“Dizziness”
The symptom of dizziness can be difficult to sort out. If by this someone means a feeling of faintness or lightheadedness, then the cause is likely to be related to the heart and circulation. If however the person means a sensation of the room turning round or unsteadiness, then the cause is likely to be a problem with the inner ear.
Blackouts
Blackouts can be caused either by the heart going too slowly, too fast, or the blood pressure dropping too low. In teenagers and younger people who blackout it is usually due to a faint caused by the blood pressure dropping too low often in response to a stimulus–a faint. However, there may be features of the blackout even in teenagers that point to a cardiac cause.
In middle-aged/older people, blackouts should not simply be put down to a faint –
Blackouts can be caused either by the heart going too slowly, too fast, or the blood pressure dropping too low. In teenagers and younger people who blackout it is usually due to a faint caused by the blood pressure dropping too low, often in response to a stimulus – a faint. However, there may be features of the blackout even in teenagers that point to a cardiac cause.
As we age the chance increases of a conduction problem in the transmission of the heartbeat from the clock (Sinon-atrial node) at the top of the heart to the main pumping chambers which keep us alive. The clock of the heart, the sinus node, beats 50-100 times per minute when we are at rest. The electrical wavefront passes from the sinus node across the atrium, across the atrioventricular node (junction box between the top and bottom of the heart), and down the bundles (special fast conducting tissue to spread the electrical impulse over the main pumping chambers quickly and uniformly).
Defects of these stages of cardiac conduction may need a pacemaker. To detect problems in cardiac conduction a prolonged recording of the heart beat is usually done-please see sections on Ambulatory ECG and Implantable Loop Recorder.
