Irregular Heart Beat

EllenK11

I have been having heart palpitations most of my pregnancy. It feels like my heart starts racing and I get light headed.  I spoke with my dr and he said that is most likely the increase in blood volume and my heart is working harder to pump. I have also read about that.  Sometimes it would happen a few times a day others every few days.  Today it started this morning and has been going on most of the day.  I saw the nurse here at my office and she listened to my heart and said myheart rate and blood pressure are ok, but in the one minute she listened to my heart, she heard an irregular heart beat 4 differen times.  Now my dr wants me to see a cardiologist.  I feel awful today, light headed and nauseous also.  Has anyone else had to see a cardiologist and what did they say?
TIA!

meganjane86

I haven't seen the doctor about it, but I've been feeling the same things as you. Some days my heart will race for no reason and then other days I feel totally fine. I hope everything at your appointment goes well- keep us updated!

dsouth92

You'll get used to it. Ive had an irregular heartbeat/palpatations for about 5 years and I can only tell once in a while. I went to the cardiologist once but it wasnt acting up and I didnt get put on a 24hr monitor. But alot of women in my family have it and we pretty much just deal with it. Mine has gotten alot worse being pregnant but Im not really alarmed. Its not too big of a deal just weird really.

mlea

I have had something similar since around week 10.  I didn't see a cardiologist but my OB had me wear a Holter monitor for 48 hours and the report was read by a cardiologist. They were able to determine the the arrythmia I was experiencing was not harmful to me or the baby. They offered to put me on medication for my own peace of mind, but I felt better not risking the medication. I was told that it would get worse as the pregnancy progressed (it has already become more frequent), and that I may have to be medicated at some point. From my understanding these things are fairly common as the blood volume and heart's work load increase. It's good to get it looked at since some arrythmia's can cause complications. I hope everything turns out well for you, you'll be in my thoughts and prayers!

Dirtydozen13

I have had intermittent tachycardia (like yours) for the last 10 years.  I may only have 1-2 episodes a year, but during times of stress, it comes much more frequently.  Most of the time the tachycardia last 1-15 minutes, however, a few weeks ago I had an episode that lasted over an hour.  It happened when I was very stressed/upset.  I went to my doctor and they ran an EKG, which was normal.  They then made me go see a cardiologist.  The cardiologist performed an EKG and an echocardiogram- all normal.  He also ran bloodwork-thyorid panel and chemistry screen- normal.  Like mine, your tachycardia (racing heart) probably is worse because of the increased blood volume.  My cardiologist said it may just be anxiety/panic attacks, or I may have an extra pathway stemming from my atria, bypassing the AV node, and stimulating the ventricle (basically an extra pathway causing atrial fibrillation).  Too infrequent for medicine or halter monitoring to diagnose the problem further.  No other testing will be done until after the pregnancy, as the treatment for the extra pathway problem is ablation surgery.  Yours should be easy to diagnose via continuous halter monitoring, as you are having it every day.  I would try to decrease your stress- big time and don't drink/intake any caffeine, as those as the typical triggers.

 Keep us posted on what your cardiologist says!!  Take care