate this phenomenon? Let's try to understand this issue.
A bit about pathology
Bradycardia is a significant decrease in heart rate, which reaches 40-55 beats within one minute. HoweverIt should be borne in mind that such a state does not carry any life threat in itself. The patient will need emergency assistance when the number of heartbeats is within 35-40. Such a symptom is already considered extremely dangerous.
There are two types of bradycardia:
- physiological;
- sinus.
The first type of pathology is considered a variant of the norm and is not dangerous to human he alth. Physiological bradycardia occurs when:
- moderate hypothermia or being in conditions of high temperature and humidity, which requires the body to save its energy resources;
- age-related changes, accompanied by a decrease in the rate of metabolism, due to which the heart no longer needs intensive pumping of blood;
- stimulation of reflex zones, when artificial slowing of the pulse is caused by exposure to the vagus nerve (by pressing on the eyeball or carotid arteries);
- training of a person, when the left ventricle of his heart increases in size and provides the body with blood with fewer contractions;
As for sinus bradycardia, it does not serve as a variant of the norm at all and adversely affects people's he alth. Moreover, this type of ailment can occur due to:
- pathology of the heart, such as heart attack, ischemia, diffuse, as well as focal cardiosclerosis, various inflammatory diseases, etc.;
- the use of certain types of drugs, and especiallycardiac glycosides, beta-blockers, and calcium channel blockers;
- poisoning with toxic substances, including compounds of nicotinic acid and nicotine, lead, organophosphate and narcotic substances that reduce the tone of the nervous system and affect various organs;
- some infectious diseases, as well as ailments of the nervous system;
- hypothyroidism, which reduces the level of triiodothyronine and thyroxine, which are thyroid hormones.
Sinus bradycardia is dangerous to he alth. After all, pathological changes in the pulse reduce the blood supply to the cells of the brain, as well as other organs. In this case, bradycardia is one of the symptoms of a particular pathology and the causes of the underlying disease need to be eliminated.
Symptoms
How to determine that a person has bradycardia? Treatment of pathology should be started after the appearance of such symptoms as:
- Dizziness. With a significant slowdown in the heart rate, the heart becomes unable to maintain normal blood pressure. A decrease in the values of this indicator leads to impaired blood circulation in many organs and systems. Oxygen starvation and ischemia first of all begin to feel the brain. This leads to one of the very first signs of bradycardia - dizziness.
- Faints. This symptom can also indicate the need for treatment of bradycardia. Moreover, the appearance of fainting in a patient is caused by the same reasons as dizziness. The severity of this symptom depends onhow much the decrease in blood pressure occurred.
- Increased and frequent fatigue and weakness. Similar symptoms are caused by a deterioration in the blood supply to the skeletal muscles. They are also caused by low blood pressure.
- Pale skin. With a decrease in pressure in the body, an insufficient volume of blood begins to flow to the skin. This leads to pallor of the integument.
- Shortness of breath. Bradycardia, accompanied by slow pumping of blood in the body, contributes to its stagnation in the lungs. This leads to the fact that with an increase in physical activity, a person begins to suffer from shortness of breath. Indeed, in this case, the vessels included in the pulmonary circulation are not able to provide full-fledged gas exchange in the body.
- Pain symptoms in the chest area. These symptoms are also often a sign that a person needs to take action to treat bradycardia. The fact is that this pathology leads to disruption in the work of the heart muscle and worsens the blood supply to the myocardium. A noticeable slowing of the pulse contributes to the development of angina pectoris. It also causes pain in the chest after psycho-emotional and physical exertion. Similar symptoms occur when the pulse is less than forty beats per minute.
Possible Complications
If bradycardia shows its symptoms, and the treatment of the underlying disease is not carried out in time, then the patient is more likely to:
- blood clots leading to heart attacks, strokes and thromboembolism;
- the occurrence of heart failure, significantly increasing the risk of ischemia and heart attack;
- frequent manifestations of chronic bradycardia attacks, causing dizziness and weakness, impairing thinking and concentration.
