Possible heart condition or flutters?

fftm9318

I'm putting this in it's own discussion because I really want to see advice separate and not have to weed through. 
So I had my 17 week check up and I told the doctor about the flutters I've been having. They like take my breath away and I get them a LOT. He said either they're normal and there's no cause for concern, or it could be a heart problem where my heart is being forced to work overtime (it was called TEP or TAP?). Im being referred to a different doctor for a second opinion and possible EKG. It didn't alarm me in the doctors office, more because he flusters me, until I started telling other people like my mom... Now I'm worried. Anyone have any experience with this condition or get the flutters frequently and everything is okay? 
They only last a second or two and then go away, they do kinda take my breath away, they happen frequently whether I'm sitting, standing, walking, laying down. I think it's more when my son is active that I feel them, but I just started to feel him so I can't always be sure. 
Advice? Feedback? 
Thanks in advance!

natalie115

I'm not sure what you mean by flutters. Like heart palpitations?

nlc8424

^WSS. This actually has been recently discussed in a symptoms thread by @DanyTargaryen who spoke with her OB and was referred to a cardiologist and what not. I would trust your doctor on this issue as it's pretty medical and it seems like you're getting appropriate referrals to make sure there's no serious underlying condition. Anyone else's experience on this may be entirely different than yours, so while it may reassure you, I'd follow through with your doctor on this.

fftm9318

@natalie115 yeah I think so. 

@nlc8424 there's so much in those threads in hard to root thru them. But believe me I am going to follow through on what my doctors say. I just would like to know what to expect. Like are these normal? who else gets them? And if it's the condition I'd like to know if I'll have to end up on meds or just monitored. Regardless I will do what my doctors say, I just have really really bad anxiety and I am off my meds during the pregnancy cuz it's not safe to take. So any sort of heads-up about it would help me reduce my anxiety which would be helpful. 

nlc8424

@fftm9318 but here's the thing, the answers that you want/need you'll only be able to get from a doctor. Other moms who have experienced this has absolutely no bearing on what it means for YOU. It doesn't sound normal to me, however, it may be fine or it may not. Literally no one on this board can tell you what the outcome is going to be. And I understand that it's a scary symptom and you suffer from anxiety and it might be worth having a conversation with your OB about starting medication if your anxiety is interfering with every day life. There are some circumstances where OBs are going to put your mental health as a priority knowing there's a calculated risk. 

DanyTargaryen

Thanks for the tag @nlc8424!

@fftm9318 - This is really long, but I am currently dealing with this. They started on a Monday night and I mentioned it to my OB that Thursday morning. It feels like my heart is skipping a beat and all week long it was happening roughly every 10 beats or so. It can be nothing, but could also be a sign of something going on so they wanted me checked out ASAP.

The day of my Thursday morning OB appointment I saw my primary in the afternoon for an EKG which showed the palpitations. In my case it is premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) so my ventricle was contracting for a heartbeat earlier than it was supposed to be basically causing extra heartbeats. The skipping a beat feeling I could feel was the time between the extra beat and my regular heart beat resuming.

Friday, the day after the EKG I had an echocardiogram to check the structure of my heart so a cardiologist could make sure there was nothing structurally wrong with it. I did have PVCs during the echo so they were able to capture those during the procedure as well.

The following Wednesday I met with the cardiologist after he had a change to review the echo. They had me do another EKG which showed the PVCs as well as a couple PACs (basically the same thing but coming from the atrium instead of the ventricle). We discussed how I was feeling and he asked about a bunch of different symptoms, some of which could be attributed to pregnancy as well as heart issues so I mentioned everything even if it was minor and I was sure it was pregnancy related.

Between this discussion and the results from the echo (my heart is structurally good) it has been determined that as of now they are annoying but not currently a sign of something worse and we are taking a wait and see / keep an eye on things approach. Pregnancy itself can cause these due to the extra blood flow causing your heart to work harder and hormones so I was told they should go away on their own after delivery if they haven't already by then. I was told to watch out for feeling faint, shortness of breath, chest pain, or a racing pulse because they can be a sign that this is something more than just an annoyance. After over a week of feeling them every 10 beats or so, I have noticed they're happening less frequently (or it could be every 10 still and I'm just not feeling it all the time anymore) already so I'm hopeful I won't have to deal with them the whole time. But other than being able to feel them and having it feel weird, they have not impacted my pregnancy or day-to-day life at all.

It is very possible yours are also nothing, but I recommend getting checked out for peace of mind and to be sure from the experts that they are in fact nothing to worry about.

Side note - If I were not pregnant the cardiologist would have prescribed beta blockers because then these would be happening for no known reason, but they try to avoid medicating during pregnancy as risks to the baby are not well known.

MandyMost

I mentioned in a different thread that I went the the ER for chest pain, which was right after a bout of stomach virus. They were VERY concerned about  a pulmonary embolus (PE) which can be deadly. Some of the biggest questions/things they were concerned about was if I had heart palpitations and shortness of breath, which can accompany a PE. It sounds like your doc wasn't concerned about this in your case (maybe a PE is always accompanied with the pain?) but definitely get any heart issues checked out!  In my situation I passed ever test they gave me, and it was assumed that I had pulled a muscle by my sternum with the stomach bug; the pain went away within a couple days. 

natalie115

I have had infrequent heart palpitations in all of my pregnancies. It's good you're getting checked out. Fingers crossed that it's just a normal pregnancy symptom and not anything else.

Car0liiine

Glad to hear you will be following the recommendations of your providers but I totally understand wanting to hear if anyone has experienced similar. I don't have any personal experience but 2 women I know who have had cardiac issues during pregnancy. 
  One woman had shortness of breath and chest pressure/pain. Turned out to be pericardial effusion. She's had it with both pregnancies and is followed by a cardiologist throughout pregnancy to make sure it doesn't get too a point requiring intervention. It goes away within a few months after delivery.
  The other woman was experiencing heart palpitations after becoming severely dehydrated during a stomach bug. She was seen in the ER and her blood pressure was crazy low, heart rate crazy high and electrolytes were all out of whack. Quite a dangerous situation, but they have her several bags of IV fluids and she was fine in a couple of days.
  Doesn't sound like either of these are quite what you're going through, but just examples of how pregnancy can effect all the various organizations and systems of your body in various and sundry ways. Hope your follow ups go well, try not to be too anxious. It sounds like your doctor wasn't terribly alarmed but it's being thorough which is great.
(Also I went off my antidepressant during my first pregnancy at first but my OB and I quickly decided it was safer for me to stay on something. They actually doubled the dosage eventually. If you feel like you might need something, discuss the risks and benefits with your doctors.)