September is National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month.

A-fib is the most common form of an irregular heartbeat, affecting more than 37 million people worldwide.

Dr. Kevin Thomas, A cardiac electrophysiologist with Norton Heart and Vascular Institute, talked to us about some of the symptoms of AFib and what you can do about it.

More on that in tonight's look at medical news.

So atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm that originates from the upper chambers of the heart.

The upper chambers can go very fast and irregular and that can drive the bottom chamber to go fast and irregular as well.

It is the most common abnormal heart rhythm that we encounter.

It affects currently probably around somewhere between 4 to 6 million Americans, and that's expected to double by the year 2030 and triple by the year 2050.

We talk about the overall risk factors like getting older or carrying too much weight, having high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea.

But there are certain things that can trigger atrial fibrillation occurrences, even in the absence of those risk factors infections, surgical procedures, acute alcohol intoxication are things that can do that.

Other medications that patients may be taking for other disorders are the vast majority of people do have symptoms from it.

Those symptoms can range from palpitations, feeling of irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, dizziness, excess fatigue.

There are some patients who are completely asymptomatic, which sometimes make the diagnosis of A-fib more difficult.

You know, atrial fibrillation is not a life threatening condition.

However, it does have many consequences, the foremost of which is it increases the risk of having a stroke.

And so the primary treatment goal for atrial fibrillation is to reduce the stroke risk.

We do that primarily with medications which thin the blood and reduce the risk of stroke.

People who have atrial fibrillation are at a 5 to 6 times increased risk of stroke over the general population.

So while we will frequently treat people for the A-fib symptoms of medications and surgical procedures, stroke prevention remains our primary treatment goal.

As far as treatment of A-fib itself, that's guided primarily by how symptomatic the person is and other risk factors that they have.

In some patients who don't feel they're A-fib, they may just need certain medications to control their heart rate.

Most of our patients, though, who do feel the A-fib feel better in normal rhythm, and so their treatment for them is either a combination of medications to restore and keep them in normal rhythm and surgical procedures that are minimally invasive.

And if you are feeling any cardiac symptoms, symptoms like palpitation racing heartbeats, irregular beats, skip beats, please seek medical attention from your primary care provider, immediate care, or even the emergency room.

Even if it's not atrial fibrillation, your symptoms could represent another cardiac condition that might need evaluation and treatment.