Almost all the symptoms of pathology are caused by oxygen starvation of the tissues of the body and its organs.
As a rule, their manifestation is episodic, but nevertheless it certainly affects the quality of life. That is why, with bradycardia of the heart, the treatment of the disease that caused it is mandatory.
Therapy
Treatment of sinus bradycardia is aimed at eliminating the underlying pathology, which is the main cause of slow heart rate.
Conservative and surgical techniques can be applied. Patients with acute forms of bradycardia should be treated in a hospital.
Conservative Therapy
Treatment of sinus bradycardia caused by overdose and long-term use of drugs is usually not required. In this case, it may be enough to simply stop taking a certain drug or recommend that the patient reduce its initially prescribed dosage. Judging by the feedback from people suffering from a slow heart rate for this reason, such actions are quite effective.
If there are other factors that caused bradycardia, treatment in this case should be directed to the underlying disease. The required course of therapy in this case will directly depend on the severity of the clinic of the underlying pathology.
Whatprescribe pills for the treatment of cardiac bradycardia caused by autonomic changes? In this case, drugs that increase vascular tone are needed. One of them is Toginal.
Bradycardia that occurs after any intoxication requires the use of antibacterial and antiviral drugs.
Disturbances that are hemodynamic in nature, such as semi-consciousness, which are accompanied by weakness, dizziness and profuse sweating, are eliminated by certain drugs. Among them are Ginseng Root, Eleutherococcus, Ephedrine, Caffeine, Isadrin and some others. Treatment of bradycardia with medication requires a doctor's recommendation. The necessary drugs are selected after the diagnosis of the pathology.
In cases where a person complains of serious disturbances in his state of he alth, which are associated with a decrease in pulse rates in the form of fainting, arrhythmias, angina attacks and arterial hypotension, he should urgently visit a doctor to prescribe emergency treatment for heart bradycardia.
With a pulse that does not exceed 40 per minute, as well as in the event of frequent fainting, one of the following pharmacological agents is used:
- "Atropine" used as an intravenous or subcutaneous injection every 3 hours (2 mg or 0.5 to 1.00 mg respectively).
- "Izadrin". It is drip intravenously administered in a glucose solution (5%) in a volume of 2 ml per ½ liter.
- "Alupent" in a volume of 10 mg, dissolved in 500 ml of isotonic solution of sodium chloride,given by intravenous drip or taken by mouth (8 times 20 mg).
With the existing symptoms of bradycardia for treatment, which pills are prescribed for implicit signs of pathology? It could be belladonna preparations. In cases where the patient has an individual intolerance or there are contraindications to the use of drugs such as "Atropine" or "Izadrin", he is prescribed tablets of ipratropium cast or ephedrine hydrochloride.
It should be borne in mind that it is unacceptable to self-medicate with the drugs described above. Indeed, in such cases, in the treatment of bradycardia, arrhythmia can take its most severe form.
In addition to the above medicines, the doctor prescribes to the patient funds aimed at eliminating the underlying disease. With infections, they are antibiotics, with hypothyroidism - hormones, etc. Treatment of the cause of bradycardia leads to the effective elimination of the symptom itself and those unpleasant phenomena that accompany it.
Hypertension treatment
The main goal of treating bradycardia with high blood pressure is to bring it to standard values, which will normalize the heart rhythm. In this case, much attention should be paid to the root causes of the pathology, as well as to its accompanying chronic ailments.
As a rule, the treatment of bradycardia in hypertension is carried out with the use of medications belonging to the selective group of alpha-blockers. Judging by the reviews of experts, this allows you to expand the lumen of blood vessels and reduce pressure indicators. At the same time, such drugs in the treatment of bradycardia contribute to a decrease in heart rate. The greatest effect in this case is brought by such medicines as "Terazosin" and "Prazolin", "Artezin" and "Haytrin". The patient can reduce blood pressure by taking ATP inhibitors. These are such tablets for the treatment of bradycardia as Captopril, Enap and Kapoten. Judging by the reviews of patients, after the use of such drugs, the heart rate also increases. However, the effect obtained from them is somewhat lower than when prescribing alpha-blockers.
