high blood

neesa85

Hi

I had my 8week scan and my blood pressure is way high. Dr is very concerned.

Are any of you experiencing this and what are you doing to.keep it under control

thatcma

I am not pregnant but I can tell you from a medical stand point a big thing to do is in regards to your diet monitor how much sodium (salt) you have in your diet. Try to eat lower sodium things, and try not to add extra salt onto anything.

momof2buggs

Also, making sure you have an adequate amount of protein in your diet. In my experience, this has been the best defense. I wouldn't go by the normal recommendation. You need to make sure that you are eating 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight, minimum. If you don't eat much, it will seem like a daunting task to get that much in, but you can work up to that. Make sure that you're getting enough water, as well. Again, try to drink 1 oz per pound of body weight, and if you can get in a few miles of walking every week, do it. 

BelhurstBride

Why didn't you ask your doctor for suggestions? Considering he/she knows your health history he/she's in a better place to provide healthy (for you) suggestions. 

[Deleted User]

*not a doctor*

I had high blood pressure with my pregnancy starting around week 22. Because of my family history, I was put on medication for it right away and monitored very closely. PPs all had good advice, but we don't know your previous medical history or family history, so please have this conversation with your doctor! 

SaphireSweetie88

neesa85 said:

Hi

I had my 8week scan and my blood pressure is way high. Dr is very concerned.

Are any of you experiencing this and what are you doing to.keep it under control

@neesa85

Without knowing your medical history I would be leery of giving any advice or suggestions other than watch you salt (sodium) intake in general. Also, if your doctor is concerned, he / she should have given you a list of things to do.

mrszoess

i feel like one gram of protein per pound of body weight is excessive. i had hbp my entire pregnancy and my doctor never mentioned that. 

SnarkasaurusRex

1 gram of protein per pound of body weight is on the level of what is recommended to body builders to bulk up...that seems much higher than what the average person needs. Typically you need about 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight (I am a vegetarian and this is the advice that my nutritionist friend gave me).

I echo PPs who have said that this is a conversation you need to have with your doctor, especially since they have indicated their concern. Without knowing your medical history, we can't give you too much advice, even if we've been in the same high blood pressure boat. Good luck!

MrsCaliRN

Lower your sodium intake (Google "DASH diet"), try to incorporate some form of exercise everyday, lower your stress, and if you are overweight/obese, really try to observe the pregnancy weight gain guidelines and not gain anymore weight than that if you can help it. Also, be aware you technically have chronic hypertension (high blood pressure), not gestational hypertension, so these lifestyle changes should persist post-pregnancy with the addition of limiting alcohol consumption. Making these lifestyle modifications will reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke and may even reverse your hypertension altogether so you don't have to be on meds. 

In any case, I want to encourage you to ask questions at your medical visits and let you know that you are not alone!

JAM85

I would also not recommend 1g protein per BW unless you are don't weigh much at all and I'm a personal trainer. That is for people bulking and lifting very heavy in order to gain lean mass. Now of course it also depends on what you are doing and your current BW and .5g is also way too low. The "recommendation" or RDA is horrifying in low for men and women however all that aside I am not sure about the real correlation between that and blood pressure.

i eat healthy, don't eat out a lot, workout a lot (swim and crossfit) and eat .9g per BW protein with a resting HR of 59 and I still have borderline BP. It's in my family and unfortunately stress is a HUGE factor for me at least. I take magnesium in the form of a powder (Natural Calm) and that does actually have research that supports its link to lowering BP. You may want to ask about it. 

the last pregnancy I had to be on BP meds and it was maintained fine and I came off right after with no issues. We will see this time. But as others have said always ask your doctor first for recommendations