Tachycardia: your heart beats too fast

Symptoms

In tachycardia your resting heart rate is more than 100 beats per minute (it can be as high as 300 beats per minute). This means that the heart is no longer able to pump oxygen-rich blood to the body efficiently. This can result in:

  • Palpitations
  • Chest pain
  • Shortness of breath
  • Unusual tiredness
  • Dizziness, feeling light-headed
  • Fainting

Types of tachycardia

When considering the causes of tachycardia, there is a difference between tachycardia with a regular heart rhythm and tachycardia with an irregular heart rhythm. There is also a difference according to the place where the rhythm problem originates, namely in the atrium or in the ventricle of the heart.

  • Atrial tachycardia: originates in the atrium and is regular.
  • Atrial fibrillation: originates in the atrium and is irregular.
  • Atrial flutter: originates in the atrium and is relatively regular.
  • Ventricular tachycardia: originates in the ventricle and is regular.
  • Ventricular fibrillation: originates in the ventricle and is a very chaotic vibrating rhythm.

Treatment