A regular heartbeat has a steady frequency, a consistent time between each beat. It is smooth and rhythmic, increasing and decreasing with the demand for blood, based on the level of physical activity. During atrial fibrillation, the heartbeat is irregular; in this case, it is no longer beating evenly. It is out of sync. This means the flow of blood is sluggish and moving slower in the top chambers of the heart (atria). This slowly moving blood can potentially create clots inside the heart chamber. If a clot forms and travels to the brain blood vessels, it could block vital blood flow to the brain, which could result in a stroke.

AFib can affect everyday activity in a number of ways. In extreme cases, the patient feels tired and short of breath with everyday activity. They get winded quickly and fatigued from even the most basic daily chores. And there are many people who have atrial fibrillation and never even know it, attributing their symptoms to over-exertion or just being out of breath due to age or weight.

Certain risk factors increase your chances of developing heart and vascular disease. Some risk factors are things you can’t change like age and family history. Other risk factors can often be controlled with lifestyle changes and sometimes medications.

Risk factors include the following:

• Age
• Abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Carotid artery disease
• Diabetes
• Family history of premature coronary heart disease
• Healthy cholesterol is less than 50 in women and less than 40 in men
• High blood pressure
• Peripheral artery disease
• Smoking

Women don’t often know the symptoms that could indicate heart trouble. Women tend to have symptoms that are more subtle than men, making it difficult to know whether a heart screening is appropriate. Women who forgo heart screenings risk encountering more severe issues later if heart disease goes overlooked due a lack of screenings.

We encourage women to know the most common symptoms of heart disease and to schedule heart screenings, especially if they’re high risk.

Learn about the symptoms

It’s true that sometimes heart attacks just feel like severe chest pain. The shortness of breath feeling is often distinctive, like a choking sensation beyond just not being able to catch your breath. These typical, textbook-style symptoms are most common in males. In females and people with diabetes, symptoms can look much different. Women may also experience a heaviness in both arms, difficulty breathing, and sudden onset of neck and jaw discomfort. Jaw pain, especially with shortness of breath, is a symptom often specific to heart problems.

People with diabetes, men or women, may not feel chest pain at all. Instead, a sudden onset of sweating with a sense of doom may ensue.

While there’s no cure for this condition, there’s plenty that people who have it can do to relieve symptoms and lead comfortable, productive lives.

Here are five to focus on:

1. Cut back on fluids and sodium.
2. Weigh yourself regularly.
3. Manage your medications.
4. Don’t ignore emotional stress
5. Work closely with your doctor.

We’re here to help you navigate the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of a heart arrhythmia, often known as an irregular heartbeat. Your physician may suspect a heart arrhythmia if you feel the following

• A fluttering sensation in your chest
• Fatigue
• Lightheadedness
• Shortness of breath
• Or even anxiety

If so, we offer several tests to help diagnosis arrhythmia along with many treatment options to help you get back to your best health.