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[P609]Pregnancy High Blood Pressure

by Saurabh Jain, Sau

Pregnancy high blood pressure is a common occurrence in early stages of pregnancy. However, women preparing for motherhood tend to get worried about this problem. In order to help your body to find relief from this symptom, you should be aware of the factors that cause this hypertension during pregnancy and what the techniques are to keep your blood pressure normal during pregnancy.

How To Prevent You And Your Baby From The Ill Effects

This problem is potent enough to affect your babys health along with yours. Hypertension and depression caused during pregnancy may affect the babys growth inside you and can also affect his health. To guard against the ill effects of this harmful high blood pressure symptom, you must discover the factors causing it to surface during the course of pregnancy. Women who never had this problem earlier when they were not pregnant may also be susceptible to this symptom. On the other hand, if the woman diagnosed to be pregnant had similar problems earlier before the phase of pregnancy, then it is possible she may be suffering a chronic hypertension problem. Pregnant women with this existing disorder find their condition deteriorating during the course of pregnancy and are found to be suffering from pre eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition where the patients body parts, especially hands and face get swollen. Pre-eclampsia is indicated by an increase in the quantity of high protein in urine. This is a severe threat to health and may result in blurring eye sight and headaches. Pregnant women with this symptom can be severely affected with even death being sometimes the outcome.

Another harmful effect of pre-eclampsia is an alteration of the placenta position. The placenta due to pre-eclampsia, can be separated from the uterus prior to delivery process and can also result in heavy bleeding, pushing both mothers and babys health into danger zone. The patient with pre-eclampsia may also succumb to coma. Pregnant women under 20 years of age or above 40 years of age are mostly likely vulnerable. At the same time, obese women too may be prone to this complication.

Women suffering from the diseases like hypertension, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, kidney related disease and scleroderma are mostly in danger of pregnancy high blood pressure symptom.

How To Prevent
Doctors study the intensity of the complication, prior to taking the expectant mother for delivery along with the age of the baby inside the womb. Women who have been under regular observation of doctors show lesser risks of being caught with this disorder during pregnancy. The mothers to be should limit consumption of salt and practice regular exercises to stay clear of this complication.

During pregnancy, a nutritious diet may reduce the risk of preeclampsia, which is the early stage of pregnancy-induced hypertension (high blood pressure). This condition causes concern for your physician because it can lead to eclampsia, the full-blown form of severe high blood pressure during pregnancy.

In some women, severe high blood pressure may develop after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Additional problems that may occur at the same time are proteinuria (protein lost through the kidneys), and edema, or swelling from water retention in the hands and feet. In the worst cases, eclampsia can cause fetal damage, or expecting mothers may experience convulsions and coma. Fortunately, this condition is rare, with preeclampsia and eclampsia affecting only 7 to 8% of pregnant women. Younger women, women experiencing their first pregnancy, and obese women are most at risk.

Researchers have been trying to find a diet that will reduce the risk of high blood pressure for pregnant women, but studies are still inconclusive. It has been suggested that a higher protein intake for the expecting mother may help, but this has not been proven. Also, a lower salt intake, which is effective among the general population for reducing hypertension, has not been shown to reduce the risk of eclampsia for pregnant women.

Fortunately, calcium and antioxidant supplements during pregnancy do show some promise in preventing these conditions among women at risk.

Calcium
One study included 48 women with a family history of preeclampsia who were experiencing their first pregnancies. Some of the women in the study received supplements containing 600 mg of calcium and 450 mg of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) during the 18th through 22nd weeks of pregnancy, and others received a placebo. The women who received the calcium and CLA supplements had a significant reduction in hypertension, and it is believed that these supplements may reduce the risk of pre- and full-blown eclampsia.

Antioxidants
Pregnancy is known to increase the need for antioxidants. When women lack antioxidants in their diet (vitamins C and E, zinc and selenium), the deficiency may worsen hypertension. Some women have low levels of these antioxidants due to poor eating habits, which is common among younger women and teens. Supplements of antioxidants may significantly reduce the risk of eclampsia, with vitamins C and E being considered the most important.

At this time it there is no fool-proof preventative measure to reduce the risk of pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, so good prenatal care is vital. Your doctor will monitor your blood pressure and do blood and urine tests. Be sure to ask your doctor which supplements she recommends for you. She may also recommend a good dietitian to make sure you eat right and maintain the most nutritious diet during your pregnancy.

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Both Saurabh Jain & Jonni Good are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Saurabh Jain has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pregnancy Problems, Pregnancy Problems and Debt Consolidation. is a very common. Saurabh Jain's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.

Jonni Good has sinced written about articles on various topics from Dieting, Gastric Bypass and Sleep Apnea. Jonni Good is the publisher of 1 Teen Pregnancy.com where she provides more information on pregnancy nutrition, the early symptoms of pregnancy, and common pregnancy questions from teens. Visit her website at. Jonni Good's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.