Pregnant with Heart Problems

I have this condition. I also have supraventricular tachychardia and long Qt syndrome. I have for about 15 years and I gotta tell you, with the meds I take I have no problems.
I have had two totally normal pregnancies and two normal births. It wasn't an issue for me other than more palpitations than usual. Are you on anything for it? I take Lopressor and clonidine, but I haven't used the clonidine in awhile. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you
have that I can.

You will have no problems! I have this condition too and I had to get off of my Toperol (sp?) while I was pregnant, so I wasn't on any medication at all. Well, what's strange is through my entire pregnancy AND labor and delivery, my heart rate and blood pressure went down. My heart seemed very slow (around 55 beats per minute) and my blood pressure was always around 116/60. WEIRD. I now just take a half of a Toperol every other day and I'm doing just fine. It's almost like my pregnancy corrected my problem. Now, everyone is different, so I'm not going to say this will happen to you, but this is not a life threatening condition and it shouldn't effect your baby. If you have any problems or concerns just keep in touch with your cardiologist and OB/GYN. You'll do great! Keep us posted! GOOD LUCK!

Hi, This is the same thing I had while i was pregnant with my last child.this is really not going to be a big problem for you you just have to remember that when you feel your heart beating to fast to stop whatever it is you are doing and take long deep breathes it will pass.after the baby was born my heartbeat went back to normal..good luck

Hi A. I am a cardiology rn and have been for 10 years. I hope your condition subsides alittle as the pregnancy goes on. I have not seen this that often. Did he do an echo to see how your heart functions? Why did he say you could not have pain killers during the delivery? Sorry Im not much help, but I was interested in why your cardiologist thinks it happens.

I would highly suggest you see a Midwife. She may be able to help give you ideas on how to stay relaxed and keep the palpatations down. I have Mitralvalve Prolapse that was diagnosed when I was newly preg with my 1st, and have lived with palpataions for YEARS now. I soon discovered that my midwife knew of ways to help me stay relaxed and focused, not only during the preg, but also during labor and delivery, that I was able to keep my heart from racing out of my chest....Also, join a prenatal yoga class or something similar. What I discovered was I just needed to teach myself how to relax and listen to in order to control my body...HTH

I do not know anything about this illness. Your best hope is to put this in the Lord's hands and he will heal you and give you another beautiful child. I am wondering why you think you cannot have any pain killers - especially during delivery. Just to ease your mind, I have terrible, terrible panic disorder (epilepsy)...I also have 2 hurniated discs in my back that really hurt. Although, I wiened myself off of xanax when I got pregnant, I never did quit taking my pain medication. I cut back,but I took darvocet the entire time. My Dr. precribed it and said that it was OK. After several opinions and reading a lot of "stuff", as long as the darvocet is not taken in large doses you can have them. There are some Dr.'s who won't prescribe though, but my 2 Dr's did...and I was high risk to begin with. NOW, I have a beautiful, smart 21 month old boy who is perfect. So, consider the possibility of knowing that maybe a pain killer can actually calm you down and ease any elevated heart rate. Do you feel nervous? If so, consider it. Again though, my best advise is give this to GOD.

My thought is that you will need to take the next serveral months slow and stay out of stressful situtations, i dont have the problem you have but i do understand that alot of women get that. You just need to watch all you do and take it easy.

Ask your DR. if you can take MAGOX. I took it during my whole pregnancy. (before and after and still taking it 2 1/2 years later) You can get it on-line if your DR.says you can take it don't buy generic. By the brand name MagOx 400. I took 1 in the morning and 1 at night. But be careful when you first start taking it. It makes you poop till your body gets use to it. Don't take anything or do anything unless your Dr. ok's it. and by the way I had an epidural also and there were no problems. The best advice I can give you is calm down and if you are able go for a walk everyday it really helps too.

I have this heart condition also. I had it before I got pregnant and still have it, I found out that it runs in my family. I was scared when I found out that I was pregnant because of the warnings of birth defects (small birth rates) on my medication bottle. I am on a low dose of Metatoporol XL which my doctors said was safe for the baby. I kept active (I drove busses until my sixth month) and my daughter was born healthy in September! I was able to have the epideral and had no side effects from that. I had the internal monitor on her during the delivery and it was a smooth delivery for me. My husbands aunt had this as well and was put on Atenolol with both of her pregnancies and their children are just fine! I hope everything goes well for you. The only thing I can tell you is to try to relax and not worry too much.

I have the exact same problem and my son is almost 3 months old now. I have not heard of anyone else with this problem, but I developed the problem about 5 years ago and have been on medication every since. When not pregnant I take Toprol XL which is a beta blocker that helps slow the heart rate. I had to where a heart monitor for a month & a half to determine what kind of medication I needed. Once I found out I was pregnant, my OB doc put me on a medication that acts as a beta blocker, but is not so that it would not affect my sons heart while pregnant. The generic name is Acebutolol and I think the nongeneric is Celexa or something like that. My heart was great on this medication and my sons heart was never affected. During labor, I did have to take the medication before delivery because my heart rate started to get very high and it did slow my sons heart rate a little but everything was perfectly fine, just gave me a scare when they took him with handing him to me. It did not do any damage and we where both good. I had a few other complication during labor and delivery that made them want to check him right away, not just the medication situation. Don't want to scare you, because the medication really did help while I was pregnant. You have more strain on you heart while prego and it helped a great deal.
Good luck with everything and let your OB know any meds that the cardiologist might suggest.
Sorry so long.