High pulse rate, feeling faint, anxiety - is this normal?

[CentralLondonPregnant]

Hi all, FTM here, currently 28 weeks pregnant. I’ve been struggling a lot recently with a combination of anxiety, high pulse rate and feeling faint/ light-headed, and just wanted to check if it sounds normal / have others experienced this?

Most of the time my resting heart rate isn’t different to pre-pregnancy (high 60s), but I have days when it fluctuates and on those days I’ll have periods when it’s 100-120. This is typically when I’m doing normal activities like reading emails or eating meals, nothing strenuous. I’ve noticed those days seem to coincide with feeling more “hormonal” (i.e. emotional), and the high pulse rate does seem to be associated with feeling more anxious - but it’s really odd, because I would never normally feel anxious checking my emails in the morning or putting a presentation together (two recent examples). I’ve also had some episodes of actual stage fright when my heart has raced and I’ve been unable to talk properly. This has happened when I’ve needed to speak or present in meetings, and again, while prior to pregnancy I suppose I would have been a bit more “amped up” in those situations, now it seems to be amplified x100 to the extent that I’ve actually had to back out of presenting a few times and plead faintness. It’s been hugely embarrassing and bewildering as these aren’t situations that would normally phase me anything like this much.

I have low iron levels so am taking tablets, so I wondered if part of it might be waiting for those to kick in.

I mentioned it to my midwife the other week and she asked if I wanted to be referred for mental health support. I said no at the time as I felt as though it was down to hormones vs anything actually related to my mental health, and so I’m assuming it’ll go away after the birth. But then I thought I should check here to see what others thought - is this common and down to hormones? Or is this actually a mental health issue I’ve developed and should get help for? Im really curious to hear what you think! Thank you in advance x

Bumping in the hope someone else can relate! Thanks

Hiya, what you’re explaining sounds like palpitations. I have those and ectopic beats due to anxiety - I had anxiety previously but pregnancy has made it a million times worse. Also, I feel like when I have a fluctuation in hormones my heart and anxiety react for a week or so any then calm down again for a bit. I’m 35 weeks and have had ECG & heart monitor for 24 hours to check and I’ll be getting bloods to see how my thyroid is doing at the end of the week.

Iron definitely has an impact on the rate of your heart but if you’re taking your tablets then you’re doing what you can with that!

I have been preferred to the perinatal mental health team and they have been fab - my anxiety hasn’t gone anywhere but I feel more at ease about how my body reacts to it.

It’s rubbish but I’m hoping it goes away after birth! Xx

Thanks for responding @Sheisfee. I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a lot of anxiety too, but it does make me feel a bit better knowing I’m not the only one. I guess I was always a bit on the anxious side but never at a level where I felt like I needed help for it before. It’s good to hear that the perinatal health team has been so good! Also interesting to hear you had an ECG and are having your thyroid checked, I might ask about those at my appointment.

Hi OP
Anxiety can be so crippling especially during pregnancy.
I don’t see the harm in accepting help from the mental health team, especially as if you feel like this now those feelings may heighten in those early weeks after giving birth and having that support will help you through.
I never seemed help for anxiety during my first pregnancy, and when my DD was born I was still very anxious also.
I’m currently pregnant with my second and after explaining this to my midwife she thinks it would be beneficial for a referral this time round too. Xx

Thanks @Ineedacoffee21, that’s a really good point that it might continue or get worse after the birth, I hadn’t really thought of that. I’m leaning towards asking for support from the mental health team now.

Oh my god that's just like me! I'm 30 weeks and have had this too. I never mentioned it to my midwife as I'm not "consciously" anxious, when she asks me how I am I always say I'm great because I am, but do get these symptoms in work situations as well.
I WFH but have a lot of virtual calls daily and since getting pregnant whenever I have to speak I get bright red, have heart palpitations, and sometimes start struggling to breathe and my voice goes funny. Its so embarrassing! I thought maybe it was because I've not been to the office and had interactions with my colleagues for so long due to Covid that I've somehow lost all confidence, but it must be hormone related.

It was pretty constant through the first trimester, better in the second, and has now come back, usually for a few days at at a time, and then vanishes as quickly as it started.

Like you OP I was always a bit of a worrier but never any MH/anxiety issues before children. But when DS1 was born, my "baby blues" week was mainly anxiety ridden and it took me weeks and months to fully get over it.

Getting proactive help in case this happens sounds like a great idea actually I think I'll do that too!
Let us know how it goes and hope you feel better!

@CentralLondonPregnant - it’s ok, it reassures me that other people experience similar too. I also second what others have said about post partum care - after having my daughter I was a mess for many many months this was 10 years ago so I’ve come on a long way since then. Having the security of knowing that I’ll have immediate care for post partum anxiety helps as I’m not sure how my hormones will react! Xx

I would ask to have your thyroid levels checked. That’s exactly how I felt when I was going through a period of hyperthyroidism - and pregnancy can cause changes in your thyroid.

@Septaprilmummy Wow - that’s identical to me!! It’s actually such a relief to have someone else experience the same thing. Like you, I’ve found it really embarrassing. And yes, my face has gone really red at times too! It’s awful. I feel as though like you it was worse in the first trimester, and since then it comes and goes - some days I’m totally fine, and other days I fall to pieces just trying to speak in a normal meeting. Arrrgh!

