Shortness of breath - at end of first trimester...

[amcess721]

Originally Posted by nisha I am anemic and if I'm not taking iron, I feel exactly like you are describing. I take Floradix and have felt SO much better since I started! I was borderline anemic with my two previous pregnancies but the shortness of breath was NOTHING compared to this time!

I'm really wondering if that's what this is. It's back again now at 16 weeks. I've been getting enough water, and I'm taking my prenatals everyday. I have my 16w appt tomorrow and will ask for an iron level to be checked.

Funny if that is it though because I remember my level at my first appointment was 17.9... the midwife actually commented that I had "the iron level of a man". That was when I was drinking green smoothies with about 3 cups of spinach a day, but I can't handle that being pregnant anymore - the cold of the smoothie now that fall is here won't go down well, and that's a lot of liquid to get down at once.

[nisha]

Originally Posted by amcess721 I'm really wondering if that's what this is. It's back again now at 16 weeks. I've been getting enough water, and I'm taking my prenatals everyday. I have my 16w appt tomorrow and will ask for an iron level to be checked. Funny if that is it though because I remember my level at my first appointment was 17.9... the midwife actually commented that I had "the iron level of a man". That was when I was drinking green smoothies with about 3 cups of spinach a day, but I can't handle that being pregnant anymore - the cold of the smoothie now that fall is here won't go down well, and that's a lot of liquid to get down at once.

WOW 17.9!!! Mine was 10 to begin with and even with taking iron is down to 7.8 so I'm going to have to start getting WAY more aggressive with what I'm taking!

[amcess721]

Not anemic ... 15.9 at MW office yesterday. She said she can't do anything for me because she deals with "healthy pregnancies" and that I'd have to see my PCP or go to the ER. She kept pushing the ER route. I left there miserable - no help and she even suggested maybe I'm just overwhelmed and this is anxiety. She offered me zoloft. Not a fan of this MW yet. Was my first appt with her in the group. Walking into the office from my car left me winded, heart pounding, and BP up to 156/?? Of course, sitting for 20 minutes brought it back down to 112/?? and my o2sat (after I'd already sat and caught my breath) was perfect.

Got home... couldn't even stand in the kitchen long enough to make a simple dinner of grilled cheese - kept having to sit (2 different times) not being able to get a deep enough breath and feeling my heart pounding and feeling faint...also headache that just hangs on and doesn't go away. Decided to go to the ER to get checked out. I really didn't want to go because I don't feel it was a true emergency, but I went anyways.

Ended up being a waste of time and money They fast tracked me to rule out a pulmonary embolism (clot in lungs) - no CT scan, but they did everything else and all clear. They discharged me after 4 hours with a diagnosis of "pregnancy". No kidding. So frustrated. They kept coming in and saying, looks like you're doing fine.... well, yes - I am doing fine sitting here, but I can guarantee if you had me get up and walk a lap around the ER, I'd be winded/heart pounding/faint feeling... Nope, they just had me lay in the bed the whole time. My BP on arrival to the ER was 147/?? and I couldn't even talk to the receptionist about why I was there without stopping to try to take deep breaths in between every few words. Towards the end of my 4 hours there, they brought in a liter of fluid and left that wide open to go in quickly.

Left the ER at midnight with directions to rest and stay hydrated. They didn't say I *was* dehydrated, and I haven't felt that I am at all... drinking often and pee was very pale. However, arrived home and 1 hour after the liter of fluid ended - my hands were puffy with little sausage fingers.

This morning - same thing with my fingers, and headache continues...

*sigh*

[7 for now]

I would make an appt with a cardiologist. I had congenital heart disease and before needing my open heart surgery that is how I felt. It prob. is preg related but heart related also as there is such an increase in blood flow and the heart has to work much harder. My cardio says pregnancy is like running a marathon for a heart. It could not hurt to have it checked out and maybe have an echo done.

Sent from my iPhone using DS Forum

[amcess721]

Originally Posted by 7 for now I would make an appt with a cardiologist. I had congenital heart disease and before needing my open heart surgery that is how I felt. It prob. is preg related but heart related also as there is such an increase in blood flow and the heart has to work much harder. My cardio says pregnancy is like running a marathon for a heart. It could not hurt to have it checked out and maybe have an echo done. Sent from my iPhone using DS Forum

Just did that... they can't get me in until Wednesday, but it's a shorter wait than most places I suppose. My last "episode" of this business was a few weeks ago (when I started this thread) and it lasted 4 days then better. This has been 3 days this time so far... so I'm afraid by wed it'll be gone and I'll have no answers - and then when/if it happens again, I'll be back to square one with trying to be seen while it's happening. I wonder if they'll do a holter monitor since when I'm sitting perfectly still (like in the ER last night), it's not an issue.

My family has a very strong cardiac history. My dad started having heart blockages when he was in his early 40's... he now has more than 13 stents and has had 1 heart attack. He's not yet 60.

[Kiliki]

ok so here's my experience with this, as I am dealing with it too.

This is my 4th pregnancy and I remember having this issue with all of them, but this time seems a bit worse for me.

I have a heart murmur, and so that makes me out of breath and my heart pound in my head - sometimes it wakes me up from a sleep even. The pregnancy is added stress on my body and combined with the extra bloodflow, it makes my heart (which already doesn't do it's job 100% efficiently) strain even harder. Sometimes I go weeks without an episode, other times it really bothers me for weeks at a time. It just seems to come and go. There is nothing I can do about it, unless I want to go through a ton of tests and procedures and then I *might* be able to take some pills or something... but that just isn't my thing and it's just a bothersome side effect of the murmur, it's scary, but not life-threatening. Taking some cleansing breaths, changing positions, drinking some water, or taking a warm shower sometimes help, but not always.

I'm also anemic in pregnancy. I have to work HARD to keep my iron up.

And in addition to all of that, I have hypoglycemia (which is low blood sugar). It's easily controlled with eating TONS of protein. But if I miss eating protein at a meal, I'm left feeling really yucky, short of breath, dizzy, etc within an hour or so. When I say a LOT of protein, this is what I mean - I can't eat JUST a hard boiled egg with my salad. I need a hard boiled egg, a few oz of cheese, and strips of chicken on my salad.

I recommend you look into the Brewer pregnancy diet. A great number of pregnancy issues - from pre-eclampsia to gestational diabetes can be remedied or compeltely prevented using this diet. Essentially it is a high protein diet.