Contents:
- Medical Video: Understanding Early Pregnancy Loss
- Causes of heart palpitations during pregnancy
- When to see a doctor?
- Prevent heart from beating fast during pregnancy
- 1. Know the cause
- 2. Avoid consuming caffeine
- 3. Drink enough water
- 4. Don't torture yourself
Medical Video: Understanding Early Pregnancy Loss
If you are in pregnancy and your heart is beating faster than usual, there is no need to panic. Heart palpitations during pregnancy are caused by the blood supply that you carry more than usual. This blood is used to carry enough oxygen for your baby. This extra blood in your body can produce an increase in heart rate as much as 25 percent faster than normal.
A faster heartbeat or also called cardiac palpitations in pregnant women is usually normal and harmless. However, you still need to be vigilant because it is still possible that this indicates a more serious health condition.
Causes of heart palpitations during pregnancy
The main cause of heart palpitations during pregnancy is the addition of blood volume in the body. In the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting,Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel stated that the body of pregnant women contains almost 50 percent more blood than women who are not pregnant.
In the third trimester or the final months of pregnancy, about 20 percent of the blood in your body will be delivered to the uterus. This condition causes jyou have to work harder. You must increase the blood supply for babies in the womb to help them grow and develop.
This extra blood volume causes the heart to pump faster to move it. Your heart rate can increase by 10 to 20 extra beats per minute.
Apart from the increased blood volume of pregnant women, here are other causes of why your heart is beating fast.
- Excessive stress.
- Eating caffeine for example from coffee, tea, energy drinks, soft drinks, or chocolate.
- Medications for colds and allergies containing pseudoephedrine.
- The presence of heart problems such as pulmonary hypertension or coronary arteries.
- Heart damage from a previous pregnancy.
- Health problems such as thyroid.
Sometimes, recognizing heart problems during pregnancy tends to be more difficult. This is because the symptoms of a heart disorder can be similar to the symptoms of pregnancy, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and swelling in some parts of the body.
When to see a doctor?
Heart palpitations during pregnancy are generally harmless. However, if you experience other symptoms that accompany it, immediately consult a doctor to get a further medical explanation about your condition. Some of these symptoms include:
- Dizzy
- Dark views like wanting to faint, or really fainting
- Hard to breathe
- Pain and tightness in the chest, arms, or jaw
- Sweating more than usual
- The intensity of the debris is more frequent and more pronounced
- Feel dizzy
- Irregular pulse
- Coughing up blood
Prevent heart from beating fast during pregnancy
Because heart palpitations are caused by pregnancy itself, there is not much that can be done to prevent it. Relax, there are several ways that can be used to control it so that it doesn't get worse, namely:
1. Know the cause
If you feel that your heartbeat is only a certain moment after you eat or do something, then you certainly know what you have to do to prevent it from getting worse.
2. Avoid consuming caffeine
Caffeine is a compound that is not good for consumption by mothers and babies. So, the safest way is to avoid it. Make no mistake, caffeine is not only found in coffee. Tea and soda also contain these compounds. So, don't overdo it.
3. Drink enough water
Dehydration is a common cause of heart palpitations. For that, try to drink enough water while pregnant. If pregnancy symptoms such as difficult nausea make you drink in large quantities, try to consume them little by little. In addition, you can also eat fruits that contain lots of water such as melons and watermelons.
4. Don't torture yourself
Avoid the valsalva maneuver technique when you breathe, which is a breathing technique where you exhale strongly without letting air out, like you are trying to defecate. This procedure is sometimes recommended for palpitations. However, doing this during pregnancy puts you at risk of experiencing a surge in blood pressure, fainting or pelvic injury.
In essence, a heart that beats fast during pregnancy is not dangerous. However, if it is accompanied by other symptoms, immediately consult a doctor to get treatment. You need to be more sensitive to the signals your body gives you during pregnancy to avoid things that can endanger yourself and your baby.
