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What Causes Shortness Of Breath With Increased Heart Rate?
Question: Why do I get so short of breath when my heart rate goes over 90? Is there anything I can do about it?
Brief Answer:
it's probably due to heart failure
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
shortness of breath with rhythm changes probably indicates heart failure. A heart echo can determine the functional capacity of the heart. There are two possible scenarios:
1. the increased heart rate imposes a heavy load on an ischemic heart muscle, with which it cannot cope and heart failure occurs.
2. the increased heart rate is the result of an arrhythmia which causes a defective filling of the heart with blood (atrial fibrillation is a classic example for that) and thus causes heart failure in a patient with some degree of pre-existing heart failure.
One or both of the scenarios may apply to you. Only cardiological examination with electrocardiogram and echo may reveal that.
In case you have heart failure, there are drugs for it. The treatment depends on the severity and other parameters like your blood pressure, whether an arrhythmia is present or not, etc
If it's atrial fibrillation then the cardiologist will have to choose between correcting the rhythm or controlling it with drugs. So until you visit the cardiologist there is nothing you can do about it.
If you have severe symptoms then visit the emergency room is recommended.
I hope you find my comments helpful!
You can contact me again, if you'd like any clarification or further information.
Kind Regards!
it's probably due to heart failure
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
shortness of breath with rhythm changes probably indicates heart failure. A heart echo can determine the functional capacity of the heart. There are two possible scenarios:
1. the increased heart rate imposes a heavy load on an ischemic heart muscle, with which it cannot cope and heart failure occurs.
2. the increased heart rate is the result of an arrhythmia which causes a defective filling of the heart with blood (atrial fibrillation is a classic example for that) and thus causes heart failure in a patient with some degree of pre-existing heart failure.
One or both of the scenarios may apply to you. Only cardiological examination with electrocardiogram and echo may reveal that.
In case you have heart failure, there are drugs for it. The treatment depends on the severity and other parameters like your blood pressure, whether an arrhythmia is present or not, etc
If it's atrial fibrillation then the cardiologist will have to choose between correcting the rhythm or controlling it with drugs. So until you visit the cardiologist there is nothing you can do about it.
If you have severe symptoms then visit the emergency room is recommended.
I hope you find my comments helpful!
You can contact me again, if you'd like any clarification or further information.
Kind Regards!
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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