Everyone, especially in old age, often hears from doctors such a diagnosis as tachycardia. But few people know what causes this condition, what ultimately threatens inaction and how to help a patient with such a diagnosis. What to take with tachycardia, how to determine what exactly it is, we will try to figure it out. It is very important to be able to determine the development of such a pathology at home.
What is tachycardia of the heart ?
Before you figure out how to help a patient with tachycardia, you need to know exactly what this ailment is, what symptoms indicate it.
Cardiac tachycardia is called arrhythmia, accompanied by an increased number of heart contractions that exceed the normal amount of 90 per minute. Emergency help in this situation will help proper breathing, but more on that later.
We have already explained: heart tachycardia - what is it, now you need to find out exactly what types of the disease are found, what symptoms point to it, in order to immediately help the patient cope with the symptoms and prevent serious consequences.
Types and Subtypes
As for the varieties, tachycardia can be sinus, physiological. It occurs most often after serious physical exertion, it is only necessary to remove them - and she leaves.
There is a pathological tachycardia. This species is divided into ventricular and supraventricular. The first subspecies is considered to be the most dangerous for humans, and all because it causes disturbances in blood circulation, pulmonary edema can occur, and the patient loses consciousness. The main cause of this pathology is coronary heart disease.
As for supraventricular tachycardia, it occurs in people suffering from hypertension, heart disease and thyroid pathologies. This subspecies appears with the following symptoms:
- heart palpitations;
- dizziness;
- discomfort in the chest area - heaviness;
- weakness in the body.
An attack can begin suddenly, but what to take with tachycardia, how to help a person whose symptoms indicate an ailment, and by what signs can a problem be determined?
Symptomatology
The disease has its own characteristic manifestations, among which the following are most often noted:
- If a person has trembling fingers at the time of the attack with his arms extended forward, then this symptom may indicate that he took a large number of medications or, independently, without consulting a doctor, started taking a medication that does not suit him.
- With tachycardia, which manifests itself quite often, a sharp loss of body weight can be observed. In this case, the reason may be associated with the use of hormonal drugs, as well as drugs that suppress appetite.
- During an attack of tachycardia, severe sweating can be observed, then the most likely reason is that the patient took a large dose of caffeine.
- With tachycardia, nervousness can be observed, in this case it provokes smoking, physical activity.
Tachycardia can be caused by stress, excessive drinking, insomnia, and overwork.
Pathology may indicate that a person has serious health problems, such as:
- inflammatory process affecting the heart muscle;
- high blood pressure;
- disorders of the thyroid gland;
- decrease in sugar level.
But in order to accurately say what to take with tachycardia, it is necessary to seek the help of a doctor so that he finds out the exact cause of this condition and prescribes the correct therapy. But at the time of the attack, you can help a person yourself.
First aid for tachycardia at home
If a person has an increase in heart rate - more than 90 beats per minute, then you should definitely call a doctor. But until he arrives, you can help the patient cope with tachycardia in order to prevent complications.
First of all, you need to lay a person on the bed and provide him with complete rest. If the attack repeats, then you can do some useful exercises:
- you need to take a deeper breath, hold your breath and try so that the air gets as deep as possible into the lungs;
- put pressure on the eyeballs as much as possible (within reason), relieve pressure and continue to alternate for several minutes;
- draw cold water into the basin, lower the face into it, and, as a rule, after such a manipulation the pulse returns to normal;
- if the attack has just begun, it is not necessary to immediately look for what to take with tachycardia, you can just cough hard or induce vomiting;
- breathing exercises also help to stop the attack very well: it is necessary to inhale deeply and slowly, and then quickly exhale, and so on for about 10 minutes;
- you can take "Valocordin" and "Corvalol" - these are drugs for tachycardia, which will help bring the pulse back to normal.
What can you eat and drink?
In addition to the fact that with tachycardia, the doctor recommends doing therapeutic exercises at home, or rather walking, you still need to eat right. But first about walking. It must be fast, you must always adhere to the same pace.
The doctor also advises people with tachycardia to stop smoking, eating fatty, spicy, salty and spicy foods. Do not abuse alcohol, strong coffee and tea. It is better to give preference to green tea, if you can’t do without it.
It is worth eating regularly, make sure not to overeat, otherwise the attack may recur. The following foods must be present in the daily diet:
- honey;
- raisins;
- dried apricots;
- dogrose broth;
- bran bread;
- Fresh fruits and berries.
It is also worth remembering that stress and overload can trigger an attack.
