“What could be the reason for increased heart rate of my wife who is 5 months pregnant?”
My wife is 5 months pregnant and off late she is experiencing sudden spurs of increased heart rate when she does any work. There are also times when she has palpitations as a result of increased heart rate. What could be the reason for this?
4 Answers
It could be physiological, or she could be anemic. Her thyroid function and heart should be checked out.
Atrial fibrillation
Hi, during pregnancy the diaphragm may push near the heart causing palpations, it’s normal and maybe a female child. However, one must always consider a pregnancy induced cardiopathy, and I would recommend and echo and holter monitor, normally at this time of pregnancy it’s benign. Also, the age of the mother, and how many if any prior pregnancies, again most of the time it resolves with delivery. May also consider heart variably monte ring of the fetus, by your obgyn. Normally not an issue if above measures are considered.
Julia G. Ansari
Cardiologist
Pregnancy is a state with increased volume and change of your normal hemodynamics, the volume increases by 30-50% to provide blood flow for growing fetus. Heart rate also increases from baseline of 70 to 90 and sometimes causes minor irregularities. But if the heart rate is consistently over 140 bpm you need to see a cardiologist to assess for other arrhythmia such as afib.
