# Tachycardia Bradycardia Tachypnea



## CFRBryan347768 (May 14, 2008)

For those of you that have some time on your hands can you help me out and tell me where I am missing information and where i have somethign wrong...

Tachycardia-Rapid beating of the heart, more than 100bpm can be dangerous if no exercise or physical activity was going on because it changes the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the hemaglobin.
~What do the level changes harm?
~What causes Tachycardia?

Bradycardia-Resting heart rate of less than 60bpm. Can come from drug usage, thyroid problems, ischemic heart disease valvular heart disease.
~What else can it come from?

Tachypnea-Fast breathing
~What causes it?
~What are the dangers from it?


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## MSDeltaFlt (May 14, 2008)

CFRBryan347768 said:


> For those of you that have some time on your hands can you help me out and tell me where I am missing information and where i have somethign wrong...
> 
> Tachycardia-Rapid beating of the heart, more than 100bpm can be dangerous if no exercise or physical activity was going on because it changes the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the hemaglobin.
> ~What do the level changes harm?
> ...



Tachycardia - the faster the heart pumps blood through your body, the faster the blood goes through the area where is gets O2 and gets rid of CO2, the less time it has to get O2 and get rid of CO2.  Tachycardia also increases the O2 demand, meaning it requires more O2 than normal to keep going that fast; not unlike driving your car fast.  It burns too much gas.  O2 is the only energy source you do not strore.

Any number of things can cause tachycardia.  Fear, stress, sex, fever, infection, sex, exercise, anger, sex, anxiety, drugs, sex, medications, too much coffee, did I mention sex?

Bradycardia - Can also come from medications, even in therapeutic levels.  It's also a good sign in the healthy.

Tachypnea - Caused by hypoxia, hypercapnea, and just about everything else that causes tachycardia... including the forementioned sex.

Dangers include, but are not limited to: hyperventilation, hyperoxia, hypocapnea, cerebral ischemia, tingling face/hands/feet, decreased peripheral vision, headache.

Hope this helps.


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## tazman7 (May 14, 2008)

If I remember right somewhere in first semester of my medic class the teacher mentioned that president bush has a heart rate of like 45 or something because he runs so much, so just because a person is below 60 doesnt necessary mean something is wrong. Thats when you need to look at you pt and decide, sick or not sick?

And you should also look for signs of shock and consider any type of MOI that could cause tachycardia or tachypnea because the body is trying to compensate for...ie: internal bleeding...


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## ERnurse17 (May 19, 2008)

tachy or brady is going to decrease ur cardiac output thus not getting the required about of o2 to ur extramities and your important organs.


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## LucidResq (May 19, 2008)

I've been told that bradycardia in a child is a bad sign and can be a warning of imminent cardiac arrest. Most children arrest due to respiratory distress. 

Bradycardia can also be a sign of a malfunction with the cardiac electrical conduction system. For example, if the pacemaker of the heart, the sinoatrial (SA) node, is somehow defective the heart rate may slow. If the SA is essentially knocked out the atrioventricular (AV) node may take over, but part of its job is to slow down impulses to allow the atria to fully contract before the ventricles start to contract. So when the AV node takes over, it sets a junctional rhythm of 40-60 BPM which is slower than normal sinus rhythm but typically still adequate to maintain circulation. 

Damage to the AV node, called heart block, interferes with the ability of the ventricles to receive those pacing impulses. If the heart block is total the ventricles will beat at their intrinsic rate which is too slow to maintain adequate circulation. 

You mentioned that ischemia can cause bradycardia. This is indeed a common cause of heart blocks, because something like an MI can definitely cause damage to the nodes. Occasionally these problems are congenital. Often scarring will cause these electrical problems, which can result from an MI, infection, surgery or certain diseases. Drugs such as calcium-channel blockers and beta-blockers may lead to heart block and therefore bradycardia.


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## mikeylikesit (Jun 6, 2008)

MSDeltaFlt said:


> Tachycardia - the faster the heart pumps blood through your body, the faster the blood goes through the area where is gets O2 and gets rid of CO2, the less time it has to get O2 and get rid of CO2. Tachycardia also increases the O2 demand, meaning it requires more O2 than normal to keep going that fast; not unlike driving your car fast. It burns too much gas. O2 is the only energy source you do not strore.
> 
> Any number of things can cause tachycardia. Fear, stress, sex, fever, infection, sex, exercise, anger, sex, anxiety, drugs, sex, medications, too much coffee, did I mention sex?
> 
> ...


so what your saying is....sex is potentially dangerous to your health? uh-oh.


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