Ok will definitely report back when I’ve spoken to the midwife and how I get on if I access the mental health services…

@CentralLondonPregnant yes it's such a relief to know someone else experiences the same!!
Last week I presented without an ounce of shakiness I was so pleased it had vanished! (Actually had colleagues reach out afterwards about my "great delivery" so I guess they have noticed it's not always been the case lately argh!...). Then yesterday I was on a completely unimportant call and could barely string a sentence together...
I actually have a big presentation this morning so we'll see how that goes!

For me it really helps though to realise it's just my hormones. I have in the past fallen in a trap of being anxious about getting anxious and then it becomes a bit more all encompassing. Now i tell myself it's a physical reaction to my hormones and there is not much I can do and like a PP said I feel more at ease with it so the episodes pass quicker too.

Interesting both iron and thyroid have been mentioned. I found out last week my iron is very very borderline and not taking tablets yet so theremay also be something to it.

When I saw the GP about the heart palpitations after DC1 was born she thought it may be my thyroid but test came back OK. The body is a funny thing!

Ok I’m going to see if I can speak to the midwife today rather than waiting until Friday. I thought it was better today and then as I was putting my makeup on this morning my heart rate went up to 130 and didn’t come back down properly for an hour. I had to cancel some meetings as I didn’t feel capable of contributing while my heart rate was so high. I just feel like this can’t be normal. @TuesdayRuby I’ll definitely ask about getting my thyroid levels checked!

@Septaprilmummy good luck with your presentation today! x

Sorry you're having one of those days, let us know how it goes. Stupid question but how do you check your heartrate? Do you have a fitbit or something like that? I'm interested to see what mine is in those moments, just know its going crazy as it feels like my heart is beating out of my chest!

I have a Withings watch. I would definitely recommend - it has tons of functionality including heart rate, sleep tracking, step tracker, notifications of calls / texts etc. It can even do an ECG, and it alerts you if it senses abnormal cardiac activity. If you’re doing a workout you can also set it to continuously show your heart rate so you can be sure it doesn’t go above 80% of your maximum. I love it.

Update - my GP checked my blood pressure, iron levels, inflammation levels, kidney function, liver function and thyroid function. All came back normal! So I guess like you @Septaprilmummy it’s just my hormones affecting me and fuelling anxiety. I think I’m definitely going to ask the midwife tomorrow for a referral to the mental health team and take it from there.

Weirdly I had an important presentation at work today and didn’t feel any more nervous than I normally would - no racing heart or anything! This is what is tricky, it seems to come and go for no reason!

Thanks all who posted for your help x

@CentralLondonPregnant - I’m the same. I had a weeks worth of constant palpitations and for the past 4 days nothing… I have gotten back on my pregnancy vitamins but that’s all that had changed. Very odd.

I had the same heart palpitations on and off and when I went for my midwife appointment a very high pulse rate. I ended up in hospital for a few hours to monitor my heart rate and the baby’s temporarily went up but then came down. Because this happened to me twice I had a 24 heart monitor on but I wasn’t even given any results from it and had to fit it myself. Not the case for everyone but I was told it’s likely to be pregnancy causing it after I was asked about caffeine intake etc. I also was on iron tablets so it could be that it’s pregnancy taking it’s toll on the body. I found rest was the best thing when feeling like that, take good care of yourself

Thanks all. I spoke to my independent midwife who recommended I ask my NHS midwife or GP for a referral for a specialist to investigate a bit further. Apparently there is a rare condition called superventricular tachycardia which can develop in pregnancy, and so she felt it was worth investigating in case. I’ll keep you posted so that others experiencing similar symptoms can benefit from what I discover!

I was just about to suggest SVT, my baby had it when I was pregnant. It’s incredibly rare that it’s dangerous so don’t worry, but it’s hard for them to catch if you arnt actually in SVT when they are doing the ecg. Hopefully they look into it quickly for you.

@JaffaRaf thank you - could you say more about your experience? Are there any consequences of SVT for the pregnancy and baby (or with giving birth)? What is the treatment or do they just monitor you? Thanks!

Hi all, wanted to post an update here in case it helps others. I decided against referring myself to the mental health team in the end - I went on two weeks’ holiday and thought I would see if that sorted the anxiety out first. Luckily it did and I have felt much more normal since. The heart rate and feeling faint have remained, but I worked out that my blood pressure is really low in the mornings, and that if I ate a big breakfast, blood was diverted to my digestive system, which was causing the faintness. It was also causing the increased heart rate in the mornings as my body was working to compensate for the low blood pressure. What has worked for me has been eating just a small amount first thing in the morning, then eating a bit more an hour or so later etc - basically spreading my breakfast out over the morning. That has made a big difference. Drinking lots of water first thing also seems to help.

I also came across this article in the guardian today ( www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/15/the-hidden-sense-shaping-your-wellbeing-interoception ) and it really helped to explain for me the stage fright I’ve been getting in meetings. Basically, we are all tuned into our body’s signals (including heart rate) and the way we interpret these impacts our emotional responses. E.g. our heart rate increases when we witness something disturbing, and this “tells” us to react with a strong emotion. During pregnancy, because of the increased volume of blood, my heart rate has typically increased much more than usual in response to exercise as well as stress. I think prior to pregnancy my heart rate probably increased a bit when I was due to give a presentation, but in pregnancy it’s naturally increased more, and so my mind essentially thinks “OMG my heart rate is really high - this must be a huge deal or my heart wouldn’t be doing this - time to panic!”. So now my hope is that if it happens again I can use this knowledge to try to calm myself down and remind myself that a high heart rate isn’t a sign of anything wrong. I’m also following a mindfulness course that I hope will help with this.