Schwarzenegger had a pacemaker installed at the recommendation of his medical team due to a heart condition. arrhythmiaalso known as arrhythmia.

Arrhythmia is when the heart beats too slowly, too fast, or has an irregular rhythm.

Schwarzenegger, 76, is known for his physique and fitness level, but he has struggled with heart problems for years. He admits on his own podcast that he has a congenital heart defect known as bicuspid aortic valve.

The heart’s normal aortic valve has three valves, or leaflets, but people with this disease have only two leaflets.

This condition led him to undergo aortic valve surgery in 1997.

“My mother and her mother’s leaflet valve killed them. I’m still here because of medical innovation and being passionate about staying in touch with doctors and listening to what they have to say. “Because I’m working on it. My mother refused to have valve replacement surgery,” he said.

The replacement valve was expected to last 12 to 15 years, but because of the quality of the surgery, it lasted more than 20 years, he explained on the podcast.

But in 2018 he finally had them replaced. The procedure was initially thought to be relatively non-invasive, but due to “mistakes” it was ultimately an open heart surgery.

In the end, I only replaced one of the valves. The second one was replaced in 2020.

The surgery was successful, but the team told him they needed to pay close attention to his heart rhythm and may need to have a pacemaker fitted.

“They advised me that it was time to stop this treatment because my heartbeat was irregular due to the scar tissue from my previous surgery. It was like that for a few years,” Schwarzenegger said. He spoke on the podcast.

Leading up to the surgery, he admitted he was struggling to maintain his energy levels during long days overseeing Arnold Sports events in Europe.

“That’s one of the things we learn about arrhythmias: When your heart does extra work, it gets tired,” he said.

A pacemaker is a small, battery-powered device that can supply an electrical charge to the heart if it detects an abnormality in the heart’s rhythm.

“Pacemakers are designed to prevent the heartbeat from becoming too slow. The job of a pacemaker is to monitor the heart’s rhythm and cause the heart to contract when the heart rate falls below a certain value that can be programmed into the device. “It sends out tiny electrical impulses to stimulate the brain,” Rod Passman, M.D., director of the Arrhythmia Research Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Healthline.

Pacemakers are most commonly used to treat abnormally slow heartbeats. bradycardia.

Previously, this device was bulky and required open-heart surgery, but it is now very discreet and can be implanted using a minimally invasive technique using small incisions.

In fact, Schwarzenegger said on the same day that he had been in and out of the hospital for surgery.

“The pacing has come a long way,” Passman said.

“Most people forget they have it. There is no sensation of the pacemaker itself, and the complication rate for the procedure itself is very low. This is a treatment that can improve quality of life and longevity. ” he said.

Abha Khandelwal, M.D., a clinical associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University, explained to Healthline that the heart needs sound structure, electricity, and plumbing, just like a house. All of these components can interact and function erratically.

In Schwarzenegger’s case, scar tissue from previous surgery affected the way electrical signals travel within his heart, resulting in abnormalities.

“If you have scar tissue, that can cause an ectopic rhythm. So, for example, if you have scar tissue in your ventricles, that’s what’s called ventricular ectopy, which means extra beats. “It can cause this,” she said.

Arrhythmias or heart rhythm abnormalities include tachycardia (fast heartbeat), bradycardia (slow heartbeat), and rapid or extra heartbeats (your heart may feel like it’s racing or skipping beats) , can appear in a variety of ways.

It’s unclear exactly what kind of abnormal heart rhythm Schwarzenegger is experiencing, but pacemakers are most commonly used to treat bradycardia.

The following symptoms may occur with bradycardia:

• Lightheadedness
• tired
• fainting spell
• shortness of breath

More serious complications of a slow heart rate include:

Arnold Schwarzenegger recently received a pacemaker at the Cleveland Clinic.

Schwarzenegger has lived his entire life with a congenital heart defect and has undergone multiple open-heart surgeries.

His medical team told him that the scar from the surgery was affecting his heart rhythm.

A pacemaker is a small, battery-powered device that helps control the heart’s rhythm by delivering small electrical impulses. These are usually used to treat bradycardia or abnormally slow heart rhythm.