Get To Know Cardioversion
Cardioversion, ladies, is a common medical procedure for your heart. It'll get your heart rhythm back to where it needs to be! You'll get either an electric shock or some IV meds in this procedure. Your doctor will talk about both options with you, and you will decide which is best together! The good news? You don't need to stay overnight for this one, ladies. You can go home on the same day!
This one makes its appearance as an arrhythmia treatment. It'll most often be a treatment for fibrillation, but it works for other types of tachycardia too! Ladies, you're going to need IV meds for cardioversion. You will also need treatment for blood clots first, if you have any! This is likely going to be through blood thinners, though other blood clot meds can be used.
Chemical Versus Electrical Cardioversion
Ladies, there are 2 types of cardioversion! You have both chemical and electrical to consider. Both of them will make your heart rhythm go back to normal. They just go about doing this differently! The chemical type is simple. It uses IV meds to make your heart rhythm stay regular! It can do this for many arrhythmias, ladies. The most common one it treats is atrial fibrillation! By treating it, you'll lower your stroke risk.
Electrical cardioversion uses electric shocks to correct your heart rhythm. You'll need a sedative for the type, ladies, but not the chemical one! Electrical is more effective, but it's a bit more invasive, so many doctors try the chemical version first! Besides, the chemical version increases the electric shock's success if you need it anyway.
Reasons For The Procedure
Ladies, you need this procedure for many reasons. It's going to correct irregular and fast heartbeats. It'll even fix your heartbeat if it's both fast and irregular! Ladies, you will get this procedure if your condition makes a stroke a very real possibility. You need to lower your risk as much as possible! If your symptoms are mild, you won't need this. The risks of the procedure aren't worth the benefits!
Most of the time, ladies, you get to schedule your procedure. You won't need to have it done right away! But if it's a serious case? Doctors do perform cardioversion in emergencies! This is when they'll jump straight to electrical cardioversion. They get immediate results with that type!
Preparing For The Procedure
First things first, ladies, schedule your procedure! Then, you can't drink or eat anything in the 8 hours leading up to it. The only exception? If you still need to take meds, then you can have just enough water to swallow your pills, but no more than that. Check with your doctor first, though, because some meds interfere with cardioversion! Your doctor will also need to screen you for blood clots in your heart first. You don't want this procedure to dislodge them, because that causes serious complications! If you have clots, ladies, take your prescribed blood thinner or other blood clot medication to get rid of them. Your procedure is going to be put off until your clots are gone.
How It Works
Ladies, chemical cardioversion is simple. You'll turn up and be hooked up to an IV. The doctor is going to give you the meds you need through this IV, and you should see success after that! Some ladies will get their medication as oral pills. Your doctor will discuss this choice with you!
Electrical cardioversion is a bit different. When you get to the hospital, you'll still be hooked up to an IV. However, this is for your sedative, ladies! A nurse is also going to attach you to a machine with electrodes on your chest. This machine records your heart rhythm. Once that's done, your doctor and the machine can calibrate the electric shock you need to correct your rhythm. The great thing is, the whole procedure only takes a few minutes. And once the sedative wears off, you can go home!
Associated Risks
Ladies, this procedure is a simple one with a low-risk rating. But there are still some risks! You'll be checked for blood clots because of how they react with this procedure. Ladies, it can dislodge your blood clots and let them circulate to other areas in your body. This isn't good, because you'll face complications like a clot in your lungs, stroke, and a heart attack! The complication you deal with depends on where your clot goes. The good news is that doctors don't do this procedure when you have a clot if they can help it! They'll make you take meds for blood clots first.
There's also a risk of new issues with your heart rhythm, ladies. However, there's some good news here. Not only is this risk very low, but doctors also catch this new problem often before you wake up from your procedure when it's the electrical type! Unfortunately, there's still a risk of some skin irritation and burning from the electrodes, but doctors treat this too.