Causes of Tachycardia Rapid, Fast Heart Rate, Heartbeat, Pulse Rate Symptoms

Tachycardia simply means abnormally rapid or fast heart rate. A healthy heart beat rate is in the range of 60 to 100 times a minute while you’re at rest.

It’s normal for your heart rate to increase in response to situations like exercise, exertion, excitement, pain and fever.  However, tachycardia is a health concern when your pulse rate is fast in the absence of an explanation.

Your heart’s rhythm is controlled by the sinus node, a natural pacemaker.  It produces electrical impulses that initiate each heartbeat. Tachycardia is basically caused by the production of abnormally rapid electrical signals.

Although, tachycardia increases the amount of oxygen delivered to your cells by increasing blood circulation rate. It can also seriously disrupt your heart’s normal function, which may cause a stroke or cardiac arrest.

Tachycardia’s rapid pulse rate may be caused by direct or indirect factors, like:

If your heart rate is too fast, then it may not be efficiently pumping enough blood for the provision of oxygen to the rest of your body. As a result, tachycardia might cause some of these symptoms:

Some with tachycardia fast heart beat won’t experience any symptoms.

Possible complications of a rapid heart rate include:

In some cases, a fast heartbeat may correct itself. If some other health condition is the primary cause for tachycardia, then treating that problem may prevent an future tachycardia episodes of racing pulse rate symptoms.

Prior to taking medication or receiving other forms of treatment to slow down your heart rate, your health care provider may recommend trying vagal maneuvers. The maneuvers are done on your own to combat a speedy heartbeat by affecting your vagus nerves, which are nerves that control your heartbeat. Some vegal maneuver techniques encompass:

  • coughing
  • holding ice to face
  • doing a headstand
  • dunking head in ice water
  • blowing against your thumb like you’re blowing a trumpet
  • holding your breath and straining like you’re passing a bowel movement

Should these tactics fail, you may need medication or other medical treatment to get your pulse rate slowed down.

Because regular exercise, healthy weight maintenance and eating a healthy (rich in fruits and vegetables) diet are the big three lifestyle measures for reducing your risk of developing heart disease, they’re prevention criterion for tachycardia as well.

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