Diagnosis - Ventricular Arrhythmias

This arrhythmia may occur in people with otherwise normal hearts, when it is usually benign. Importantly it is also seen in patients who have a weakened heart often secondary to a previous heart attack. In this setting ventricular tachycardia, or VT, is potentially very dangerous. It commonly presents with severe dizziness or blackouts, and may be life-threatening. Treatment often involves a special sort of pacemaker called a defibrillator. See treatments section, implantable defibrillator.

Hypertension
As many as one in three adults has high blood pressure, but because there are no symptoms, nearly many of these people don't know they have it. You can have it for many years without knowing anything about it. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney failure. The only way to tell if you have high blood pressure is to have your blood pressure checked.

If you have high blood pressure, your doctor will normally check your blood pressure over a period of a few weeks. You will receive advice about lifestyle changes that help with improving your blood pressure (for example, a healthy diet, reducing the amount of salt you add to your food, increasing exercise and reducing the amount of alcohol that you drink).

If these measures are not sufficient, your doctor would normally recommend tablets: there are many available and your doctor will discuss this with you. A combination of tablets is often recommended as this is more effective and allows smaller doses of each tablet to be given (and so fewer side effects).

Usually, there is no specific cause for high blood pressure; occasionally your doctor might recommend some tests to see if there are any causes that might need specific treatment.

Cholesterol
Too much cholesterol in the blood can lead to heart disease. The level of cholesterol in your blood can be reduced with both lifestyle changes and taking medication.

Lifestyle changes include changes in your diet (to one rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, high-fibre foods, lean meats and poultry, fish at least twice a week) and increasing activity (at least 30 minutes on most days).

For some people, lifestyle changes aren't enough to reach healthy cholesterol levels. In this case, your doctor might recommend medication. For many people with heart disease, your doctor is likely to want your cholesterol to be under very good control and so recommend medication, although the lifestyle measures remain very important.