Pregnancy induced PVC's

mrsthurlow08

Today I am 16 weeks and 4 days pregnant with my second baby. A few weeks ago I started having an odd sensation in my chest. It felt like my heart was skipping beats and "gushing" and I felt short of breath. It continued to get worse and one night I even debated on going to the ER because I was afraid that my heart was going to stop. I had my monthly OB appointment on the 13th and my doctor says that he thinks I am throwing PVC's (premature ventricular contractions) which is a type of arrhythmia of the heart that can happen to anyone, and is fairly common in pregnancy because of the demand of blood volume. I was taking progesterone also, and we were able to stop that, in hopes that it was causing the symptoms. I have been one week progesterone free and the symptoms have not stopped. My doctor ordered some cardiac tests, an echo of my heart and an EKG. I haven't heard the results, but that was only 5 days ago. Has anyone else experienced PVC's, pregnant or not? When I did research on them, it sounds EXACTLY like what I am feeling. It is very uncomfortable and scary! How did you manage them? HELP! 

Emilyfae

I read monitors at a hospital and every single patient I've seen (hundreds) throw PVCs. I hooked myself up and threw them. Don't worry unless you start having them in bigem (every 2 beats) or trigem (every 3 beats). These patterns may indicate a more serious condition. But as I said before, PVCs on occasion are harmless. Good luck!

iqwedding3

I've started throwing PVCs as well, every few seconds, my Cardiologist isn't concerned as long as they don't increase.  They can feel super weird though!

ArmyMedic7588

Hey, just taking a peek over here from the May14 board and thought I'd throw a comment in too. I had PVCs a few years back and still feel them every once in awhile. Turns out I was getting them because of anxiety, but my Dr and cardiologist wasn't worried much about them. As pp said before, only worry if you start feeling them every few beats, like WAY more often then just a few times. 

They do feel really weird though! I found that if I sat down and relaxed and tried some deep breathing (I know shortness of breath, but concentrate on breathing as much as possible) it helped me a lot. Hope you feel better soon and it resolves itself!

jmknox

Ditto what PPs said, I get them, it feels weird and makes me feel out of breath. But they are normal, everybody has them. Pre preg I would have 1-3 a minute when I would hook myself up to a 3 lead ECG. Try not to worry about them too much. Caffeine, stress and anxiety can increase the frequency.