Ventricular fibrillation takes place when the ventricles beat at a severely abnormal rhythm. It is a life-threatening arrhythmia and can lead to sudden death. There is rapid contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle producing low cardiac output, leading to no circulation of blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the rest of the body.

The main cause of ventricular fibrillation is heart disease, as well as chemical imbalances.

Electrolyte Imbalance:

Electrolytes are important chemicals needed for the heart to function normally. If too much or not enough electrolytes exist in the body, the heart reacts by not beating effectively, leading to arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death.

A great source of electrolytes is good old fashioned chicken noodle soup. It not only tastes good, it makes us feel better when we are ill. However, caution must be taken when using processed soups as they contain high amounts of salt and can negatively affect someone monitoring their sodium intake. The best soups are the heart healthy homemade kind.

Electrolytes Include:

Bicarbonate Calcium Chloride Magnesium Phosphate Potassium Sodium Sulfate

Electrolytes are essential to the body in a balanced order. This chemical can be lost or imbalanced by excessive sweating and frequent urination, basically any reason the body would lose fluids rapidly. When this occurs a cardiac arrhythmia.

Signs:

Before V-fib occurs, the patient may complain of chest heaviness, difficulty breathing and profuse sweating. Once the blood stops pumping blood effectively causing V-fib, the patient will collapse, be unresponsive and display no pulse or blood pressure.

What is the Treatment?

In this serious situation, Cardioversion using a defibrillator is used to shock the heart back into rhythm, as well as the administration of anti-arrhythmic medications given intravenously. Each of these things work in tandem to return the heart back to normal sinus rhythm or NSM. There are however some cases in which a technique called Carotid massage. This method releases chemicals into the body in order to slow the heart rate. This technique is generally performed on younger patients as older patients run the risk of experiencing a stroke. However, it has been used in older patients depending on their health history and needs.

Prevention:

This situation can lead to sudden death. In many cases, after a patient has been successfully stabilized, a mechanical ventilator may be required to help them breathe until they are stable enough to do it on their own. In addition, these patients as well as those having experienced a heart attack run the risk of experiencing V-fib again. In order to offset this risk, surgical procedures may be done to insert a defibrillator or pacemaker in the upper left portion of the patients chest. When an abnormal rhythm occurs, the device sends out small shockwaves that bring the heart back to a normal rhythm.

In my opinion, everyone should be given a CPR course. I also believe that this lifesaving tool should be taught in schools all over the world. This knowledge is extremely helpful if small children or elderly live in the home. The course runs about 2 to 3 days and can be taken at your local Red Cross. A small amount of time is worth the knowledge of how to save a life.

Barb Hicks is an established writer and licensed registered nurse who loves to share her knowledge. You can find her class about Heart Palpitations Treatment and other lessons like Symptoms of Cardiogenic Shock on Clivir – the Free learning Community Site.

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