beta-blockers and pregnancy?????????

Posted By lisa on November 04, 1998 at 00:25:14:







i am 26 and i am 4mo pregnant.  my ob sent me to a cardiologist for an irregular heartbeat.  i've always had isolated incidents of fluttering, shortness of breath, etc.  my doctor told me when i was a teen that i was probably hyperventilating.  it got worse when i was pregnant 6 years ago, but i wrote it off as anxiety induced hyperventilating.  today my ob was concerned because she could hear it and it has been very constant.  the cardoilogist wants me to start beta-blockers immediately.  i don't understand what my problem is.  all i know is that i have a murmur with palpitations aggrevated by the increased blood flow during pregnancy and that i have something else that he caught by hearing two clicks between my heartbeats.  do you know what this is and why i have it?  i've looked everywhere for a description of beta blockers and how they work, but i've found nothing that i understand.  can you describe something to me in an understandable analogy?  i go back in two days for an echo cardio gram.  please, excuse the spelling in this message.  thanks!!!!!  lisa