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HI Ashley. I am glad you asked this post. I have been getting heart palpitations for awhile now since being pregnant and they are pretty scary! I asked my doctor about them and she told me it was my anxiety and tried to put me on zoloft...which I really didn't want to do while pregnant. I did try it, but it made me horrible ill after only about 6 days. I still get them (just got them a couple of hours ago!). I have kind of learned to expect them and as long as they don't last long I just try to ignore it.

Hi Dia, im glad you responded. I know they can become worse by anxiety and its a viscous cycle, but I think you made the right choice by not taking the zoloft any more while pregnant. I know your heart works harder while pregnant, but they are sooo scary. Feels like my heart is litterally flipping around in my chest for a second....

Ashley,I have them too, but I have never been diagnosed with it. I can just tell sometimes that my heart feels like it sped up for a few beats. I am a nurse too, in critical care, and i see them all the time on a monitor, but its scary when they happen to you! Mine does not happen often, or for any particular reason. But really I had this before I was pregnant from time to time. However the palpatations does not seem to be any worse than before pregnancy for me.

Hi Ashley, I'm so glad i found your post! I got them too, at least in my first trimester for sure - they scared the hell out of me too, especially because otherwise i'm really fit and healthy...They put the holter on me too for a day, which recorded some more of them, so then i had to in for a heart u/s, which was actually done by the heart specialist at the hospital...He said my heart looked perfectly normal - sure hope so after years of serious exercise and healthy eating! - and that he would actually expect a faster resting heart rate from someone at this stage in their pregnancy...In the end he concluded that my 'trachiarrhythmia" (sp?) must be of psychological origin, ie. anxiety...This made more sense to me as well, because i tend to worry about stuff quite a bit, i did especially in the beginning! So, I'm pretty sure you are the same, I don't even think about them anymore, I can't even feel them and they don't influence my life in any way...so my advice to you is try to not think about them, relax, and I'm sure you'll be fine!

Hi Ashley. I am a nurse also! I was dx with atrial flutter 2 years ago, but stopped taking medication last spring following a m/c. I have not had any symptoms until recently. I am 18.3 weeks now. My ob said if the palpitations were going to return, it would probably be in my second trimester. Low and behold, he was right. It is due to the increased blood production and dilation of blood vessels during pregnancy.

wow! glad to know I am not alone! I also had an echocardiogram and my heart too appeared healthy and normal. I was told mine had to be anxiety in orgin, but when I wake up out of a dead sleep from one, makes me think otherwise. One of my nursing instructors in school had said to look into wolfe-parkinsons-white syndrom, but so far I haven't because they can't do a whole lot while pregnant, and I didn't have insurance that covered very well then.

Hi Brooke, what were your ssx of atrial flutter? How did they dx it? Some times I wonder if in addition to PVC's and PAC's if I don't have something like that because now and again my heart speeds up, but it stops pretty quick so I never am able to catch it when at the drs. Its very frustrating. What med did they have you on for a-flutter? I was on effexor for a while for the anxiety attacks i would get from getting the palpatations. I think it was a nasty circle because they both caused each other. PVC-anxiety attack-more PVC's-more anxiety. The effexor seemed to work well, but the side effects I didn't like so eventually went off of it. I don't want to be taking anything while pregnant. sighhhhhh they seem to be getting more frequent and I hate them! I want to scream.

Em & TM thank you for your responses too!

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thank goodness i'm not alone! i suffered from anxiety problems for several years but never wanted to go on meds and i guess i worked through them on my own. but since i've been pregnant w/ my second baby, i've been having CRAZY heart palps, which of course only manifest through anxiety! i just tell myself that it's only a panic attack and wait for it to pa__s basically. i actually palpitated regularly for about 6 hours the other day (was 1st day back to a job i am miserable in after a month of being laid off) so i definitely contribute that reaction to panic!!! i have always refused meds, and esp. would never take any being preg. i'm 23 weeks now and they have definitely increased from 1st trimester to this one.

i dont know what it is. They say anxiety, but my anxiety never started until I started experiencing heart palps... sucks.

I get them too especially when I lie down it is like a flutter almost takes your breath away, I just started getting them agoan in my 2nd trimester am 15 1/2 weeks, used to have panic attacks but hae not had them in years. Is very scary

I was diagnosed with PVC's and PAC's about 3 years ago, and have been taking 25mg of Toprol XL daily to help control them, since finding out. The medicine helped quite a bit, I would only have them once in a while, more when I was anxious about something. When I first got pregnant, I noticed I started having them quite a bit again, but the farther along in this pregnancy I get, the less and less I have them. I have only had it happen a couple times in the last couple months actually. I am 31 weeks. My dr. said they will happen more often during pregnancy, so I didn't worry about it. They are annoying, but nothing to be alarmed about. I am still on the Toprol, my dr. said it's safe to take during pregnancy, so that is still helping keep them under control even though I am pregnant. My SIL took Toprol all throughout her pregnancy and her little boy is perfect as can be. I was very scared when I first found out the feeling I was feeling was a problem with my heart...but when my dr. explained that they can't lead to more serious problems like heart failure or heart attacks or anything like that, that they are just an annoyance, I accepted the fact that I get them and went on with my life. They are definately annoying though, no doubt about that! :o)

Heather have you talked to your doctor about it? I counted them the last few days and the ones that are really uncomfortable (almost take your breath away) were like 10-15 a day! Various times a day. I hate them. My husband says I should have a second opinion, but what can they do now.

val-thanks for your input.... I should ask about being on toporol. They tried way back when to put me on an anti-anxiety and I felt honestly that it helped, but they have slowly come back and they feel so un-natural. Its nice to have people to talk about it with though. Its nice to know that I am not alone. Thank you every one fory our responses.

Hi, I also have been worried about all the strange heart symptoms I seem to be getting. My pulse rate has gone up quite high, and I get fluttering feelings also in my chest. It feels like my heart speeds up and flutters around, and I get nervous its considering stoping.. Then it goes away. I didnt get this with my first pregnancy, but I also have indesgestion for the first time ever in this pregnancy, perhaps there is a corralation, any indigestion also with these symptoms with anyone else?