Pre-E "symptoms"

OregonPachey · November 2011

Hi ladies, after worrying most of the night I am hoping you can put my mind at ease.

At my doctor's appointment yesterday, my BP was elevated (for me). I usually run around 115/65 and it was high at 138/80. I also had some protein in my urine (the nurse didn't say if it was a trace amount or a worrisome amount) and my weight jumped dramatically. I have only gained 14 pounds up until now but my weight jumped 10 pounds between visits.

My doctor didn't say I should worry. But, he did say that at my next appointment if my BP was high again, we would talk. I have no idea what he meant by that and I feel foolish for not asking. He did say that if I experience any headaches, dizziness or swelling to call right away.

If you have pre-e, were/are your symptoms similar to this? Or am I worrying over nothing?

theprincessPAT · November 2011

From PAL - In my experience you are not worrying over nothing. I did not experience the headaches, dizziness, or pain in my stomach that are all symptoms of pre-e. I did gain a lot of weight (probably water weight as my kidneys were shutting down), I had major swelling, and my BP was through the roof when I was admitted (189/130). There were 6g of protein in my urine which is excessively high.

However, the docs did tell me that there was nothing I could have done to prevent the pre-e. I guess if you're going to get it there isn't much if anything you can do. So, don't worry that you did something wrong.

Monitor your BP and weight gain an drink lots of water. I hope that you don't get pre-e and everything is just fine.

kristenina · November 2011

It sounds like we are in a similar position. I wound up in L&D yesterday for the first time because I got a high BP reading at my dietician's office (I have regular dietician's appts for counseling for GD - also super fun). My BP usually rides a little high, but it's pretty much always consistent, right around 130/75. Sometimes lower, sometimes higher, but never much of a deviation. Yesterday it was at 156/92, so they sent me in.

They told me to look for the same things as you. I do have some swelling, but not too severe, and I'm tired, but these are kind of normal pregnancy things. It does seem like I'm retaining some water because I gained weight, but last week was Thanksgiving! It's hard to tell where the line is. They did a blood panel, and said my platelettes were fine and that they didn't see protein in my urine, so it's looking like it might be regular old pregnancy induced hypertension, as opposed to pre-eclampsia. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for both of us!

Junebug060609 · November 2011

OK, back from DS's appt (btw, the 2 month shots suuuuck).

My Pre-E presented pretty much like yours is. My normal BP is like 100/60, when pg it was 115/70. At my 34 week appt it jumped to 125/75. My weight hadn't jumped and I had trace protein. They had me do a blood panel that day, it came back fine. From then on they moved me to weekly appts (really was only a difference of one appt at 35w) and kept a close eye on it.

As you can see in my siggy, I ended up delivering in my 37th week. I went to my 37w appt and basically found out I had the Pre-E Trifecta: BP was 141/78 (140 is the threshold), I was spilling more protein than before AND I'd packed on 4 pounds in a week. I was transported (as by an ambulance w/o lights) from my docs office to the hospital and was induced immediately since I was term. Over the whole course of everything, my max BPs were 154 for the top number and 99 for the bottom number (that was a week pp...go figure). The mag was a PITA during and after delivery, hopefully you can avoid it. I was a lucky duck and had the elevated BP stick around post-delivery (they said its rare), so I got to stay in the hospital for 5 lovely days, got to follow that up with a shitton of docs appts to spot check my BP and then got to be on BP meds until my 6 week appt. I never once had the headaches, spotty vision, swelling (beyond normal late pg swelling) or upper quadrant pain they warned me about. Basically if they hadn't been monitoring my BP my only clue would've been my weight jump.

Reading what you wrote it sounds like you're on the same track I was. All three elements of the trifecta seem to be showing their ugly heads and in my eyes they should be yellow warning flags going off (as in so yellow they are kind of orangish...that BP is soooo close to Pre-Eclamptic). Your doc probably meant that you'd talk about the options at that point (close monitoring [think daily], hospitalization, delivery). Pre-E can be deadly, most docs won't fart around with it.

Give me a yell on PAL if you'd like.

OregonPachey · November 2011

Thanks ladies. I am honestly more worried than I was before! But if my doctor didn't seem overly concerned, I will try not to be either.

pixiexkp · November 2011

When I was pregnant with ds I had pre-e. I went to my 32 week appointment and my bp was higher than usual. The dr told me if I was 37 weeks I would be delivery as pre-e can come on fast. I went to the hospital for evaluation and I had some protein but not a lot. I went to dr appts 2 times a week from then on. Put on bedrest. Another visit to hospital. I only made it to 37 weeks because I started experiencing the symptoms. Headaches that wouldn't go away but they weren't severe. I would see spots just sitting down. My bp would be 140/90 sitting then really high after just walking to the bathroom. The day I had ds, I went to the hospital for evaluation and they decided to do a c-section before getting back the results. The next day the dr told me I had pre-e. My pressures were back to normal for 2 days then started rising again. I was put on bp meds for 2 weeks and now I'm fine. I had only gained 10 lbs until 32 weeks then I gained up to 30 lbs by 37 weeks so that was an indication of pre-e

damabo80 · November 2011

I had minor swelling for a few weeks. Nothing to write home about. My Bpwas slightly elevated, but whenever I laid on my side, it went back to normal. I didn't have any headaches. For me, I had liver pain. It got progressively worse over a few days. Two days later from the start of the liver pain, I had a 24 hour urine capture and my protein was over 600, my platelets were sky high, and my dr tells me my liver was about to literally explode. all of my urine and draws up to that point were clean.

Dd was delivered a few hours after my dr got the urine/blood results.

Junebug060609 · November 2011

OregonPachey:
Thanks ladies. I am honestly more worried than I was before! But if my doctor didn't seem overly concerned, I will try not to be either.

Didn't mean to make you worry. If you and your doctors stay on top of it, and it sounds like you're on the ball, you should be alright. Hopefully LO can cook as long as possible, but know you aren't alone if they don't get to stay in there the full 40 weeks. My delivery, heck even the month DS was born in, wasn't what I'd figured it would be...but I'd do it all over in a heartbeat for the little guy in my siggy

bekahr84 · December 2011

Had most of these with my last one. But went on bed rest and ended up delivering on my own at 37 weeks. As long as you and the dr's are keeping an eye on everything you'll be fine. Just make sure you are keeping an eye and let your dr know about any changes. Good luck!