Medical Essay - Mayo Clinic Health Letter - October

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Heart Skip a Beat? Know When to Seek Urgent Medical Care

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Most people have experienced occasional, brief and usually harmless symptoms, called arrhythmias — the feeling of a skipped, fluttering or racing heartbeat. They occur when the electrical impulses in your heart that coordinate your heartbeats don't function properly.

In a healthy person, with a normal, healthy heart, it's unlikely for sustained arrhythmias to develop without some outside trigger such as an electrical shock or the use of illicit drugs.

For others, especially people with heart disease or a heart deformity, arrhythmias can be deadly serious, even causing sudden cardiac death, according to Medical Essay, a supplement to the October issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. The essay details recent advances in treatment methods available to control or eliminate arrhythmias.

Sustained arrhythmias can cause bothersome or even dangerous signs and symptoms. They include shortness of breath, fainting, weakness, lightheadedness, chest pain or discomfort. Seek urgent medical care if you suddenly or frequently experience any of the signs and symptoms of an arrhythmia.

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