If you notice a strong heartbeat in your child that arose after active physical exercises, severe emotional stress, increased fever, you should find out if the child has a tachycardia, or the cause is in something else. The word "tachycardia" in Greek means "fast" and "heart", that is, the heart works faster. The frequency of heart contractions in children is different depending on age. Usually, children do not feel normal heart work. Their heart is still weak, and if it starts to work faster, the child can complain about weakness, palpitations, tinnitus. This condition is called tachycardia, that is an abnormally rapid contraction of the heart muscle.
Types of tachycardia
There are several types of tachycardia in children:
- sinus;
- paroxysmal;
- chronic;
1. With sinus tachycardia , the number of cardiac contractions in the sinus node increases in children. The cause of this type of tachycardia may be excessive physical exertion or the presence of another pathology of the cardiovascular system in the child. Sinus tachycardia can be physiological and pathological. Sinus tachycardia physiological occurs with vegetative-vascular dystonia during the period of active growth of the child. Pathological tachycardia develops with an organic lesion of the heart. Sinus tachycardia of the heart in children usually begins and passes gradually - this is its distinctive feature. Symptoms of tachycardia in children are absent or expressed in accelerated heartbeats. If the cause is eliminated, then sinus tachycardia passes without a trace.
2. Paroxysmal tachycardia in children is a sudden increase in the heart rate to 180-200 beats per minute, which can also end abruptly, and the pulse may return to normal. The child is frightened during an attack, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, cyanosis, sweating, weakness may appear. Nadzheludochkovuyu tachycardia can be stopped reflexively: squeeze the abdominal press, hard to strain, hold your breath, press on the eyeballs, induce vomiting. The treatment of such a heart tachycardia in children is the use of cardiac glycosides and (after the end of the attack) - supporting drugs.
Paroxysmal tachycardia, in turn, has two forms:
- supraventricular (occurs when the regulation of the activity of the heart changes);
- ventricular (occurs in children is relatively rare, but has an unfavorable prognosis, especially in newborns).
3. There is also a chronic tachycardia , which can manifest itself in the child by a decrease in pressure, suffocation,
Any of the types of heart tachycardia in children, which is left without medical attention, may lead to heart failure in the future. Therefore, parents should be very careful about any of their child's ailments and, if complaints arise, seek medical help immediately.