Almost every person is familiar with the state when the heart is ready to jump out of the chest. Usually a strong heartbeat (tachycardia) is observed in people after significant physical exertion or due to strong emotional experiences. However, even if such activity is normal, everyone experiences fear when their pulse quickens.
In some situations, such fears are justified, especially when it comes to older people. Sometimes tachycardia appears with quite serious ailments and indicates the work of body systems. If you have complaints and a too fast heart rate, you should immediately undergo an examination and establish the exact causes of a strong heartbeat.
The most common causes of heart rate
If a person often encounters arrhythmias, then this indicates a possible sinus tachycardia, atrial or ventricular extrasystole, atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia.
In the first case, the heart rate can reach up to 160 beats per minute. Sinus tachycardia develops against the background of strong emotional or physical stress, with fever and increasedanxiety. Other ailments are less common in medical practice.
Dangerous pathologies
In some situations, a strong heartbeat can be a sign of ailments and conditions that threaten a person's life. For example, heart rate may indicate:
- Ventricular tachycardia.
- Hypokalemia.
- Electrolyte disorders.
- Hypomagnesemia.
- Weak sinus node syndrome.
- Complete atrioventricular blockade.
Also, similar symptoms are observed in coronary heart disease and in the case of myocardial infarction. In some cases, a strong heartbeat is an indicator of unstable angina. However, it should be borne in mind that ailments such as myocardial infarction may not manifest themselves.
Diseases that cause rapid heartbeat
Arrhythmia is not always an independent pathology. In some cases, heart rate is a symptom of one of the conditions or diseases. For example, if the pulse quickens by about 10 beats per minute with the slightest increase in body temperature (even by 1 degree), then this indicates a fever.
If the fair sex has begun menopause, then during this period she is most susceptible to diseases of the heart muscle. In this case, there is a risk of hormonal ailments of a non-ischemic type.
If a person suffers from palpitations after taking certain drugs, caffeine, energy drinks or alcoholic products, then the ailment is temporary. When it comes to drugs,then most often such symptoms are caused by taking antiarrhythmic, diuretic and vasoconstrictor drugs, as well as antidepressants, nitrates and cardiac glycosides. In this case, there is a strong heartbeat, pressure, dizziness and general weakness.
Such symptoms may also indicate mitral heart disease, hypoxia, aortic insufficiency or hypercapnia. In this case, we are talking about a lack of oxygen. Such conditions are familiar to those who like to spend holidays in the mountains, as well as people suffering from lung diseases.
Strong heartbeat may be a sign of pheochromocytoma. This rare ailment is a tumor of the adrenal glands. In this case, the heart rate can increase by 20 points with a slight change in body position (for example, if the person lay down on the bed or rolled over).
There are other ailments in which there is a sharp change in the heartbeat. For example, a rapid pulse is observed in pregnant women during postpartum depression, in those who suffer from tick bites, diabetes, anemia, thyroid disease, osteochondrosis and urinary tract infections.
When heart rate is normal
Such symptoms are a completely natural reaction during physical exertion, waking up from sleep, a sharp change in body position, eating, and when a person experiences strong emotions.
Most often, in such situations, it is very difficult to independently determine the heart rate, since no visible changes in the state occur. However, sometimes a personmay begin to experience discomfort, shortness of breath, pain. Don't panic. If a person has just played sports or got out of bed abruptly, then a strong heartbeat in a normal (calm) state will quickly return to normal.
Also in medical practice there is such a thing as idiopathic tachycardia. In this case, we are talking about a condition caused not by pathologies, but by the individual characteristics of the organism.
A strong heartbeat in a child is also the norm, especially in childhood and adolescence. During this period of time, his heart always beats faster than his parents, even if he is in a completely calm state.
High heart rate during pregnancy
You need to understand that carrying a baby is a huge stress for a woman's body. At this time, all his organs and systems begin to work in an enhanced mode. The heart is no exception. Pregnant women often complain of a strong heartbeat at night. The reasons for this condition most often lie in a change in the hormonal background and the general emotional and mental state of the expectant mother.
Some ladies begin to consume a huge amount of vitamins during the period of bearing a baby, believing that in this way they will make the child strong and he althy. But you need to understand that by provoking hypervitaminosis in herself, a woman will only aggravate her condition. This may affect the functioning of the heart.
As a rule, obstetricians and gynecologists do not see any reason for concern. The situation is changing inif the woman suffers from anemia. In this case, a rapid pulse is often accompanied by short-term fainting. Therefore, the expectant mother needs the help of specialists.
Child's heart rate
As mentioned earlier, palpitations in a child are most often the norm. However, we are talking about minor deviations from the norm. There are normative indicators of what pulse a person should have at different periods of his life. For example, in a newborn baby, the heart rate can be up to 180 beats per minute, but if a child who is already one year old shows the same indicators, then you should consult a doctor.
