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High-Risk Pregnancy
MissyC979
member
Pre-eclampsia questions (a little long)
MissyC979
member
I seem to be headed in the direction of getting pre-eclampsia. At this point, I'm just under the threshold for proteins--they are 280 now after the 24-hour urine I did last week. My blood work came back normal. I did the 24-hour at 10 weeks so my doctor would have a baseline and it was 160 back then, so the proteins are definitely increasing.
My BP is hovering around 140/90 and it's gone as high as 160/110 a few weeks ago before I was put on Labatalol. My BP has been on the high side since around 10 weeks.
My OB said that thinks I'll probably have pre-E at some point since my levels are already so high. Has anyone else had an early urine test that was just under the pre-E levels, only to have it increase a few weeks later? Do you have any suggestions for things that I can do to try to hold it off as long as possible? The OB said I can work from home going forward and I'm allowed to leave the house for errands. However, I'm not supposed to be out for long periods of time and I can't do strenuous activities. I guess this is "modified" bed rest?
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Re: Pre-eclampsia questions (a little long)
I am sorry you are headed in the pre-e direction and I hope you can ward it off a lot longer. I had pre-e in my first pregnany and had my son at 27 weeks. They have watched me very closely during this pregnancy because of how sudden and severe I got it last time.
My early preg 24 hr UA showed 100 mg of protein. By 22 weeks I was at 220 and my BP was 140's/110 and they were worried that pre-e was right around the corner. I was put on bed rest. My bed rest was pretty strict, I was at home but for the most part - I was to be in bed or on the couch. I could fix quick meals, shower, etc... but I took my bed rest pretty seriously and for 11.5 weeks I kept pre-e away. I would do a 24 hr UA every 2 weeks and it held steady between 220-280 all the way to 33 weeks. At 33 weeks my BP spiked and my 24 hr urine went to 384. They put me in the hospital on bed rest and here I sit. Things have been progressing pretty slowly here in the hospital. My BP is actually great but hospital bed rest is for real... there is no getting out of the bed (just to use the restroom) or doing anything really so my pre-e has remained pretty stable.
So, if you are looking for ways to keep your pre-e at bay, I would say take your bed rest very seriously and I would keep your errands to a very minimum, if at all.... There are also several women on here that have actually seen there 24 hr UA go down too... so I think you are not in bad shape - especially since you are not dx with pre-e yet!!!!! Best of luck and keep us posted!!!!!!
Thanks for the responses. I'm going to continue to take it really easy and hope for the best. Hopefully the pre-E will keep holding out so this baby can keep cooking.
It's just such a scary thought to think that this might be around the corner for me. I really hope I can hold it off.
Take the bedrest recommendations to heart! When I was first diagnosed with Pre-E, I was sent home on modified bedrest. My protein was hovering at Pre-E levels, but my BP was high. When I got home, I didn't take it easy as I should have. I was back in the hospital 3 days later, and this time they didn't let me leave -- I was on hospital bedrest for 9 weeks! The good news is that once I was in the hospital, the bedrest did the trick. My protein levels barely increased over that 9 weeks, and my BP held steady -- and most importantly the baby did great! So rest up!
from everything i've heard, bed rest has 0 effect on protein, it only decreases blood pressure (decreased bp can decrease protein, but not always)
i'm probably different than most people on this board, but i have somewhat high bp (been spiking at 160/105, but usually 120/75 and my protein went from 283 (9 weeks) to 350 (19 weeks) to 400 (22 weeks) and the doc's aren't calling it pre-e yet. i can exercise as much as i want, as long as my bp doesn't stay high for hours at a time. so everyone is different, just bc your bp is high and you have protein doesn't 100% mean you have pre-e
have you been taking your bp at home? is it high then too?
Everyone is different and the effects of bed rest on pre-e are highly debated but as my doctor put it, it is either this or delivery and I would rather give bed rest a try. I happen to be a big believer in the merits of bed rest and wish I had the opportunity to do it with my DS. Bed rest is not easy and I have definitely aired my complaints - but I will sing it's praises as a method that will most likely keep my daughter out of the NICU - and get her to full term, when the cards were stacked against me.
The diagnostic criteria for preeclampsia, in addition to high blood pressure is proteinuria of 300 mg. Few physicians will classify the lower end of the proteeinuria spectrum as only suggestive pre-e, - but why risk that as there is abdunant evidence that shows how fast pre-e can progress to a serious, if not deadly disease. I am surprised by any doctors allowance or encouragment of exercise when you have these stats that are actually diagnositic of pre-e. In addition to permission for a BP to get high, as long as it does not remain that way for hours? I would think twice and question the level of care. I say this, not as a know it all and am probably coming across as judgemental but it is hard to live through severe pre-e without being effected and encouraged to keep this horrible disease away from others. I hope the best for you. Be careful!
I really appreciate your insight, I know my course of action isn't standard compared to what most people on this board do. I actually switched TO this current doctor because I didn't trust my other doctor. I know it's probably not the normal standard of care, but she is monitoring me regularly, and I am regularly monitoring my BP, and she's going to refer me to a combo mfm/internist who specializes in these type of things. Her main point (which I agree with) is that my bp and protein were high from week 7 (but normal bp pre-pregnancy) so the chance of it being high bc of pre-e is practically zero. she's actively on the lookout for change, but she says protein changing from 283 to 400 is not that significant, and my bp has been better the last couple weeks, so there is no reason to alter anything now.