TRUE

 

 

It is a disturbance of the electrical activity of the heart - basically, a lack of rhythm.  The heart should beat rhythmically between 60 and 100 times a minute.  Symptoms can be as simple as feeling palpitations, or people may say something like "my heart skipped a beat."  If your heart races for minutes or hours, or if you're having brief flutters several times a day, that should be checked.  Some people don't feel the arrhythmia, but they feel its effects - they might get dizzy or short of breath or pass out.  If you're passing out, you should get to a doctor soon.  That's a dangerous symptom because you can injure yourself, plus, passing out can lead to sudden death.  I don't want to scare people - most arrhythmias are minor and can be treated easily.  But they can be serious, so people having symptoms should play it safe and see their cardiologist.

 

Michael H. Crawford, MD - Chief of Clinical Cardiology and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco

 

Taken in part from Heart Care Vol. 14, No. 2, Fall 2009 by HealthMonitor.com