Arrhythmia
WHAT IS ARRHYTHMIA?
ARRHYTHMIA occurs when the HEART’S ELECTRICAL SYSTEM is disturbed and the heart BEATS OUT OF RHYTHM.
There is harmless arrhythmia and dangerous arrhythmia.
In HARMLESS arrhythmia your heart skips a beat or has an extra beat and it is mostly temporary caused by strong emotions or exercise.
In DANGEROUS arrhythmia the heart may stop beating in a rhythmic and synchronised way. The electrical signals in the heart become uncoordinated and chaotic. In this arrhythmic state, the heart loses all its power and stops pumping blood out through the aorta and around the body.
If you could hold the arrhythmic heart in your hand at that moment, it would feel like a handful of wriggling worms, but if you could hold an undamaged heart, you would feel 72 powerful, regular and synchronized beats a minute.
If the heart does not resume its normal rhythm, either by natural means, or by the application of cardiac resuscitation and defibrillation, sudden death will result. If the circulation of blood is not restored within 3 minutes, permanent brain damage will occur.
WHAT IS AN ARRHYTHMIC CARDIAC EVENT?
AN ARRHYTHMIC CARDIAC EVENT is when there is a SUDDEN ONSET OF CHAOTIC HEARTBEATS, causing the person to feel dizzy and he may faint.
The electrical impulse have suddenly become too rapid (tachycardia), too chaotic (ventricular fibrillation) or both while an extremely slow heart beat (bradycardia) may also cause a sudden arrhythmic cardiac event. If the heartbeat is so chaotic, it will not pump; there will be no blood supply to the brain and the person will faint.
If the rhythm is not restored the heart will abruptly stop beating.