A heart arrhythmia — also called a dysrhythmia —
is an abnormal heart rhythm. The heart may beat irregularly, beat too fast or
beat too slowly.
Nearly everyone has felt their heart skip a beat, race or flutter
inside their chest. Occasional heart palpitations are common and harmless, even
though they're considered arrhythmias. They may just occur, or they may be produced
by something that stimulates your heart, such as:
Cold and cough medicines that contain caffeine
If you have an otherwise normal heart, occasional heart palpitations
are rarely a cause for alarm, and most don't require medical treatment. If they're
bothersome, limiting or avoiding what prompted them may eliminate the problem.
However, more than 4 million — mainly older — Americans
experience recurrent or symptom-producing heart arrhythmias that may require
treatment. With these arrhythmias hearts may regularly beat too fast (tachycardia)
or too slowly (bradycardia) because of a problem with the heart's electrical
Arrhythmias are usually a byproduct of damage to the heart
from disease or age. People with otherwise healthy hearts can develop an arrhythmia,
but it's rare.
Arrhythmias can be serious. A few may even be life-threatening
because a heart that's not beating normally may not be able to pump blood efficiently.