Treatment and Prevention of Bradycardia
If the decrease in the heart rate is insignificant, there is no direct threat to life. If the heart beat rate is below 60 bpm, but no diseases of cardiovascular or other body systems are diagnosed, then preventative measures are employed.
Preventive measures for bradycardia include:
- Monitoring of blood pressure and heart rate;
- Healthy diet (low-salt and low-fat diet);
- Giving up smoking and alcohol;
- Normalizing work/rest schedule;
- Fresh air and exercise, regular fitness activities;
- Regular visits to the cardiologist.
Main principles of bradycardia treatment:
- If bradycardia is caused by the use of some prescription medications, then dosage adjustment or withdrawal of those preparations to slow the heart rate are required;
- Treatment of the main disorder which provokes bradycardia;
- Drug treatment - it should be performed by a qualified cardiologist only!
- The most effective treatment for severe bradycardia is a pacemaker implantation. Electric cardiac pacemakers should be implanted in cases of bradycardia when the heart rate is below 40 bpm and there are cardiac arrests that last more than 2 seconds.
Regular annual examination by a cardiologist will be quite helpful for the timely detection and rapid treatment of any type of bradycardia. In many respects, the prognosis for the bradycardia treatment depends on the time when patient starts seeking medical attention. The sooner this condition is diagnosed the better the overall prognosis.
