Tachycardia

Tachycardia

Rein In a Racing Heart

Everyone's heart beats faster when they dash for a bus or swerve out of the way of an oncoming car, jumping to well over 100 beats a minute compared to its normal average of 60 to 80 beats or so.

But if your heart simply starts zipping along without any apparent provocation, you may have tachycardia, a scary condition in which the heart temporarily races at a faster-than-normal pace, says Pamela Ouyang, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a cardiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, both in Baltimore. The whole episode may last only a few seconds, but for women with tachycardia, the fast beats are quite noticeable.

Here's what happens: Although the heart has a tiny group of cells that normally generate electrical signals to maintain the heart's rhythm, any part of the heart can generate these fast beats, say Dr. Ouyang. While temporary episodes of tachycardia aren't necessarily dangerous in themselves, in some people they could be a sign of heart disease, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy (an abnormality of heart muscle) or even damaged heart valves. In many people, particularly those with no heart disease, tachycardia is often harmless in that it is unlikely to lead to a heart attack, says Dr. Ouyang.

For most people, tachycardia is nothing to get upset about. "Anxious people can often get benign--harmless--tachycardia," explains Dr. Ouyang. So can people who experience panic attacks--a frightening occurrence in which the individual's heartbeat accelerates for no known reason and they experience a sense of impending doom. (For details on handling panic attacks, see page 416.)

CALMING TECHNIQUES

Though all tachycardia should be evaluated by a doctor, here's what experts suggest you do if it's not related to serious problems.

Tighten tummy muscles. As soon as your heart starts to race, tighten your stomach muscles, advises Deborah L. Keefe, M.D., professor of medicine at Cornell Medical Center and a cardiologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, both in New York City. That will cause your abdominal muscles to put pressure on a group of nerves that will tell your heart's electrical system to slow down.

Chill. Take a deep, long breath and slowly let it out, suggests Dr. Keefe. Sometimes relaxation is all it takes to stop tachycardia. And deep breathing is frequently one of the fastest ways to relax.

Use common sense. Anything that speeds up the heart--caffeine and cigarettes, for example--can trigger a rapid heartbeat, says Dr. Ouyang. So common sense says that if you're prone to tachycardia, you should avoid any substance that might give your heart an extra kick.