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Nearly 3 million Americans are living with a heart condition called atrial fibrillation, according to the American Heart Association.
What is atrial fibrillation and how do you fix it?
A normal heart rhythm should beat like a steady drum. Atrial fibrillation is like a chaotic drumbeat.
With the condition, heartbeats are shorter or more rapid, or longer, said Dr. Christopher DeSimone, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist.
“And what that’s doing is it’s altering the ability of your heart to fill and your heart to pump blood effectively,” he said.
That can put patients at greater risk of blood clots, heart failure and stroke.
“The heart is like a house. You have the upstairs, you have the downstairs, and you have electricity going on at the top of the heart. And it’s coordinated to beat and pump in a fashion so that blood gets to the rest of your body by going from the top, down through the middle of the heart, out to the bottom of the heart into the basement. The top chambers of the heart are where the problem lies for atrial fibrillation,” DeSimone said.
High blood pressure, diabetes and sleep apnea can cause the condition. Often patients don’t even know they have it.
“Sometimes they’ll describe to me that they feel fatigued. They’re more short of breath. They feel like they’re getting older. …. But really what they’re feeling is not effective blood pumping,” DeSimone said.
Treatment is individualized and may include medication; administering an electrical shock to the heart; or a procedure that scars the heart tissue that is creating the erratic signals.
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