Tachycardia
Tachycardia is an abnormally fast heartbeat – you have tachycardia if your heart rate is over 100 beats per minute. This fast heart rate will reduce how effectively your heart can pump blood around your body. Symptoms of tachycardia include:
- Palpitations or a racing heartbeat
- Near-fainting or fainting spells
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain
To treat tachycardia, your doctor may prescribe medications that will help normalize your heart rate. You doctor may recommend implanting a pacing device to keep your heart in a normal rhythm, such as a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). If necessary, he may also perform a catheter ablation, during which he will use radiofrequency or cryo energy to modify the tissues in your heart that are causing the abnormally fast rhythm.