What are the dangers of slow heart rate? Care and treatment to avoid harm

If the heart rate is slow and is not less than 50 beats per minute, there will be no serious symptoms. If it is less than 40 beats per minute, it is serious and may lead to symptoms such as fainting and angina pectoris. Patients should actively seek treatment, undergo comprehensive examinations, and pay attention to rest.

1. What are the dangers of a slow heart rate?

If the heart rate is not lower than 50 beats per minute, there are generally no symptoms; if the heart rate is lower than 40 beats per minute, it may often cause symptoms such as angina pectoris, heart failure or syncope.

2. Treatment and care for bradycardia:

Patients with symptomatic bradycardia, especially those that affect their quality of life, or whose heart stops beating for more than 3 seconds, or who have transient blackouts or syncope, should receive active treatment.

In the event of an acute attack of bradycardia, in addition to treating the primary cause and stopping medications that can slow the heart rate, atropine or isoproterenol can be used to increase the heart rate. For those with a heart rate of 40 beats per minute or slower, drugs are not effective in raising the heart rate, especially in patients with recurrent syncope or presyncope, in whom a temporary pacemaker should be implanted.

After actively correcting the reversible primary cause and excluding the influence of drugs, if the patient's bradycardia symptoms cannot be reversed, a pacemaker needs to be implanted. A pacemaker is the size of a matchbox and weighs between 25 and 50 grams. The pulse generator is implanted under the skin in the upper chest, and the pacing wire is delivered to the heart through the veins. The pacemaker stimulates the heart with a certain form of artificial pulse current, causing the heart to contract effectively, thereby increasing the heart rate, relieving or eliminating the patient's symptoms and saving lives.

Therefore, people who often suffer from fatigue, heart discomfort, dizziness, transient blackouts or fainting should pay attention to counting their pulse when they are calm and when they have discomfort. If you are not a person who likes to exercise regularly, and your heart rate is always slow during the day, especially less than 50 beats per minute, or your pulse slows down significantly when discomfort symptoms appear, or there is a long period of cardiac arrest, you should pay attention and go to the arrhythmia clinic of the hospital's cardiology department for a detailed examination.