Most often, heart rate is recorded in children suffering from sinus tachycardia. It is definitely difficult to answer the question why a strong heartbeat occurs in this case. However, do not panic ahead of time and fear that the baby will have to deal with pathology all his life. In this case, the cause of the disease does not have to be any serious cardiac disease. A similar condition in a child can be caused by anything. For example, if he was in strong sun for a long time or was engaged in active physical games.
Strong heartbeat: what to do at home
Not all people know that they suffer from heart disease. If an attack of tachycardia happened for the first time, do not panic. You need to calm down, open the window, try to take a horizontal position, unbutton the collar and remove the squeezing clothes to make it easier to breathe.
In order not to think about what to do at home with a strong heartbeat, it is worth preparing some preparations in advance. Even if a person has never had such attacks, and he does not think that they can happen, it would be useful to put valerian tincture, validol, corvalol, motherwort and valocordin in the first-aid kit. These remedies help to calm down and normalize the work of the heart.
It is also worth washing your face with cold water and putting a cool compress on your forehead. However, you should not move around the apartment. It is better if the patient lies down while someone else gives him first aid.
Helpful tips for an attack
Speaking of what to do with a strong heartbeat, you should also pay attention to the recommendations of experts. Doctors recommend learning how to breathe properly during an attack. With a rapid pulse, you need to take a deep breath, hold your breath and make attempts (as during a bowel movement in the toilet). After that, the air must be slowly released through the mouth. This procedure is repeated for at least 5-7 minutes. After that, the condition will improve. However, keep in mind that in practice, in a panic state, such manipulations are extremely difficult to perform, so you should practice in advance.
If during an attack a person is very dizzy and coordination is disturbed, then eye massage will help. It must be done very carefully. In order to alleviate the condition, you need to close your eyes and relax. After that, you need to press on the eyeballs with the tipsfingers and hold hands in this position for about 10 seconds. After that, you can lower your hands and open your eyes. Manipulation repeats again after 10 seconds.
There are special points on the hands that are responsible for the work of the heart and the speed of the pulse. When pressing on certain zones, you can achieve a fairly quick effect. However, do not joke with this type of massage. If you accidentally pinch the wrong point, you can harm yourself. Therefore, it is worth entrusting such procedures to specialists or preparing in advance. During an attack, it is very difficult to concentrate. However, there is an easy way to activate biological points. With a rapid heartbeat, it is necessary to connect the little finger and thumb (on one or both hands) so that the tip of the first presses hard on the base of the nail plate of the second.
Also, the biologically active zones responsible for the work of the heart are located on the back of the wrists. If you rub them during an attack, you can alleviate your condition.
Good to know
In some sources, you can read information that squeezing the carotid artery can quickly relieve an attack of palpitations. This is a very dangerous manipulation that you should not perform on your own! Even an experienced chiropractor runs the risk of making a mistake. Therefore, do not experiment on yourself.
There are also several theories about when to hold your breath before pushing (described earlier). Some do it on the inhale, others on the exhale. Therefore, ifholding the breath does not help, it is worth trying another technique.
Those who are not the first time faced with tachycardia, you should always be prepared for an attack. However, it is better to take preventive measures to prevent an increase in heart rate. Such people are advised to spend more time outdoors, avoid physical exertion, as well as stress. The necessary medicines should always be at hand.
Speaking of what to do with a strong heartbeat, you should pay attention to natural medicines.
Folk remedies
To get rid of unpleasant symptoms, you should turn to recipes from natural herbs. For example, you can avoid tachycardia with:
- Hawthorn. To prepare a healing agent, pour 15 hawthorn berries with a glass of boiling water and leave for several hours. Ready-made broth should be drunk three times a day before meals, 2 tablespoons each.
- Herbal collection. This will require 40 g of hawthorn and valerian (it is advisable to use chopped roots), 20 lily of the valley (flowers) and 30 g of fennel and mint. All dry herbs are mixed and poured into 1 liter of boiling water. When the mixture has cooled, you can take 1 glass a day.
- Sand immortelle. To prepare a medicinal decoction, you need to pour boiling water (about 250 ml) 15 g of grass. In an hour the medicine will be ready. It must be taken three times a day for 1/3 cup.
If the patient had an attack of tachycardia, it is necessary to let him smell the leaf of freshpeppermint or lemon balm. These herbs contain calming ingredients that also have a beneficial effect on the human heart.
If heart rate is caused by hypertension (high blood pressure), then it is recommended to drink 50 g of green oat juice, which is obtained from young sprouts, 3 times a day. It is also worth normalizing the work of the vessels of the brain. Blue cornflower will help with this task.
To prevent a second attack of tachycardia, some healers recommend drinking green tea. And coffee and black tea should be completely avoided by anyone with even minor heart rhythm problems.
To stabilize the pulse rate, it is worth drinking tinctures from rose hips and hawthorn. The components must be mixed in equal proportions and poured with boiling water. The resulting liquid should be drunk instead of tea and coffee.
However, before resorting to traditional medicine recipes, it is necessary to undergo an examination. Some herbs are categorically contraindicated for heart defects! To get rid of discomfort, you need to diagnose and cure the underlying ailment.
