really bad heart palpitations

[sotough]

anyone else had this? i'm 24 weeks pregnant and my heart beat is all over the place today.
i've had palpitations (irregular heartbeat) before but never for a whole day, relentlessly. went to the dr this evening and she said to come back in the morning if it hasn't settled and i'll be sent to the antenatal unit at the local hospital and may have my heart rate monitored for 24hrs. baby appears fine (plenty of kicking/wriggling going on.) any shared experiences?

not personally but my friend had a similar experience and was kitted up with a mobile heart monitor unit for a day. Apparently her palpitations were stress related and she changed her hours at work so that she was travelling in off peak hours. 2 years later the baby and mother are fit and well. I'm sure someone else will come along soon with far more knowledge but hopefully it will all be fine.

I had this during my pregnancy, although perhaps not quite as severely as you. I was referred to a cardiologist and was monitored for 24 hours with a device I took home with me. I also had an echo to check the structure of my heart. It turned out I had PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) which are fairly normal and they said I probably have always had them, but you notice these things more when pregnant because of the increased blood flow.
PVCs feel a bit like your heart skips a beat and then you get a big extra strong beat as it resets itself. There are lots of other types of palpitations which may be more serious though, so it's worth getting checked out.

I also had this from from similar number of weeks. You have my sympathy.. It was awful and I felt like no one believed me!

Made me feel like i couldnt breath when it had a really bad attack.

I got referred to a consultant who more or less dimissed me saying.. "this is your first isnt it?" - not that being my first was relevant!

It got a bit better when I stopped working at 35wks and was literally doing nothing. And completely better after giving birth.

Definately get it checked out- it might be standard pregnancy stuff but you never know.

Good luck

Sotough, what does it feel like your heart is doing when it is all over the place? Is it racing, or thumping, or missing beats?

I have a history of heart palpitations, have had them on and off for years and they have been slightly worse while pregnant - as Mimsy says, the increased blood flow during pregnancy can make these things worse.

Most palpitations in young, healthy people are benign although you should still get them checked out - you should have the 24hr heart monitor / ECG, and possibly an echo to rule out structural heart disease. If this comes back normal it's very reassuring.

I still find mine scary even though I've had all the tests and been reassured that my heart is healthy, they are very unnerving. They won't hurt the baby though.

Hope you feel better and that all the tests come back normal for you.

thanks everyone. 2ndDestiny it's as if my heart is missing a beat, or at worst, two beats, and then jumping back to normal. i might have say, 15 normal beats, and then it skips one, and then thumps hard to re-set itself. It has been doing that all day and is still doing it tonight despite a quiet, relaxing evening. coupled with baby kicking and wriggling like mad i feel pretty strange!
i fully expected the heart rate to go back to normal as soon as the GP started listening to it but it happened almost straight away so at least she knew what i was on about.
i have had several incredibly stressful weeks at work and only in the last couple of days have i felt more relaxed, so I am wondering if it is a kind of 'throwback' to the stress i've been going through; like a kind of physical hangover.
heart problems run in our family though so probably no harm getting properly checked.