Your heart is one of the most important parts of your body. It is the muscle responsible for continuously pumping blood throughout the body, and as such it needs to keep working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Problems with your heart function can seriously limit your ability to participate in activities such as sports and exercise, and may even become extremely dangerous if left untreated. This is why you need the help of an expert cardiac specialist doctor who can help give your heart the individualized care that it needs.
Heart Conditions
In addition to the more ubiquitous heart disease that affects millions of people every year, there are many lesser-known and more treatable heart conditions that affect lots of people as well. For example, heart rhythm disorders can cause your heart to beat incorrectly, interrupting blood flow and causing many problem symptoms as a result. These types of conditions can be treated by a cardiac specialist, but getting that kind of treatment requires you to take the first step of seeking out a doctor that can offer you the quality care you need to live a heart healthy life.
Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common heart disorders, and yet it can be treated once it is diagnosed. A healthy heart beats in a coordinated pattern of contractions that move blood efficiently from chamber to chamber of the heart and back out into the body. In a patient with atrial fibrillation, this pumping is less well coordinated, so that blood spends some time sitting in place during the beating of the heart. On its own this is not dangerous, but over time this can lead to the formation of blood clots. If one of these clots enters the brain or the lung, it can cause a stroke or a pulmonary embolism, both of which are serious medical emergencies.
Expert Heart Care
If you have or believe you may have a heart rhythm disorder, then there is no reason to be afraid. Cardiac specialists are doctors with years of training in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases like atrial fibrillation. They have many tools at their disposal, including the expertise to identify heart rhythm issues after a few diagnostic tests.
If they determine that you do have a disease such as atrial fibrillation, then this should not be a cause for alarm either. There are well-tested treatments for these kinds of heart problems, including the ablation of misfiring heart cells or the implantation of an artificial pacemaker. After you talk with an expert cardiac doctor, you will feel more confident about the health of your heart, and you will be able to make sure it stays running in the best shape for years to come.
