What is an Electrical Cardioversion

Cardioversion is a treatment for an abnormal heartbeat, such as atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. Treating abnormal heartbeats is important for several reasons. A fast heartbeat can increase your risk for chest pain (angina) and heart failure. Before the treatment, your doctor or other health care professional will give you medicine to help you relax. In cardioversion, a brief electric shock is given to the heart to reset its rhythm. The shock comes through adhesive patches applied to the outside of your chest. Cardioversion usually restores the heartbeat to normal.

After the procedure, you may have redness, like a sunburn, at the site of the patches. Do not drive until the day after a cardioversion. You can eat and drink within an hour of the cardioversion after you have recovered from the anesthesia.

Before or after the cardioversion procedure, your doctor may prescribe daily medicines to help your heart maintain normal rhythm and to prevent blood clots.

How can you care for yourself at home?

Take your medicines exactly as prescribed. Call your doctor or other health care professional if you think you are having a problem with your medicine. You may take some of the following medicines to slow your heart rate and help your heart keep a normal rhythm:

• Beta-blockers such as propranolol (Inderal), metoprolol (Lopressor), or carvedilol (Coreg).
• Calcium channel blockers such as diltiazem (Cardizem) or verapamil (Calan).
• Digoxin (Crystodigin, Lanoxin).
• Antiarrhythmic medicines such as amiodarone (Cordarone), propafenone (Rhythmol), sotalol (Betapace) or flecainide (Tambocor).

If your doctor or other health care professional has given you blood thinners such as warfarin (Coumadin), enoxaparin (Lovenox), or aspirin to prevent blood clots, be sure to:

• Take your medicine at the same time each day.
• Keep a steady intake of vitamin K–rich foods, such as broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, lettuce, and spinach. This will help blood thinners work evenly from day to day.
• Tell your dentist, pharmacist, and other health care professionals that you take blood thinners.
• Watch for unusual bruising or bleeding, such as blood in urine, maroon or black stools, or bleeding from the nose or gums.
• Get regular blood tests to check how fast your blood clots, if you are taking warfarin (Coumadin).
• Wear medical alert jewelry that says you take blood thinners. You can buy this at most drugstores.
• Do not take any vitamins, over-the-counter medicines, or herbal products without talking to your doctor or other health care professional first.
• Tell your doctors, dentist, pharmacist, and other health care professional if you take blood thinners such as warfarin (Coumadin). Many medicines interact badly with blood thinners.