Medical Questions » Heart Questions » Question No. 497
| Question: | I heard a nurse in the hospital say that i had a ' tacky cardia' just before I was discharged. I didn' t get a chance to ask her if this was serious. Can you tell me? |
| Answer: | Doctors—and nurses—love using long technical words, but not just to confuse patients. It is easier to say ' tachycardia' than ' a faster than normal heart rate' . And tachycardia means nothing more than that, so that when you exercise, or even climb stairs, you develop a tachycardia because your heart beats faster at these times.
Anxiety and stress can also cause a tachycardia, and the excitement of going home from hospital may have been sufficient cause in your case. There are, of course, many diseases that can cause a rapid heart rate. Anyone with a fever will have tachycardia, and other conditions as varied as pain, thyroid disease, heart attacks and cancer may be the cause.
Many drugs can also be responsible, and the most common of these is alcohol, which can significantly increase your heart rate. By itself, tachycardia is meaningless, but if taken in context it can give doctors and nurses additional information about your condition. I am sure that if your tachycardia was significant, you would not have been allowed to leave hospital.
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