High Blood Pressure Questions

08summerbride

Hey ladies...I am 30 weeks along and my blood pressure has been somewhat high through out my pregnancy. Today at my Doctor's appointment it was 143 (can't remember the lower number) and my Doctor said she wanted to see me in 2 weeks and if it gets any higher we will have to talk medication and bed rest. So my questions are...

1) Is medication usually the first step and if that doesn't work it becomes bed rest, or do medication and bed rest happen simultaneously?

2) Any tips or pointers to giving my best effort at keeping my blood pressure from rising any further? Specific foods, exercise, etc?

Thanks!  

sleepyocean

I was taken off work and put on modified bed rest first... I continued to monitor my blood pressure twice a day at home and a nurse called each morning to get my numbers and make sure they weren't getting "too" high.  I probably should've been on full bed rest and on blood pressure medicine.  I was sent to Labor and Delivery at 29 weeks and my son was delivered by emergency c-section a few days later. 

I think if your BP is high enough to warrant one or the other you should probably be on both, but that is my opinion based on my experience.

For now rest when you can, drink plenty of water, don't eat fried foods or foods high in salt/sodium.  Try to find a way to relax/unwind stretching or prenatal yoga, keep stress low and get plenty of sleep.

moonrose2715

Try to get regular exercise, drink plenty of water and avoid high sodium, sweet and fatty foods.  These all should help bring it down.

I don't know that meds and bedrest go hand in hand, but it makes sense that they would follow closely together.

aocain02@yahoo.com

For me medication did the trick.  At my 13 week appointment I had high BP and was put on labetalol.  I remained on this throughout my entire pregnancy.  Towards the end my BP was creeping back up so my dosage was increased.

One thing about HBP and pregnancy is you want to limit your activity and not start exercising.  I was pretty much told to do nothing but walk and even then walking was one of those things I felt like begging for permission to do.  When I was freaking out about it, my OB said he wasn't going to make me change my diet or put me on bed rest (probably because it wasn't pre-e since I was so early on in my pregnancy).  It seems like bed rest is a popular option though.  

orthomom

Whether you do medication, bed rest, or both depends on when you are diagnosed (before 20 weeks or after), how high you BP is and doctor preference.  I have had gestational hypertension twice now. With my first pregnancy my BP was really high at 33 weeks (180/100) but came down without meds...only bed rest.  This time it went up at 32 weeks (150/100) and again came down with bed rest only.  When I am resting laying down or reclined my BP is in the 110-120/70-85 so if I was on BP meds my BP would be too low.  Also BP meds do have some potential negative effects on a growing fetus  (even the safe ones).  If you have high BP before 20 weeks it is considered chronic hypertension and almost all docs will put you on meds because it is safer and more reliable than bedrest. Some people who are diagnosed after 20 weeks are put on bedrest first but if it doesn't work they get meds too. Everyone is different so treatment is different depending on your circumstance.

I do agree that you want to limit exercise if you are not chronically hypertensive.  Gestational hypertension is a blood flow problem to your organs and the placenta. Exercise only increases your body's demand for blood flow...something you can't fulfill.  If you have chronic hypertension then exercise is good for it.  They are two different diseases!

mrs.jen&dave

i've been riding the line of hypertension since late january and have to monitor it at home 2x a day. it's been prettty good... sunday night i had 130/89. monday morning i had an ob appt and it was 170/120. i was sent to the hospital to be monitored. it came down, but not enough so they kept me overnight to start me on meds and do the 24 hr urine collect. the meds worked magic for me -- an hour after taking them it went from 171/91 to 120/68. so i have to take the pills twice a day and am basically on bedrest-- no more commuting in to work for me. if it keeps the little one brewing away, i'm all for it.

08summerbride

Thank you for the pointers and information. I have gestational diabetes, so I have been walking after meals, but it is not intense exercise so hopefully that is okay.  I will definitely monitor the salt and keep up my water drinking. Hopefully that will be enough to keep me off bed rest, at least for a while.  I don't mind a couple of weeks, but really don't want to have to be on it for 8 weeks which would be the full amount I have left after my next check up.