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Lisbet
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I am 24 weeks along now, and in the past few days I have been experiencing tighness in my chest and slight shortness of breath. Sometimes heart palpatations accompany this. I have been suffering with severe allergies, which causes awful sneezing and coughing. It's all making me miserable. When the tighness is really bad, I also experience anxiety - kinda like flight or fright but I'm frozen...
It's weird, and I will be calling my midwife this morning, but do any of you have experience with this? Magneseium seems to be what I'm reading about. I have tried to allevieate my allergies with a neti pot, vit. C - but no change yet.
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
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Mary, 10
Sam, 9
Henry, 7
Molly, 6
Mark, 5
Greta, 3
Cecilia born 10.29.10
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LisaR
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I have an irregular hearbeat (murmer) that seems to get more pronounced when I am pregnant/sick due to the increased work my heart has to do to pump extra blood volume.
It would feel like my heart would jump or skip a beat, and then almost gallop to try and "catch up".
I will pray for you that you get some answers/relief.
love,
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
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Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Mackfam
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I did Lisa and it was quite frightening! It was attributed to my (hyper)thyroid problems. I'm praying for you this morning - this feeling is so unsettling!
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Jen Mackintosh
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TrixieJ
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I recently had episodes with heart palpitations. It seemed to only happen when I was still, not usually when I was working around the house. I did a little research on the internet (dangerous, I know  ) and I had all the symptoms of anxiety. I was under a lot of stress and didn't realize that it was manifesting itself physically. Just wanted to throw that out there to you. It's something to consider. You are in our prayers.
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JennGM
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| Posted: Oct 15 2008 at 9:39am | IP Logged
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Lisa, my heart irregularities are more pronounced in pregnancy, and that is par for the course according to the doctor. Definitely have the midwife check it out, though.
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joann10
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I actually fainted at 20 weeks when I was pregnant with my last. It was from heart skips and then a racing heartbeat-mine are also definitely more pronounced during pregnancy. After that I was on a heart monitor for a week, which documented several episodes, but which was all attributed to pregnancy and stress. Of course, stress is increased greatly during a skipping/racing episode, so these two things played on each other making it worse.
It is an awful feeling-my prayers will be with you.
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JodieLyn
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I've heard from several friends that the magnesium does wonders for thier heart irregularities. But you'll want to check how much you can have while pregnant.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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teachingmyown
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Lisa, I actually get this each pregnancy and it has been attributed to heartburn, or reflux, even though it doesn't exhibit the usual symptoms. Because of the presence of the baby, everything is pushed around and the pain tends to be higher up and have a tightening, dull pain effect rather than a burning effect.
Some pregnancies have been bad enough that I used prescription Pepcid, although I don't think it is prescription anymore. You might want to try it and see if that helps.
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JennGM
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teachingmyown wrote:
Lisa, I actually get this each pregnancy and it has been attributed to heartburn, or reflux, even though it doesn't exhibit the usual symptoms. Because of the presence of the baby, everything is pushed around and the pain tends to be higher up and have a tightening, dull pain effect rather than a burning effect.
Some pregnancies have been bad enough that I used prescription Pepcid, although I don't think it is prescription anymore. You might want to try it and see if that helps. |
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Molly, that's such a good point. I was going to come back and post the very thing. My first pregnancy I thought I was having a heart attack, but it was bad reflux. I took Zantac on the doctor's orders which helped.
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Kathryn UK
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Reflux can also cause or aggravate coughing. I had pregnancy induced asthma, but even once the asthma was under control I was still coughing to the point where I was referred to a pulmonary specialist. He put me onto prescription antacids, which solved the problem. It was something to do with overlap between the nerve endings in the oesophagus / diaphragm area.
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aussieannie
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Lisa, I had tightness in the chest and shortness of breath around the time you mention and I did a bit of an info search and read in a pregnancy book (I believe it was the 'What to Expect when Expecting) that in the second trimester your blog volumne must increase rapidly at this point and the blood vessels in the lungs expand (something like that, my memory is fuzzy) giving that feeling of shortness of breath.
Obviously not all women experience, it is a *possible* symptom around that time. I experienced it only in Annuncia's pregnancy (baby 6) the only difference I am aware of between her's and the rest, is that I had my first serious case of pluerisy and pneumonia after Michael's birth (baby 5) so maybe I have a slight weakness there now.
I know of two friends who experiences this shortness of breath pretty much through the whole pregnancy, it would be a very unpleasant thing!
Maybe the other symptoms are attributed to your anxiety from these main symptoms, I know I was frightened, it was unpleasant and I tend to think the worst with things especially in pregnancy.
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ALmom
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Lisa:
I had shortness of breath and tightness a bit around the time you are speaking of - and it was related to blood volume. Shortness of breath can be a sign of low iron and when I mentioned the shortness of breath along with tiredness, the midwife asked if I would mind doing a blood test for HCT just a tad earlier than usual. It turns out I was low on iron, but not so severe that we couldn't address it very easily with diet and a little more care in taking my pre-natals and not forgetting  . My iron levels came back up and the shortness of breath disappeared. I would certainly have it checked out, but not panic as there are plenty of non threatening things it could be.
Janet
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Lisbet
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Thank you all for the input. We are thinking it has to do with allergies and maybe a touch of asthma. Still working on figuring it out. I know it's not my iron as just 3 weeks ago my HCT was 12.5. (VERY good for me, I'm usually well below 10 at this stage) I've also read that it can just be attributed to increased blood volume and could subside after 32 weeks or so.
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
Mama to:
Nick, 17
Abby, 15
Gabe, 13
Isaac, 11
Mary, 10
Sam, 9
Henry, 7
Molly, 6
Mark, 5
Greta, 3
Cecilia born 10.29.10
Josephine born 6.11.12
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MarilynW
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Lisa - I have had this with a couple of pregnancies - I think it is due to the increased volume of blood and the baby pressing up against the diaphragm. I know for me I get relief once the baby drops about 31/32 weeks.
Prayers,
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gwendyt
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I second the acid reflux - I had exactly symptoms you had a several weeks ago and thought I was having a heart attack. Went through various testing, blood and other, and it turns out the GI doctor confirmed it was a mild case of GERD. He prescribed Nexium, which I decided not to take and just deal with it. It comes and goes now, more annoying than anything. He did attribute it to the number of pregnancies.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady of Good Remedy and Care
Topic: Tightness in Chest