But what drugs should be taken for tachycardia, what do experts advise?
Medication
Anyone who has repeatedly faced such a problem as a tachycardia attack perfectly understands that if no measures are taken, then this condition can become a serious health threat. It is impossible to say exactly what helps with tachycardia - medications, exercises, herbs, until the doctor finds out what is the reason for this condition. But even if the provoking factor has not been found, there are a number of drugs that act on certain receptors and slow down the pulse. These funds include:
- beta-blockers that help relieve arousal and calm the nervous system;
- “Cordaron” is a drug that allows you to block several channels at once: potassium, sodium and calcium (in addition, this tool is great for flickering arrhythmias and life-threatening ventricular tachycardia);
- ATP can also be administered intravenously very quickly, which ultimately relieves pain in tachycardia and reduces the pulse rate, but such a procedure can only be performed in a hospital under the supervision of a doctor.
In any case, it is first necessary to eliminate the primary pathology, and perhaps the tachycardia itself will pass. Only the attending doctor should prescribe drugs, self-medication can lead to irreversible consequences.
Electric pulse therapy
Many people care about the serious question of what to take with heart tachycardia. Medications do not always help, charging also did not give the desired relief, so what should I do? In severe cases, the doctor conducts electropulse treatment - this is when a charge of current can bring the patient back to life. This technique is most effective for patients with ventricular tachycardia, in which death can occur without emergency care.
But only a doctor can use this technique, because it starts with an indirect heart massage, and a discharge is used, which gradually increases. If this technique is used immediately after cardiac arrest, then in 95% it shows an excellent result.
Surgical treatment of tachycardia
Surgical intervention can effectively cope with tachycardia, but only if there are additional foci of the disease. So, for example, the patient has a flickering arrhythmia, which is located in the area of the pulmonary veins. After laser coagulation, a stable remission is observed in most patients.
With constant attacks of ventricular tachycardia, the doctor recommends the installation of a cardioverter-defibrillator, which, using a current discharge, leads to short-term cardiac arrest. This device is placed in the subclavian region on the right or left side under the skin.
Traditional medicine for tachycardia
There are patients who refuse to seek the help of a doctor, and they often ask themselves what will help with tachycardia from alternative methods. Before telling what folk remedies for tachycardia are advised by healers, it is necessary to warn that an attack can be removed by such methods only if the patient has physiological arrhythmia, which does not require medical intervention, but in more serious cases, specialist can’t do without it.
So, of the methods of traditional medicine, the following recipes will help best with tachycardia:
- It is necessary to brew 5 grams of rose hips and hawthorn, motherwort and green tea.
- Make an infusion of blue cornflower flowers and drink it ½ cup three times a day for three months.
- Oat juice, obtained only from a green plant, drink ¼ cup up to three times a day.
- You can brew lemon balm or mint, and if you drink such tea every day at least once, then you can forget about tachycardia.
- Adonis tincture is taken in a tablespoon up to three times a day.
How to help the patient with tachycardia and hypertensive crisis?
Very often, tachycardia occurs with high blood pressure. In this case, it is necessary to reduce the pressure as soon as possible by taking any of the following drugs: Nifedipine, Clonidine, Captopril or any other proven tool that helps the patient cope with high blood pressure. Half an hour after taking the pill, you need to evaluate the patient's condition. If the pressure has not decreased, then you need to urgently call an ambulance.
As for folk methods, vinegar will help to reduce pressure. He is poured into a basin and placed there. After 10 minutes, the pressure begins to decrease.
Help with tachycardia and low blood pressure
Tachycardia at normal pressure or low is also a common occurrence. A patient with low blood pressure can only be helped if the root cause is clarified. So, for example, tachycardia at low pressure can be triggered by dehydration, in this case it is better to give the patient water.
If this condition is caused by blood loss, then the problem can be solved by transfusion.
If the pressure has dropped due to taking medications, then they need to be urgently canceled.
If a similar condition is provoked by a mild form of thrombosis, then the treatment is carried out with special drugs prescribed by the doctor, and they are administered intravenously. It could be Coumadin.
Conclusion
To summarize, we can say for sure that tachycardia is a serious condition of the body that requires a quick response and qualified help. If simple exercises fail to cope with it, then it is better to go to the hospital, otherwise there is a risk of missing the symptoms of ventricular tachycardia. As a result, this can lead to the death of the patient. Consulting a doctor and identifying the cause of tachycardia will help to cope with the attack quickly and without health consequences.