Heart Palpitations in Pregnancy

[Nightowly]

Has anyone suffered with heart palpitations in pregnancy?
I am having them more or less what feels like constantly, some days I won’t notice them much but others all the time and I’ve lay awake at night with my heart just flipping around and I can’t sleep.
I have SVT diagnosed about 4/5 years ago which is a form of tachycardia that happens in episodes although it hasn’t bothered me for a long time.
I’m frustrated as I had a 24hr heart monitor earlier this week but typically, whilst wearing it my palpitations were about 10% of what I have been experiencing most days so wouldn’t have picked up all that much I suspect.
Im worried they will say it’s fine because of that but I know that palpitations can be common in pregnancy, I just don’t know to what extent and if I should try for a monitor for a longer period of time or if it’s just something common that I need to put up with.
its really getting on my nerves, sometimes I feel out of breath from them.
Thanks all

Have you had blood tests for anaemia?

It's. Sign of anaemia in pregnancy

I’ve had all the routine bloods up until now (17 weeks), would they have picked it up on those?

I have SVT and have tachycardia, has the tachycardia been recorded at any midwife appointments etc? I was sent to cardio for a review and put on beta blockers which brought my heart rate down.

Sorry should have said I had tachycardia in pregnancy.

@AliceinSlumberland no nothings been picked up. I had a heart echo at the weekend and they commented they could see extra heartbeats on the monitor/machine thing and that hopefully my 24hr one would pick them up, but I’m pretty sure it won’t have picked up the worst of them :(

Sorry I meant they haven’t picked up any tachycardia

I have. I wear a smartwatch so I check whenever I feel it and it goes up to the 90s sometimes even hits 100.

At my checkup I mentioned it and the midwife said it was fairly common in pregnancy and that unless it gets worse it should be ok.

At my blood glucose test they did bloods and she said everything was OK except my iron levels were low and to take 200mg of ferrous sulphate daily. Ie. Iron tablets. I'm still taking the prenatal which contain iron but obviously not enough!

So I started taking those about 3 weeks ago. At the recent midwife appointment I had a different midwife and she also mentioned the blood test results and said I was borderline anaemic and to eat more steak and greens!

So I looked up symptoms for low iron and realised the palpitations were possibly connected. I have been taking the iron tablets for about 3 weeks now and I don't think I've had so many palpitations as before. They're much much less frequent.

I do sometimes feel the midwives can be a bit dismissive. Until something happens, everything seems to be a "common symptom" of pregnancy and to ring the helpline if it gets worse!

Hi OP, I am also pregnant and also have SVT. Sorry that you're going through this. It's my second pregnancy, the SVT made the first really hard to be honest, I had multiple hospital visits because I couldn't get it to go back into rhythm. The same is happening this time around but I'm finding that so far I can manage it a bit better. Basically your resting heart rate and blood volume increases during pregnancy which can make the affected pathways more vulnerable. I'm getting lots of ectopic beats but just trying to ignore them. There are medications that are safe in pregnancy that can help. Happy to answer any questions x

Hi @Winnipeggy I’m so sorry to hear you are having a hard time with your SVT in this pregnancy and your last one. Did you have to have adenosine with your first? I had a bad episode a while ago that I needed two doses to get back to rhythm but I have read it’s safe in pregnancy if needed.
Yes I’m getting tons of ectopic beats too it’s so frustrating and scary, I’ve never had it like this before.
I am glad you’re able to manage it a bit better this time and hope you have no hospital visits x

Yes I think I had 3 trips to a&e where I needed it, it was quite scary but baby was always fine. At the moment I'm doing modified valsava manoeuvres to get it back which is working well (when you blow hard into the syringe for about 20 secs and then someone holds you upside down - not practical at all I know) so hopefully that will keep working.

It can be really rough but try not to let it get you down in pregnancy. The hospital always saw me immediately and treated me really well so I was always well looked after and baby is nearly 2 now and absolutely fine.

I would speak to your gp because it might be worth going on meds (I'm on verapimil but you can also try flecainide) to keep it in check a bit. Hopefully you won't have it nearly as bad as me. I was told multiple times it doesn't hurt baby at all so that's the main thing I clung on to x

You need an FBC (full blood count - the purple topped tubes) to check for anaemia. Not sure if it's part of the standard suite of tests in pregnancy, I'm not a MW or GP, but it's a pretty bog standard test. It's worth asking your midwife or doctor at your next appointment whether you had one, what the results were and whether it's worth doing another set. Palpitations and shortness of breath are common signs of anaemia and anaemia is common in pregnancy.

I'm getting them a lot, I'm 25 weeks. Didn't get them at all with my daughter. It's horrible, I didn't realise it was associated with anaemia.

My RHR before pregnancy was 40, it's always been low- I used to get alerts from my Apple Watch saying it's too low at the beginning. Since being pregnant it's been around 60/70 but can get up to 130 from not doing an awful lot.