Palpitations have got much worse over last two days - advice?

[Picante]

My heart doesn't seem to want to calm down - racing and thumping, even in my sleep a few times last night. I also woke with a headache this morning.

I've just rung the maternity ward and couldn't really get a straight answer from them - they said either wait til Tuesday to see GP or go to on-call doctor now. On-call doctor could well be a few hours' wait on a bank holiday.

Do I just need to chill? Are palpitations a sign of anything sinister? I'm 27+4.

The only time I've had them was when I was anaemic, so GP would be able to test this.

I had palpitations as well nearly all day for 2 weeks and it came out it was because I was anaemic, I started taking iron supplement, eating more red meat etc and now they have gone. I used to get really scared especially when I got them in the middle of thed night.

Thanks both of you - I have been googling and have most of the symptoms of being anaemic so will see GP on Tuesday and try to get hold of some iron supplements in the meantime!

Make sure you're not sleeping or spending too much time resting on your back. I think lying on your left side is better (someone will correct me if wrong) and see if that helps. Sometimes the feeling of palpitations during pregnancy is due to pressure in the wrong places i.e. being laid on your back.

However, if this is occuring all day everyday I would approach your midwife and ask her/him about it.