Guide To Atrial Fibrillation Symptoms

Anxiety

An individual with anxiety can develop atrial fibrillation as a complication of their disorder as a result of a few different mechanisms. Patients affected by anxiety have a hyperactive renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and an overstimulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which can cause them to develop fibrosis in the heart tissues. Fibrosis can interrupt the way the electrical signals responsible for producing the heartbeat and rhythm move through the heart, causing an arrhythmia such as atrial fibrillation. Anxiety is closely related to how well a patient's atrial fibrillation treatment works to alleviate their symptoms. An individual affected by anxiety and atrial fibrillation may not experience the same efficacy from their treatment as someone being treated for atrial fibrillation that is not affected by anxiety. Studies have proven patients affected by atrial fibrillation are more likely to be affected by anxiety than those who do not have this arrhythmia.

Learn more about the symptoms linked to atrial fibrillation now.