At the same time with these medications, the patient is recommended to take medications included in the classical treatment regimen for bradycardia. This is:
- diuretics (eg Indapamide);
- angiotensin receptor blockers (eg Losartan);
- analgesics (in case of pain symptoms).
Additional recommendations
So, the symptoms were identified, and the treatment of bradycardia was started in a timely manner. Simultaneously with the ongoing therapy, the patient will need to abandon his bad habits. To eliminate the pathology, it becomes especially important to stop smoking. After all, it is nicotine that has a significant impact on the rhythm of the human heart.
Pathological bradycardia will require restriction of physical activity, which increases the work of the myocardial muscle. The permissible volume of loads is determined for each patient individually.
Besides this, if the heart rate is disturbed, it is important for a person to follow a certain diet. When compiling a dailymenu the patient will need to be guided by the following rules:
- limit foods containing animal fats;
- eliminate alcoholic beverages;
- introduce nuts and vegetable oils containing fatty acids into the diet;
- keep the balance of calorie content of food and energy consumption;
- reduce s alt and fluid intake (as recommended by your doctor).
Traditional Medicine Tips
Bradycardia can also be treated at home. To do this, it is important to choose the right folk way for yourself. It should be borne in mind that it is forbidden to drink infusions and decoctions without reason and without pauses. After all, even natural ingredients have contraindications and can cause negative side effects.
For example, when treating bradycardia with folk remedies at home using lemon and sour berries, such products can cause an increase in stomach acidity. This, in turn, will cause inflammation of its walls. And with long-term courses of treatment with decoctions of medicinal herbs, the development of other pathologies is likely. This can be, for example, an allergy or a rash on the body, pain symptoms in the abdomen and various organs, etc. If such phenomena occur, alternative treatment of the heart for bradycardia should be stopped, replacing the means used with others. After the normalization of the heartbeat, additional diagnostics from a specialist will be required to determine the need to continuetherapy.
Let's take a look at some of the most popular and effective recipes for treating bradycardia at home.
- Yarrow infusion. This plant is often used in the treatment of bradycardia with folk remedies, while receiving many positive reviews. Yarrow allows you to increase the pulse by normalizing the activity of the liver. In this case, the patient's appetite increases. The ingredients for the preparation of the medicine are herbs and water. 1 st. l. herbs are poured with a glass of boiling water, after which they insist 20 minutes. The patient is recommended to take such an infusion 10 minutes before meals, 1 tbsp. l. It is allowed to use the drug no more than 3 times a day. When undergoing treatment with yarrow, you should adhere to proper nutrition, enriching your diet with foods containing large amounts of carbohydrates. After normalization of the heart rhythm, the medication should be discontinued. Continuation of such therapy will be required only in the event of a new pulse reduction.
- Herbal collection. The combination of medicinal plants is also often used when symptoms of bradycardia appear and are treated with folk remedies. To do this, prepare nettle, currant leaves, walnut, triad, wild rose, dandelion root, hawthorn and yarrow. All components are taken in the amount of 3 tbsp. l. At the same time, 1.5 tbsp. l. prepared collection is poured with 250 ml of boiling water, and then infused for at least 3 hours. Then the drug is filtered and consumed inside before breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Based on patient feedback, regularthe use of this tool allows you to completely get rid of bradycardia after two months.
- Dill seeds with Cahors. A drink prepared from these ingredients dilates blood vessels and increases pressure. For him, 0.5 liters of wine is taken along with 5 tbsp. l. crushed dill seeds. Cahors is cooked on fire for 10 minutes. Thermal exposure promotes the release of alcohol from the wine. After that, dill powder is added to the liquid, and the mixture is boiled for another 10 minutes. The prepared drug is infused and consumed before meals, 1 tbsp. l. two or three times a day. You need to store it in the refrigerator. The course of therapy is 2 weeks. After a break of the same duration, it can be continued.
