Hyperventilation in Pregnancy

Took a bit of a turn on the train yesterday morning - was standing and very cramped. I started to feel faint, my vision went blurry and couldn't seem to fill my lungs. Got off the train at my destination and got some fresh air which helped with the faint feeling but still couldn't catch my breath. Made it to work around 09:00 and sat giving my body a chance to cool off. By 11:30 I'd had enough and called the antenatal section who told me to go straight to A&E so the could check on me (some mention of a possible clot in the lung). Had a bit of a cry while they tried to get my pulse and oxygen saturation checked (which actually helped a little!) - was getting really exhausted and frustrated trying to describe my symptoms without gasping after every few words.

Diagnosis: second trimester pregnancy! I looked at him blankly. With everything being 'rearranged' inside me, I was told it was very common, but 'not to make a habit of it'. :rolleyes: Was told all was good, apart from my blood oxygen saturation was too high (100%, was told it should be around 92%) and sent home to rest. Was pleased it was nothing more serious. In those three hours, I wasn't too bad just felt like I could breathe better than I was, just as long as I wasn't talking or standing.

In haste in leaving I forgot to ask if there would be many repercussions on baby in those three hours? Does anyone here know?

Oh baby is fine. I wouldn't worry about that at all. It is an adjustment and as things grow and push it can get uncomfortable. Hopefully it was a one time thing.

Sitting down and a glass of water can do wonders!

Huge (((Hugs)))!! Baby is fine, those things happen in every pregnancy! I found that those type of symptoms were worst in the 4-5 month gestation just where you are and then it gets better. you're making a lot more blood volume than normal and it creates strange symptoms.

I did that a few times in my second pregnancy. I had a tendency to panic about it, instead of calm myself down, so I had to work really hard when they came on to sit down, get a drink, deeply breathe, close my eyes, etc. Apparently, even though no one really mentions it, it's not uncommon in the second trimester (mine were all between weeks 16 and 21). Oh, and baby is fine. They are not feeling what you are feeling. You were still getting oxygen, just had to work harder for it. Baby was getting what you weren't. My son is healthy as a horse and too smart for his own good ;)

Bunny, it must've been scary! Glad you're fine now though. I remember being worried when I was poorly at 12 weeks-ish with ds1. I was told rather bluntly by a midwife that babies are like parasites, they always take what they need from you & leave you with the leftovers! It left me with quite a strange image of pregnancy but I guess she was right in a rather unsavoury way! :)

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Thanks all - funnily enough I hadn't started to panic (surprises me thinking about it now). I think I was going through a mental list of to-do's and try-this-next's. I'm asthmatic so I know what it's like not to be able to breathe and have had many years of managing to control my breathing when it happened. This felt nothing like asthma whatsoever. This time round the slow, controlled lungs full of air that would work for me had no effect whatsoever. The consultant said I should have gone the other way - I had too much oxygen so had to slow breathing right down. Really surprised it took 3 hours of quiet sitting at my desk to realise it wasn't going to resolve. Only a bit of a cry seemed to fix it, which makes sense!

Yeah, I've heard the 'parasite' thing used several times as a teen and thought it was a horrible way of putting it (or 'host' - I like that one even less, sounds like you have an alien in there!). Definitely makes sense the more you look into conception and the number of changes your body needs to make to keep the pregnancy going, though. It's obvious given the size of baby at the end, but images of what happens to your innards by the end of pregnancy when they're all squashed under your ribs really brings it home and looks a little scary!

weeks 16-21 is also when I had pregnancy induced tachycardia!! the books all say you feel better at that point but that was when I always felt the worst.