Guide To Atrial Fibrillation Symptoms

Issues With Concentration

The mechanism behind how atrial fibrillation causes cognitive impairment like issues with concentration is complex. The upper chamber of the heart beats chaotically and out of sync with the rest of the heart, allowing blood to swirl and pool up inappropriately in the atria. This pooling of blood can allow for small blood clots to develop, which can enter circulation outside of the heart and cause complications.

Cognitive impairment occurs when one or more of these small clots become lodged in a blood vessel in the patient's brain, producing an obstruction in the affected area of the brain. The obstruction produces what is called a silent stroke, which occurs repeatedly and gradually damages the brain tissue. When the part of the brain that dictates an individual's focus and concentration is affected by this process, it can cause them to lose their ability to remain attentive to certain tasks and in certain situations.

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.