Pregnancy And High Blood Pressure

Pregnancy and high blood pressure occurs in around 5% of all pregnancies and covers a wide range of conditions that carries different implications and requires different types of management.

The classifications of hypertension during pregnancy are:

• Pre-existing essential hypertension
• Secondary hypertension
• Pregnancy-induced hypertension
• Pre-eclampsia
• Eclampsia

It is important to remember that pregnancy and high blood pressure affects the fetus as well as the mother.

Pre-existing Essential Hypertension

Pre-existing essential hypertension is also known as chronic high blood pressure and is present about the twentieth week of pregnancy.

This condition was not caused by the pregnancy but it is the first time being measured by the woman's doctor and exist in about 5% of young women of childbearing age and is usually mild.

But the same pre-existing essential hypertension exist in about 10% of women in their late thirties and early forties.

The World Health Organization states that this stage of high blood pressure, >140/90 mm Hg, does not appear to carry a bad prognosis for the mother or baby and its early treatment does not prevent the onset of pre-eclampsia.

If the pregnant woman's doctor have blood pressure measurements before the pregnancy and high blood pressure the prognosis for the mother and fetus is improved.

Secondary Hypertension

Secondary high blood pressure is uncommon and is usually found in younger women and is associated with a poor maternal and fetal outcome.

Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension

Usually develops after the twentieth week of pregnancy and is gone by the tenth day after delivery of the baby.

For this diagnosis to be made, high blood pressure readings must be documented to be normal both before and after pregnancy.

Pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is more common in women who are overweight.

If you have uncontrolled high blood pressure the chances of developing more complications during pregnancy, including preeclampsia, premature labor, reduced kidney function and poor fetal growth is possible.

Your doctor will test your blood and urine more regularly to make sure your kidneys are functioning well if you have high blood pressure and am pregnant.

The doctor will also run test to make sure the fetus is also developing properly.

But lets talk about Preeclampsia, also called toxemia.

Symptoms includes severe headaches, face swelling and blurred vision.

Preeclampsia, a condition of the second half of pregnancy, is high blood pressure, affecting women during their first pregnancy - leaking of protein into the urine and water retention in pregnancy.

Call your doctor.

If this condition is not treated, you can start experiencing seizures, not good, and these seizures are called eclampsia.

Women who developed pre-eclampsia during their first pregnancy have a 7.5% chance of it returning for their next pregnancy and should be monitored.

Anti-Hypertensive Therapy

Safe choices of anti-hypertensive therapy is available if you are pregnant and have high blood pressure.

If you experience pregnancy and high blood pressure and plan to take oral contraception, monitoring your blood pressure is essential.

Pregnancy And High Blood Pressure Experience

Are you pregnant and were diagnosed with high blood pressure, or, has since had your baby and would like to tell us your story on your pregnancy and high blood pressure?

Do you have a great story about this? Share it! It might help other women during their pregnancy.

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