Common symptoms of tachycardia
If breathing difficulties occur while the heart is racing, you should go to a doctor and be examined. This combination of symptoms can be an indication of a pulmonary embolism, which must be treated as soon as possible. In this case a blood clot blocks a vessel in the lung and the corresponding section of the lung is no longer supplied with blood.
Therefore, no exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place here. In addition, the heart has to pump against a resistance, which leads to cardiac arrest if the load is too great. However, it can also be due to a too fast heartbeat in the ventricles.
This happens, for example, if atrial fibrillation/flutter has already existed before and has now transferred to the ventricles. If the beat is too fast, not enough blood can be ejected into the circulation, resulting in an undersupply of oxygen and a drop in blood pressure with circulatory weakness. Even in the case of lung diseases that have existed for many years, breathing difficulties and an accelerated pulse rate are not uncommon.If the body needs more oxygen than it is getting at that moment, it tries to increase the intake of oxygen by increasing breathing and heartbeat.
More oxygen is transported to the lungs and the body makes more blood available for absorption. This situation occurs during physical exertion or in case of organic diseases of the lungs. If the heart is not able to pump the required blood through the body due to heart failure, there is a lack of oxygen although the lungs are perfectly healthy.
Nevertheless, the physical reaction here is the same, an increased pulse rate and the feeling of shortness of breath. If, in addition to palpitations, shakiness also occurs, there is a suspicion of hypoglycaemia. In addition, there are often symptoms such as nausea, drowsiness or sweating.
A psychologically stressful situation can also lead to inner restlessness or anxiety and trigger palpitations and severe tremors. A chronic or acute blood loss leads to an unstable circulatory situation. The blood pressure drops and sometimes the heart rate increases while maintaining it.
A general feeling of weakness or tremors are accompanying symptoms. Excessive consumption of beverages containing caffeine can also lead to this complex of symptoms. After some time, the symptoms disappear by themselves.
Nausea accompanying palpitations can be triggered by various causes. The cardiovascular system is one of the main causes. If a heart attack has occurred, nausea can occur in addition to chest pain and palpitations.
Too low blood pressure can also cause palpitations and nausea. Existing hypoglycaemia, which usually occurs in diabetics, can also make itself felt through nausea and palpitations. In addition, sweating, dizziness or trembling can also occur.
In the case of acute circulatory weakness or impending fainting, nausea can also occur in addition to palpitations and sweating. If the electrolyte balance of the body is disturbed during severe diarrhea or vomiting or due to kidney disease, this can also lead to nausea and rapid heartbeat. Inflammation of the heart muscle caused by bacteria or viruses leads to tachycardia, often coupled with a drop in performance and fatigue.
You may also feel a fast, strained heartbeat or heart stumbling. It is not uncommon for the heart-related symptoms not to be present, but only general fatigue or exhaustion with or without dizziness, which can make diagnosis difficult. Fatigue and palpitations also occur in anemia.
The red blood cells are responsible for transporting oxygen, but in the case of anemia their number is significantly reduced. This leads to a lack of oxygen in the body, which the body tries to compensate for by accelerating the heart rate. At the same time the physical resilience decreases and the affected person is “quickly out of breath”.
Sweating and heart palpitations occur together in many situations, as these are reactions of the so-called vegetative or autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system controls breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, metabolism, but also digestion and cannot be influenced at will. Emotions have a great influence on the autonomic nervous system and cause a variety of reactions.
For example, a heart attack often triggers great anxiety in the person affected. The body is in an alarm situation and releases stress hormones which, among other things, cause sweating. If the thyroid gland is overactive, more hormones are released, which increases the sensitivity to circulation-enhancing hormones in the body and speeds up the metabolism.
Tachycardia and sweating can be the result. Even if an infection in the body leads to fever, the heartbeat increases and you sweat more. In the extreme case of blood poisoning, i.e. an infection of the blood with bacteria, the fever can lead to greatly increased heart rate and sweating.
If an accelerated heartbeat leads to increased blood pressure, this can cause headaches. If the blood pressure remains at a high level or even increases, this is called a hypertensive crisis. The blood pressure rises above a systolic value of 230mmHg, which can cause damage to most organs.
Flickering before the eyes or ringing in the ears can also be an indication of high blood pressure. Such a crisis can be triggered by a tumor on the adrenal gland. This results in an increased release of stress hormones, which strongly activate the body.In the case of hypoglycaemia as mentioned above, headaches can also occur, in addition to other symptoms.
During pregnancy, many changes in the body occur. Most of them are completely natural and are part of the body’s adaptation to pregnancy. However, it is also possible that diseases develop anew or that unnoticed diseases are first discovered.
Among other things it can come in the pregnancy to heart palpitations, which is completely harmless and can occur also with each other humans. Sometimes it is caused by the pregnancy itself, when in the last third of the pregnancy the now grown child in the supine position (of the mother) presses on the large vein in the abdominal cavity and the heart tries to compensate for the reduced backflow. However, this can also be a newly arisen or discovered disease of the heart, for example myocarditis or dilatation of the heart muscle. Atrial fibrillation/flutter or bronchitis can also lead to tachycardia.