When Your Heart Has Problems

Any disease of the heart (cardio) and blood vessels (vascular) is called cardiovascular disease (CVD). Three main types of CVD include:

• Heart problems in the coronary arteries – When fatty material, or plaque, builds up in the walls of your heart arteries, you have coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD is a leading cause of death in the United States.
• Heart problems in the muscle – Disease can target the heart muscle, such as with cardiomyopathy. This type of disease can lead to rapid heart rates and heart failure.
• Heart problems from birth – A heart defect or genetic heart problem present at birth is known as congenital heart disease.

Aging of the heart muscle can also lead to heart disease. Of 81 million American adults with one or more types of cardiovascular disease, 38 million are estimated to be 60 years old or older.¹

Did you know?

If you have disease in arteries in one part of your body, you likely have disease in other arteries in your body:

• Coronary artery disease (CAD) occurs when plaque builds up in the coronary (heart) arteries.
• Carotid artery disease happens when plaque builds up in the carotid arteries (the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to your brain). Learn more >>
• Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) occurs when plaque builds up in the major arteries of the legs, arms, and pelvis. Learn more >>

Coronary Artery Disease
Healthy arteries are normally clean, smooth, and slick. The artery walls are flexible and can expand to let more blood through to the muscle when necessary.

Artery disease begins with an injury to the lining of the artery wall. This injury can be caused by smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Injury makes the artery stiff. Have you heard the term “hardening of the arteries”? This is another term for “atherosclerosis” – athero is Greek for gruel or paste and sclerosis means “hardness”.

When damage occurs, your body starts a healing process. This healing causes plaque to build up where the arteries are damaged. Over time, plaque can narrow or completely block some of your coronary arteries. This reduces the flow of oxygen-rich blood to your heart muscle.

Plaque also can crack. A blood clot may form at the site of the crack. This narrows the arteries more and worsens chest pain (angina), or causes a heart attack.

Coronary Artery Disease - Watch the Video [01:47]

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What is an arrhythmia?

It is normal for your heart rate to change during the day, depending on your activity level. For example, you can expect your heart rate to increase when you're exercising, but not when you are sitting still.

Any kind of abnormal rhythm or heart rate is called an arrhythmia. Anyone can develop an arrhythmia, even a young person without a previous heart condition. However, arrhythmias are most common in people over 65 who have heart damage caused by a heart attack, cardiac surgery, or other conditions.

There are many types of arrhythmias, including:

• Bradycardia: heartbeats that are too slow (brady = slow, cardia = heart)
• Tachycardia: heartbeats that are too fast (tachy = fast, cardia = heart)
• Extra beats
• Skipped beats
• Beats coming from abnormal areas of the heart

Many types of arrhythmias are known by where they come from in the heart.

• Atrial arrhythmias come from the atria, the top chambers of your heart.
• Ventricular arrhythmias come from the ventricles, the bottom chambers of your heart.

Fast, abnormal heart rhythms, with rates over 100 bpm, are called tachyarrhythmias. Tachyarrhythmias occur in individuals of all ages, from young children to the elderly.

A supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is a general term for any fast heart rhythm coming from above the ventricles. Common SVTs include:

• Atrial fibrillation (AF or AFib)
• Atrial flutter (AFL)
• Atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia (AVNRT)
• Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW)
• Brady-tachy syndrome, where the heart races then slows down dramatically

"When I was in the US Marines, I woke up in the hospital after I passed out with a heart rate of 200 plus.  They said I had an arrhythmia called atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia.” Bob Melcher

Conduction problems like arrhythmias can go unnoticed. Other times they can cause symptoms, like these:

• Fainting
• Dizziness, feeling light-headed
• Heart fluttering (palpitations)
• Missed or extra heart beats
• Weakness
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain

If you have certain symptoms, your doctor may want to test your conduction system. That is why you should check with your doctor if you have any of these symptoms. You know your body well enough to tell when something doesn't feel right.

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Next: Atrial Arrhythmias >>