- A blend rich in essential oils. Such a drug strengthens the heart, improves appetite, normalizes blood pressure and strengthens the immune system. To prepare it, cut 4 lemon fruits and pour them with a liter volume of boiling water. After 0.5 hours, the mixture is crushed together with water in a blender. After that, a pound of walnuts is added to it, which must first be chopped, as well as 1 glass of sesame seed oil and 250 g of sugar. Use a mixture of 1 tbsp. l. before meals 30 min. The course of therapy is a month. After the same time interval, the treatment is repeated.
- Mixture of honey with lemon and garlic. For such a drug, five citrus fruits are taken from bradycardia. They are poured with boiling water, and then the juice is squeezed out. To the resulting ingredient, you need to add 5 garlic heads with 0.5 kg of bee product. The mixture is infused for 2 days. It should be consumed 1 time per day at lunchtime, 4 tablespoons,dissolving in the mouth for about a minute. The course is not more than 2 months. Judging by the reviews of experts, such a tool tones the vascular system, and also strengthens the heart muscle.
- Massage. To normalize the patient's condition will allow a soothing procedure carried out in the evening before bedtime. The left hand is to be massaged. For this, circular movements are performed. In this case, it is desirable to lubricate the skin with an oily extract of olive or nuts. It is enough to take 15 minutes to perform the manipulations. Judging by the feedback from patients, massage improves a person’s condition if the cause of bradycardia is constant stress, ailments of the nervous system, as well as other emotional factors.
- Infusion of dried valerian root. Folk healers recommend taking this drug to obtain a sedative effect. An infusion prepared from valerian roots will bring the human nervous system back to normal and improve the functioning of his heart. For a healing drink, you need to take 3 tsp. pre-chopped valerian root and, after adding a glass of boiling water to it, be sure to insist for at least 8 hours. Having filtered, the drug is consumed 4 times a day at a dosage of 1 tbsp. l. The drink is contraindicated for people with low blood pressure.
- Tincture based on pine twigs. It is prepared with the addition of 300 ml of vodka or cognac to 100 g of young spruce shoots. The mixture will need to be infused for 10 days. Use the tincture three times a day, 10 drops 0.5 hours before meals. The tincture must be filled with water. Proper nutrition of the patient during therapy is mandatory.
- Drops of Zelenin. This medicine is also used in the treatment of bradycardia. Judging by the reviews of patients, it has a very fast effect. Take Zelenin drops of 20 caps. 0.5 hours before meals three times a day. Start therapy with a low dose. It can be 1-5 drops. A similar dosage is adhered to in the first three days. Further, the number of drops is increased according to the instructions attached to the medicine. It is necessary to drink the product with water. During the reception, it is important not to overdose. Otherwise, the head will begin to spin and the heart will beat strongly. Negative symptoms are eliminated after stopping the medication. Long-term use of Zelenin drops is also not recommended. A long course of administration often causes drowsiness and apathy in a person, loss of appetite and lethargy, as well as nausea.
Surgical treatment
In the event that conservative methods of treating bradycardia were ineffective, and the disease continues to be accompanied by pronounced hemodynamic disturbances, then surgical intervention will be required.
One or another technique is used based on the individual clinical case:
- In case of congenital malformations of the heart muscle, corrective cardiac interventions are performed to eliminate anomalies.
- When tumors are found in the mediastinum, surgery is necessary to eliminate the neoplasms.
- In case of a pronounced degree of bradycardia and failure to obtain the desired effect from the drugtherapy, it becomes necessary to implant a pacemaker. This electronic device initiates the contraction of the heart. Its design includes a generator that generates electronic impulses, as well as electrodes that transmit them to a microcomputer, which is freely programmable with the selection of individual settings for each patient. Implantation of a pacemaker requires the use of local anesthesia. During such a procedure, the electrode is inserted into the patient's body through a vein, tracing its progress using an X-ray machine. This element must enter the right ventricle or atrium. The stimulator itself is implanted under the skin under the collarbone.
