Terms: arrhythmia, PVCs, bigeminy, arterial fibrillation

[heartofwisdom]

The terminology is confusing. Are these terms synonymous?

arrhythmia, throwing PVCs, bigeminy, arterial fibrillation

Thank you

[va_tony]

PVCs, bigeminy and atrial fibrillation are types of arrhythmias.  They differ from each other in symptoms and seriousness.Just google each of these terms to find a discription of each.

Briefly, a PVC is a premature ventricular contraction or an early/extra beat.  These appear as missing beats in your pulse and palpitations in your chest.  They are benign if your heart is normal. Bigeminy is when you have a premature beat every other beat. It's also benign. Atrial fibrillation occurs when the upper chambers of the heart fibrillate or quiver. Your pulse rate increases (sometimes so high that you faint) and becomes highly irregular with palpitations. There is also increased risk of a stroke and so afib should be treated.

[SillyHeart]

They aren't synonymous.

Arrhythmia refers to any disruption in the heart's regular beating.

PVCs are premature ventricular contractions (the sensation of a skipped or extra heartbeat).  "Throwing" PVCs isn't a medical term.  It's a layman's term for having an episode of PVCs.  Bigeminy refers to two PVCs in a row.

Atrial fibrillation refers to a type of arrhythmia in which the beating of the atria becomes chaotic and very rapid.  It's the most common arrhythmia.

[Carey01]

If someone knows could you please tell me why some people have skipped beats here and there --sometines in the 1000's for their whole lives and never develop the ones that come in a row that can cause a serious issue --- waht are those called by the way?
Is that a situation where you have to have a reenty pathway or some physical reason that they would go into a group of like 20 or 30 in a row   and could cause passing out or worse.  I am still having trouble understanding that.

[heartofgld]

ventricular bigeminy is a PVC that occurs after a normal beat...normal,pvc,normal,pvc etc. PVC's that occur on

[heartofgld]

sorry, I submitted my comment mid sentence (oops) I meant to add that if you have 2 PVC's in a row that is refered to as a couplet. As for AFib, that is a common form of SVT as the other's described. THe only addition I could add is that you don't always have a rapid pulse, it all depends on the ventricular response....so you could be in afib with a heart rate of 50 but your pulse will feel very irregular.

[Carey01]

If someone knows could you please tell me why some people have skipped beats here and there --sometines in the 1000's for their whole lives and never develop the ones that come in a row that can cause a serious issue --- waht are those called by the way?
Is that a situation where you have to have a reenty pathway or some physical reason that they would go into a group of like 20 or 30 in a row and could cause passing out or worse. I am still having trouble understanding that.