Introduction
Atrial flutter can be accompanied by many different symptoms. In the foreground are the symptoms that occur directly at the heart. These include a sudden onset of palpitations, an irregular pulse (also known as arrhythmia) or heart stumbling.
If the disease has already been going on for a long time, secondary symptoms such as cardiac insufficiency can also be triggered. Atrial flutter also affects the lungs, which is why there may be shortness of breath. The blood flow to the brain can also be affected, causing dizziness and fainting spells. Atrial flutter can be permanent, but there are also variants in which it occurs more like a seizure and disappears again after a short time.
Symptoms of atrial flutter
The following symptoms occur more frequently in atrial flutter:
- Tachycardia
- Heart stumbling (=palpitation)
- Arrhythmia (heart rhythm disturbance) irregular pulse
- Heart failure
- Shortness of breath
- Reduced performance
- Dizziness, fainting spells
- Stroke
- Fear, inner restlessness
Atrial flutter is accompanied by a significantly increased pulse rate of the atria. By definition, the pulse rate of the atria is between 250 and 450 beats per minute. In healthy stimulus transmission, the AV node (a switching station located between the atria and the ventricles) should filter the high frequencies and thus protect against a too fast heartbeat of the ventricles.
However, the AV node is usually not able to filter so many of the atrial actions that a normal ventricular pulse of about 80 beats per minute is possible. Instead, a heart rate of about 140 beats per minute usually occurs. In many patients, the AV node is also unable to continuously filter out all the impulses from the fluttering atria.
Instead, irregular conduction from the atria into the ventricles occurs, resulting in an irregular heartbeat in the ventricles. The transmission of atrial pulses can range from a 1:1 transmission (every beat of the atria is transmitted) to a 1:4 transmission (only every fourth beat is transmitted to the ventricles). In healthy transmission, the AV node (a switching station located between the atria and the ventricles) should filter the high frequencies and thus protect against a too fast heartbeat of the ventricles.
However, the AV node is usually not able to filter so many of the atrial actions that a normal ventricular pulse of about 80 beats per minute is possible. Instead, a heart rate of about 140 beats per minute usually occurs. In many patients, the AV node is also unable to continuously filter out all the impulses from the fluttering atria.
Instead, irregular conduction from the atria into the ventricles occurs, resulting in an irregular heartbeat in the ventricles. The transmission of atrial pulses can range from a 1:1 transmission (every beat of the atria is transmitted) to a 1:4 transmission (only every fourth beat is transmitted to the ventricles). Tachycardia is the feeling of a heartbeat that is clearly too fast.
In technical terminology this is also called tachycardia. As a rule, one speaks of such a tachycardia when the heart chambers beat with an increased frequency. Atrial flutter initially refers only to an increased beat frequency of the atria, which is normally between 250 and 450 beats per minute.
Normally, the AV node, which is located between the atria and the ventricles, filters out the excess atrial activity and thus ensures a calm and regular heartbeat in the ventricles. However, this filter function of the AV node is often disturbed. A cardiac stutter occurs when the AV node usually ensures a regulated action of the ventricles and only occasionally too many impulses are transmitted from the atria.
An absolute arrhythmia occurs when the AV node can no longer maintain its function. In this case, almost all electrical impulses from the atria are passed on to the ventricles. The heart muscle cells can no longer relax properly between the individual impulses.
This results in irregular chaos as the heart muscles contract. This condition is also called absolute arrhythmia. Atrial flutter initially refers only to an increased beat frequency of the atria, which is normally between 250 and 450 beats per minute.
Normally, the AV node, which is located between the atria and the ventricles, filters out the excess atrial activity and thus ensures a calm and regular heartbeat in the ventricles.However, this filter function of the AV node is often disturbed. A heart stumbling occurs when the AV node usually ensures a regulated action of the ventricles and only occasionally too many impulses are transmitted from the atria. An absolute arrhythmia occurs when the AV node can no longer maintain its function.
In this case, almost all electrical impulses from the atria are passed on to the ventricles. The heart muscle cells can no longer relax properly between the individual impulses. This results in irregular chaos as the heart muscles contract.
This condition is also called absolute arrhythmia. An absolute arrhythmia occurs when the AV node can no longer maintain its function. In this case, almost all electrical impulses are transmitted from the atria to the ventricles.
