In this article, we will talk about the nocturnal symptoms of atrial fibrillation. If you or your relatives have heart arrhythmias, it is recommended reading this text.

In order to survive, our body needs the heart to contract regularly and with a normal rhythm and to pump blood into the body’s arteries. Any abnormality in the contraction of the heart muscle is called an arrhythmia.

In atrial fibrillation, which is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias, the two upper chambers of the heart (the two atria) contract without coordination, causing the heart to deviate normally and create certain conditions. Although it is not fatal alone, it increases the risk of heart attack and stroke and sometimes require urgent emergency action.

What we will focus on in this article is the symptoms of this arrhythmia, especially the nocturnal symptoms of atrial fibrillation, but before describing the nocturnal symptoms of Af, it is better to get acquainted with the characteristics, causes and complications of atrial fibrillation:

 

what you will read next :

 

What is atrial fibrillation?

When the two upper chambers of the heart, called the atrium or atria, contract with uncoordinated signals, the result of these irregularities will be a series of rapid and uncoordinated heartbeats.

The normal heart rate is in the range of sixty to one hundred beats per minute, which in atrial fibrillation arrhythmias reaches one hundred to one hundred and seventy beats per minute.

 

Causes of atrial fibrillation

These causes are:

 

Predisposing factors for atrial fibrillation

These factors include the following:

 

Complications of atrial fibrillation

If left untreated, this disease can lead to the following complications:

 

Symptoms of atrial fibrillation

Sometimes people with atrial fibrillation arrhythmias have no symptoms and only occasionally experience symptoms during increased physical activity.

Symptoms of atrial fibrillation include:

Attention:

If you have chest pain or shortness of breath, or if you feel heaviness and pressure on your chest, you should call the emergency room right away because you are at risk for a heart attack.

Also, due to the increased risk of heart attack in people with atrial fibrillation, if you suddenly have weakness in the limbs, facial changes or severe visual and speech disorders, immediate emergency contact is necessary.

 

Types of atrial fibrillation

There are three types of atrial fibrillation:

In this type of atrial fibrillation, symptoms sometimes appear and last from a few minutes to a few hours and disappear on their own.

In this type, the person’s heart rhythm will not return to normal without medical intervention (shock or medication).

The symptoms last for a long time and for more than twelve months.

Heart rhythm does not return to normal and is irreversible, and you need medication to improve your heart rhythm.

 

What are the nocturnal symptoms of atrial fibrillation?

If a person has paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and the arrhythmia occurs while the person is asleep at night, the following symptoms will occur:

 

Concluding remarks

We emphasize that if you wake up at night with a feeling of shortness of breath, pain and discomfort, and a feeling of heaviness and pressure in your chest, and you feel your heart beating fast, call the emergency room immediately.