PVCs, tachycardia, fatigue, & 8 weeks PREGNANT

Ok, back in November, my father had his second heart attack...I drove to atlanta to be with him at the hospital and while I was there I started feelin kinda weak, and light headed and begin feelin pain in my chest and in my back...I just ignored it, and ruled it out to be anxiety because I have HORRIBLE anxiety and Im always assuming the worst and always think I have a serious medical condition.  But after I left and for the next week straigh, I would feel the chest pain...I went to the ER and they did an EKG, a chest xray and blood work.  All of it came back normal but the EKG showed a synus arythmia, which they said was no big deal.  My Dr prescribed me klonopins and said he thinks its just anxiety and I needed to be put on medicine.  After being assured I was not dying of heart disease my pain went away and I havent experienced that.  My doctor did order me to have a holter monitor and an echo done just to be safe since I have a family history of heart disease on my fathers side.  I had been symptom free until the holter monitor result showed I had 11% of all my heart beats were PVC's and they found that my heart rate would reach 120 just doing dishes and it reached 154 walking up 3 flights of stairs.  So they referred me to an electropsycologist to make sure my tachycardia is normal and not anything abnormal.  Since I had been told my holter monitor showed abnormalities I can feel my PVCs now and also notice the fast heart rate every once in a while.  I almost feel kinda shaky in the mornings and extremely tired and almost depressed.  I found out my husbnand and I are 8 weeks pregnant now and they have ordered another holter monitor for next week since i can feel all this daily now.  My echo was normal, my thyroid is normal and all my blood work that the OB and cardiologists ordered were all normal as well......Im so scared becasue Im pregnant and I feel like its hard to just be normal right now.  Ive had a hard time enjoying this miracle growing inside me bc of all the fear and anxiety from feeling all of this.  Has anyone experienced this??  I began noticing the symptoms and actually feeling them at about 3 weeks prego.......

[michellepetkus]

I don't know that what you are feeling is normal but it isn't a threat to your health overall.  The issues you are having are benign.  What type of heart disease does your father have?  If it is clogged arteries then that is a lifestyle issue more than anything else and though you may be predisposed to developing heart disease if your echo showed your heart is functioning well then so long as you maintain a healthy lifestyle you likely need not worry about any heart issues.  I would say try to make sue you stay well hydrated.  I am a small woman and a lot of women have a tendency towards a higher heart rate.  My heart rate can get to the levels you are having and to be honest it has always been that way so I don't really pay it much mind.  But a good way to help your heart function at optimal efficiency is to drink plenty of water.  Especially now that you are pregnant.  Also do try to work on finding stress and anxiety relief.  Stress and anxiety will for sure raise your heart rate and also bring on more ectopic beats.  So I would say focus on doing what you need to do to stay healthy for your baby and try to put your heart oddities out of your mind.  The important thing to remember is though you may not have a totally normal heart a lot of the extra flip flops and such are not at all harmful to the heart.  They just act up sometimes but your heart is very resilient and can handle a lot.  Obviously if things change or get worse see your doctor but as of now it sounds like your issues are more distracting than anything to really worry about.  Take care and best of luck with the baby.

[abc85]

When a woman is pregnant, her heart rate will actually be a little bit higher, especially later on in the pregnancy.  Being able to feel your PVCs is very common as well and some notice them more than others and then they become kind of hypervigilant about them.  It sounds like everything so far has been checked out to be ok so far so I would enjoy your time preparing for new baby.  Just annother FYI, it's not uncommon for pregnant women to experience SVT as well during their pregnancies.  Many are able to control the episodes on their own and if not there are medications to stop it that are safe during pregnancy.  Many of these women have never experienced any SVT before and never experience it again after pregnancy.  Make sure if you have any questions or concerns to discuss them with your doctors.  Congratulations on your pregnancy!

[HankeyPankey]

Thank you so much for your response michellepetkus!  That does put me at ease. Lately, I have not really noticed any of the symptoms like I had been, but my nausea from being pregnant has died down as well as im not as tired either...so maybe this has just increased because of my hormones.  My father as well as his mother have dealt with clogged arteries and have have bypass surgery at a young age.  My grandmothers began in her late 20's and my father had his first bypass at 34.  So, thats always in the back of my mind, but I have always been active and ate pretty healthy overall.   I did get a hold of my old medical records which showed I was diagnosed with pvc's back in 2005 when I had my wisdom teeth removed.  They also sent me to the hospital because of all the pvcs during the surgery and my heart rate stayed elevated at 120 an hour after the surgery.  Im not sure if this is something that Ive always had and I am just now starting to experience it.  I will take your advice and relax about it.  I had to reschedule my drs visit to get my most recent results from a holter monitor they had me wear last wednesday...so I was rescheduled for feb 11th....Im assuming they would have at least called me by now if there was any thing of immediate concern.  Thanks for responding and helping put my nerves at ease!  And thanks about the pregnacy, I have tried just relaxing and enjoying this time, I know its such a gift!

[HankeyPankey]

Thank you for your response!  That does make sense.  Maybe its just all because my hormones are going crazy.  Although, the first holter monitor was done before I conceived and that was the one that showed 11% pvcs and the rapid heart rate of 120 and 154.  Ive just noticed it more and feel the symptoms once I hit about 5 weeks....I have just started doing yoga and got back into walking every day for 30 min to help me and the baby, because back in Novemeber when all this began, I quit working out in fear my heart would do something crazy....so hopefully that might help as well.  Thank you for your response!  I really appreciate the feed back.