The heart muscle cells can no longer relax properly between the individual pulses. This results in irregular chaos as the heart muscles contract. This condition is also called absolute arrhythmia.
If a person suffers from atrial flutter, this can be accompanied by so-called heart pain. Especially if the atrial flutter lasts for a rather short time, the pumping action of the heart is acutely disturbed. This results in a low ejection rate, so that too little blood is pumped into the circulation for a short time.
The low blood flow can also affect the heart itself, since the coronary vessels (like all other vessels in the body) are not supplied with enough blood during this time. This causes a lack of nutrients and oxygen in the heart muscles. The irregular pumping action of the heart muscle cells also prevents a phase in which the heart is completely relaxed.
Normally, the heart muscles are only supplied with blood during the relaxation phase (diastole). The lack of relaxation additionally causes a reduced blood supply to the heart muscle cells. Atrial flutter leads to an altered ejection performance of the heart due to the irregular action of the atria.
Usually, the flutter does not only affect the atria, but also the ventricles, to which the frequent impulses are partially transmitted, resulting in irregular heartbeats. This condition alone can be accompanied by a general loss of performance. During physical activity, the body is dependent on the heart to increase its beat rate on the one hand, and on the other hand, a slightly increased blood volume is pumped into the circulation with each beat.
Both mechanisms should lead to improved blood circulation, especially in the muscles. This mechanism may be disturbed by atrial flutter. The shortness of breath that occurs in diseases like atrial flutter can have several causes.
On the one hand, atrial flutter leads to a general reduction in the efficiency of the heart. This also reduces the ejection rate, so that with each heartbeat a slightly reduced amount of blood is pumped into the circulation. The organs are supplied with less blood and thus receive less oxygen.
In most cases, this slight oxygen deficiency can be compensated well at rest. However, as soon as someone becomes physically active, the body consumes more oxygen. This increased demand may not be able to be adequately supplied because of the diseased heart.
In addition, the reduced performance of the heart triggers a backlog of blood in the lungs. This congestion disrupts the absorption of oxygen from the air into the blood, which in turn results in a lack of oxygen. This mechanism is also easy to compensate for at rest and is initially noticeable, especially during physical exertion.
A sudden (sometimes short-lived) heart stumble causes the entire heart activity to briefly lose its rhythm. This is often accompanied by acute shortness of breath, sometimes with stabbing pain in the chest. In connection with various heart diseases, a kind of inner restlessness, also known as heart anxiety, can occur.
This discomfort is often based on the feeling of a stumbling heart, a tightness in the chest or a pressure on the chest. Typically, atrial flutter is a more frequent cause of heart stuttering. The cause of atrial flutter is a disturbance in the excitation conduction of the heart.
This leads to incorrect information being passed on to the heart muscle cells, causing the heart to beat at a significantly increased rate. In addition, irregularities in this transmission of stimuli can cause the heart to stumble. The feeling of pressure and tightness, which can also trigger anxiety and inner restlessness, usually comes from a reduced blood supply to the heart, which is also due to the irregular pumping action.Similar topics that might interest you:
- Atrial fibrillation
A fluttering of the atria is accompanied by increased sweating or sudden sweating in many patients.
Atrial flutter disrupts the rhythm of the cardiovascular system. This causes the body to re-regulate the balance between the sympathetic nervous system (activating nervous system) and the parasympathetic nervous system (relaxing nervous system). This can also trigger increased sweat production.
In contrast to sweating during physical exertion, people affected by atrial flutter often become cold sweaty. This physical reaction can also be related to the fact that the brain is no longer supplied with sufficient blood due to the irregular heart action. In this case, sweating can be an expression of the person concerned becoming unconscious.
The atrial flutter usually leads to the pumping action of the heart chambers no longer being as targeted and effective as that of a healthy heart. This reduces the performance capacity of the heart. However, in people who stand for longer periods of time or who are physically active, the heart should be able to improve its ejection performance.
When standing, more blood has to be pumped into the head against gravity, while physical activity generally increases the body’s oxygen demand. Symptoms such as dizziness or even fainting fits (so-called syncope) occur when the blood supply to the brain is no longer sufficiently ensured. In the case of atrial flutter, this is due to reduced cardiac output.
