PreE Advice/Protein levels

Re: PreE Advice/Protein levels

• katekat8721 member

  May 2014

  I'm doing my 24 hr urine catch tomorrow and just had my blood work today
  
  My BP has been in the 130-140s/85-90s and my protein level was a +3 at today's NST. My blood work came back "ok" and now we're doing the 24 hour catch. I have major swelling (it's insane) but no headaches and no vision changes. I was diagnosed with mild pre-e last Thursday and I was just a +1 on protein then. Last Tuesday I was showing no protein, so pre-e really can change so suddenly.
  
  Definitely keep in close contact with your OB and have them monitor you like crazy. Good luck!
  

  
  

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• tcam2012 member

  May 2014

  Hi. I have mild pre-e. They found it when I went in to L&D to get our baby checked because she seemed to be moving less. She was just fine but my top number for my bp was ranging from 147 to 151. The only symptom I had was swelling but it seemed like normal pregnancy swelling at the time. I did the 24 hour urine & it was 325. I was on bed rest & it came down to 280 in less than a week. I have been on bed rest ever since (almost 10 weeks now) & my bp has stayed really stable to where most of my readings are normal. They've retested my blood a few times but I have not had to repeat the urine catch. Hope this helps!

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• brachysira member

  May 2014

  Those strips aren't particularly reliable because you can dilute out the protein.  A 24 hour catch is better, and even that isn't very good if you only do it once.  Office BP isn't that great either because you can vary depending on stress, time of day, position, etc..  You are close to the end, so I don't know if it's worth it, but I had a home monitor and took my BP 3x/day, and did 2 different 24 hour catches.  They never even decided if I had pre-e and my baby came early for what seemed to be unrelated reasons.  I often had +1 on the strips, but sometimes 0, and once +2.  With the 24 hour catch, I was once one point over the pre-e diagnosis level and once about 50 points under it.  I think headaches, blurry vision, etc. can be typical pregnancy issues, but if you have them due to high BP it is an emergency situation.  I would definitely discuss this with your OB and probably would get a home monitor, only about $30.

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• mschware member

  May 2014

  @tcam2012‌ I am glad they have been able to control yours by putting you on bed rest, that's great! Hope you continue to do well
  @brachysira‌ I had borrowed a friends BP monitor and used to take it 3 times a day as well, but the docs ended up telling me not to take it at home any more in case I'm just stressing myself out or doing it wrong. I know I'm not doing it wrong, but regardless I stopped taking it because it really was stressing me out. My numbers tend to fluctuate a lot, but are always somewhat elevated even when they do come down during relaxing. I haven't gotten the results back from the 24 hour yet, but I'm sure they will probably have me take it again in a couple of weeks too. Whenever I am at the doc, they take my BP 3 times throughout the visit and at least one of them is while laying on my left side. So the numbers they are getting are accurate, but they haven't decided what they want to do about it yet and it's making me nervous considering I am almost 36 weeks.
  Oh by the way, my blood work came back 'fine' they said. So that's a good sign so far!

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• mrsmcelhiney11 member

  June 2014

  Biggest concerns for Pre-E are the headaches right in the middle of your forehead that do not go away with a dose of 1000mg of tylenol and "floaters' which are black spots that come and go in your visual fields, the final big concern is right upper quadrant abdominal pain that continuously gets worse, not the pain of baby's foot in your rib, but a dull ache that continues to get more and more severe. Good luck to you ladies! And don't be afraid to call your OB, you don't want anything to happen to your or baby. 

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• mschware member

  June 2014

  Thank you ladies! Good luck to you on your tests as well! My 24 hour urine came back under 300. I didn't get the exact number because a nurse just called me back to tell me I was okay. But i am going to ask how close it was at my 36 week appt tomorrow. I have also been told to watch out for headaches and vision changes. I tend to have floaters a lot, especially when I get headaches. But i rarely ever get a headache that can't be calmed by tylenol, food, and caffeine. I don't have any blind spots in my peripherals, so i'm not too worried. They are going to continue watching me, and possibly testing my urine again in the next couple weeks, so i know that if pre-e does decide to develop, I will be under good care
  

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