Pediatric bradycardia
Sometimes, doctors observe a decrease in heart rate in small patients. Bradycardia in childhood is provoked by various circumstances that take place in a child's life. The most common reasons for this are:
- faults in the functioning of the nervous and endocrine systems, which is especially common in adolescents;
- increased intracranial pressure;
- diagnosis of hypoxia at birth;
- infectious diseases transferred by a small patient;
- general and at the same time severe hypothermia of the body;
- long-term use of pharmaceuticals or their use in large doses;
- poisoning by substances such as nicotine or lead;
- rapid growth of the heart muscle;
- hypothyroidism;
- cerebrovascular accident.
Cause of bradycardia in childhoodthere may be a strong fright or prolonged holding of the breath. Sometimes the heart rate decreases in babies before bedtime against the background of emotions and events experienced during the day. However, this phenomenon is usually temporary and goes away on its own.
Parents should take their child to a specialist if they have symptoms of bradycardia such as:
- dizziness;
- lethargy and weakness;
- breathing difficulties and shortness of breath;
- poor appetite;
- loss of consciousness;
- profuse yet cold sweat;
- blood pressure jumps;
- decrease in concentration;
- absent-mindedness;
- slow pulse;
- pain in the chest area.
Explaining these symptoms is quite simple. All of them indicate malfunctions in the functioning of the heart, which becomes unable to supply the body with blood in the volume necessary for it. This phenomenon leads to cell death.
When the symptoms described above appear, treatment of bradycardia in children should be started immediately. If the disease has a moderate or severe form that does not allow the child to live normally, then the doctor prescribes a medication course, which includes antiarrhythmic drugs. What drugs and tablets are used in the treatment of bradycardia in young patients? Their list includes:
- Beauty;
- ginseng root;
- Eleutherococcus extract;
- caffeine;
- belladonna;
- "Izadrin";
- "Ephedrine";
- "Atropine".
The doctor selects the drugs listed above for small patients individually. What pills and treatment for symptoms of bradycardia will be prescribed? Everything will depend on the main disease, which has become the main reason for the decrease in the child's pulse.
If the pathology is mild, then in this case it is possible to use the methods recommended by alternative medicine. But even here you will need to obtain permission from the attending physician. Only in this way can parents be absolutely sure that their child will soon recover from this disease, and the course of therapy will not bring him any harm.
Treatment of bradycardia with folk remedies can be carried out using the following potions:
- mixture made from sesame oil, chopped walnuts and sugar, poured with boiled lemon solution;
- strong tea;
- seaweed and other seafood;
- infusion based on pine branches.
In this case, parents should remember that the child's body, which has not yet become stronger, will most likely react to many of the folk remedies with individual intolerance or allergies. In this regard, using natural preparations, you will need to constantly monitor the condition of the baby.
A more rational and often more successful option for the treatment of mild forms of bradycardia is sports. You can normalize the child's cardiac activity by starting to drive him from childhood to anyworkout. In this case, the most calm type of sport should be chosen. In this case, there should not be exhausting workouts accompanied by significant physical exertion. In addition, it is recommended to walk with the child from 3 to 4 hours a day in the fresh air. Significant benefits for the normalization of cardiac activity will bring:
- gentle dousing;
- sunbathing;
- pool;
- morning gymnastics, which includes exercises with a twist of the torso.
With pronounced symptoms of sinus bradycardia, the child will require urgent and mandatory hospitalization. Sometimes the pathology takes a chronic form, in which it is necessary to implant a pacemaker.
It is worth noting that the current development of medical technologies, including in cardiology, allows doctors to work real miracles, relieving patients of bradycardia and giving them the joy of a comfortable life.
