Heart Palpitations/shortness of breath

[Liora]

Has anyone experienced this during their twin pregnancy. I was told to go to the ER last week due to severe heart palpitations accompanied by shortness of breath/dizziness. After enduring a bunch of horrible tests I was told it was just a "normal" effect of the increased blood volume and that I'd "get used to it."

I don't know. These aren't heart flutters but like long heart pauses followed by rapid heatbeats that take your breath away. I'm happy to hear that they aren't dangerous but they really put me out of commission physically. Pair that with the constant vomitting and I'm pretty useless right now.

If you had these symptoms what is your experience?

[dbsam]

I had something similar starting around 10wks. I cannot remember how may weeks/months it lasted (not longer than two months). In my case, they were panic attacks. (I was going though a very difficult time.) I was dizzy, felt like I couldn't breath and that my heart was going to jump outside of my chest.

I hope you do not need to go through this for long.

[Dena]

I had this happen all the way through my pg. It did taper off as I got bigger, but the first few times scared the bejeeses out of me. My dr. said as long as it wasn't happening more than a certain percentage of the time (I can't remember what now) it was ok. My bp actually was good throughout my pg, and I never had any signs of heart problems, and it completely disappeared after I delivered.

((hugs)) twin pgs are a challenge, but worth every minute!

[Llyra]

I had this happen with all my pregnancies. FWIW, it's worst in the first half of the pregnancy, for me-- in the second half, and especially in the third trimester, it seemed to ease up a alot. I think though that I was also much less active in the second half, so maybe I noticed it less.

If you're worried, I would encourage you to see a cardiologist at an office visit. It was very reassuring for me-- the doc was able to send me home with a little monitor to track my heart for 24 hours, and then I went back and we looked at it on a computer, to see the patterns- was the average rate within normal limits? What activities seemed to trigger the symptoms? What times of day? She spent more time with me than ER docs typically do, and helped me to worry less about it.

[starbuckmom]

I had that and SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) which is a high heart rate. The palpitations are worse if my upper back is out. I go see my chiro, she adjusts my back and the palpitations go away.

Yes, this is totally normal for a multiple pregnancy. No one told me about till I was in the ER with my SVT the first time. I wish my OB would have said something.

[rachel65655]

I had this problem later in my pregnancy when my belly was getting bigger. The increased weight of my belly was pulling on my chest and making it harder to breath and subsequently my heart would race and I would get kinda weird feeling.

I started wearing a heavy duty back brace (like the kind that carpenters wear with the suspender straps) and I didn't have any more probs.