1. Take Medication
In most cases, you can treat your irregular heartbeat very effectively with a variety of prescription medications. Your doctor will evaluate your overall health, as well as the risk of side effects, to determine the best combination of drugs for you to use. Antiarrhythmic drugs, including amiodarone, disopryamide and quinidine, help calm the tissues in your heart that are firing extra or abnormal electrical impulses. You may also need to take a blood thinner like warfarin when you are on an antiarrhythmic medication.
A group of medications called calcium channel blockers or calcium antagonists may be used to treat some kinds of arrhythmias by preventing calcium from moving into the heart tissues. Felodipine and Nicardipine are examples of calcium channel blockers, and are often used to lower high blood pressure and treat angina. Beta-blocker drugs can be used to lower your heart rate if a racing heartbeat is a symptom of your arrhythmia.
2. Submit to Radiofrequency Ablation
Radiofrequency ablation is a type of catheterization that is used to treat arrhythmias. Though it may sound scary, ablation is considered a non-invasive procedure that is very safe and highly successful. Radio waves at the end of the catheter permanently damage a very small number of cells in your heart. The cells that are killed are in the area that is responsible for the extra electrical impulses causing your irregular heartbeat. You will only need to have a local anesthetic and a mild sedative while the procedure is performed, and will be up and around within a few days.
3. Have a Pacemaker Installed
Some people have such acute arrhythmias that medication and ablation cannot treat their condition. In this case, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), more commonly known as a pacemaker, is the preferred method of treatment. An ICD is implanted in your body, near your shoulder, and is connected to your heart. When your heart begins to beat irregularly, the ICD sends an electrical impulse to your heart to get it back on track.
4. Undergo Defibrillation in an Emergency
External defibrillation is used as an emergency measure to treat arrhythmias when medication or a pacemaker fails. It is also used when a person without a known history of arrhythmia has irregular heart activity that is life-threatening.
