Sick Sinus Syndrome Causes Abnormal Heart Rhythm Arrhythmias, Blood Flow Symptoms

Sick sinus syndrome is a condition marked by abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias. With this syndrome, what causes the rhythm of your heart to be “out of whack” is the sinus node.

The sinus node is your heart’s natural pacemaker. It’s an area of cells in your heart that normally produces electrical impulses, triggering a steady paced heartbeat. However, with sick sinus syndrome your heart rhythm has these types of arrhythmia abnormalities:

  • tachycardia ~ fast rate
  • bradycardia ~ slow rate
  • sinus arrest ~ heart beat pauses
  • bradycardia-tachycardia ~ alternates slow & fast, typically with a pause

You may experience one or a combination of these rhythm problems.

Sick sinus syndrome is not that common, mainly affecting older folks. And the bradycardia type is the most prevalent, which reduces the blood flow, notably to your brain, causing many of its potential symptoms, like:

Because sick sinus syndrome usually progresses slowly, it initially causes few, if any, symptoms.

Abnormal heart pumping that reduces the blood flow to such an extent that your body’s needs aren’t met can lead to heart failure. Additionally, this heart condition’s chaotic rhythms creates the risk of blood clots, that can break loose and cause a stroke.

In most cases, sinus node syndrome evolves because of natural wear and tear to the heart muscle due to aging. Yet, the causation of sinus damage resulting in arrhythmias and abnormal blow flow symptoms could be due to:

Hypothermia may cause temporary sinus node dysfunction.

Abnormal heart rhythms can be exacerbated by these drugs:

At the outset, treatment may not be necessary. But eventually, most with sick sinus syndrome need an artificial pacemaker to keep up a regular heartbeat.