Pregnant with Palpitations

[raedirt]

Hi everyone,

I have been struggling with skipped beats for the last 3 weeks. I am also 17 weeks pregnant. I have struggled with health anxiety in the past, and was on Lexipro for about 6 months. While on the medication, almost all my symptoms when away. This helped to reassure me that my symptoms were caused by anxiety and not some undiagnosed heart disease. My husband and I decided that we wanted to try to have a child, so I began to ween myself off of the medication, and after a few months of being off the meds and a few more months of trying, our dream came true. We got pregnant, for the most part this pregnancy has been somewhat easy, and everything seemed fine...until now. For the last three weeks I have been having a pretty bad case of "skipped heartbeats" and breathlessness (both of which my doctor says are somewhat normal pregnancy symptoms), but its seems worse than before. They were the most terrifying part of my anxiety in the past and now they are driving me crazy.

But what really scares me is, I am worried about delivery and the health of my son. I don't know if this will harm me or my baby, so I wanted to know if there is anyone out there who has dealt with skipped beats during pregnancy. I just need a little reassurance.

[Redsoles]

Hi

I understand exactly how you're feeling. My skipped beats and fast heart rates started when I was pregnant, my daughter is 12 now. But it prompted many years of constant pulse checking and awareness of my heartbeat.

Your heart has to work that much harder when pregnant and it's completely normal to be more aware of your heartbeat. If your doctor has checked you out take reassurance from that and know that you'll be kept a close eye on while you're pregnant. Try not to worry, I know it's hard.

[raedirt]

Thanks so much for the reassurance. Yes, my doctors have been great. I just can't seem to shake the fear out of my head, which I know is just from my anxiety. It just helps to know that people have had the same issue and have gone on to have normal and healthy deliveries.