Drinking water during pregnancy and the heart

[cowgrlup]

I am 24 years old and in my 6th month of pregnancy.  I have had no problems thus far, everythings been going great until a few days ago I began having frequent palpitations.  They are not painful, mostly just annoying.  I have been treated and take a beta blocker every day for episodes of Paroxysmal Atrial Tachycardia, which I have had no episodes of thus far with the pregnancy.  These "flutters" seem to be worse at night and in the morning, I do have some anxiety issues that I've been dealing with lately and due to the fact I have two other small children that I am taking care of (a nephew and a stepson, this will be my first child), I have some stress also.  My question is, should I expect to have heart palpitations for the rest of the pregnancy b/c of the increase of blood volume?  Also, I have noticed that drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day helps a great deal with these palpitations.  I also can "hear" and feel my heart pounding in my head when I go from a sitting or lying to a standing position, this just started since I've been pregnant.  What does this mean?  ANy info will be greatly appreciated.  I have been under the care of my cardiologist during the pregnancy, just need some extra info.

[Libragirl]

Weird that you would have the same symptoms I'm having.  I'm 5 months and a few days along with my first child.  I'm having those weird little flutterings right about at the sternum (center bottom of ribs) and sometimes it gets pretty strong.  My ultrasound yesterday revealed that the amniotic fluid in the placenta was low and the tech said I was slightly dehydrated.  When I began to drink more water over the course of the next hour, she said it looked better.  I also did not have as many chest "flutterings" yesterday as in previous days.  Seems logical what you said about drinking more water, having less trouble.  Juices and pop often contain extra sodium which can help raise blood pressure, so even if you don't like drinking water (that would be me!) you should force yourself to drink just good old water.  Sometimes putting a little lemon in the water helps it go down, maybe even sugar if that helps.  That's what I'm going to try.  I've also had these flutterings in the past from anxiety disorders and I wonder now if I wasn't helping myself by not drinking enough water.

[cowgrlup]

Thanks...I can't ever get into the heart forum! Does anyone know a certain time of day that you can get a comment in????

[tnt406]

I am sorry to hear of your illness during pregnancy.I can't answer your question though on the heart related issues,I am not a doctor.There is a heart forum on this site though that does have a doctor on the site.You might be able to get your questions answered there good luck through the rest of your pregnancy,I hope you have a safe delivery and a healthy baby girl or boy.CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR BABY.TNT406