A pregnant woman’s body undergoes a lot of changes and it can be hard to tell what’s normal and what’s a red flag. One of the most common complication that occur during pregnancy is Pre-eclampsia. It is marked by high blood pressure and high level of protein in their urine. Preeclamptic women often also have swelling in the feet, legs, and hands. This can happen at any point after 20th week of pregnancy.
If undiagnosed, preeclampsia can develop into eclampsia. This is a serious condition in which a mother can experience convulsions, coma, and can even die. It’s important to remember that you might not notice any symptoms of preeclampsia. If you do develop symptoms of preeclampsia, it can include:
Mild preeclampsia: high blood pressure, water retention, and protein in the urine.
Severe preeclampsia: Persistent headaches, blurred vision, inability to tolerate bright light, fatigue, nausea/vomiting, urinating small amounts, pain in the upper right abdomen, shortness of breath, and tendency to bruise easily.
The most common symptom of preeclampsia is insufficient supply of blood to fetus which cause growth restriction
Causes of preeclampsia: The exact causes of preeclampsia and eclampsia is not yet identified by the experts. But some potential causes are being explored. These include:
- Genetic factors
- Blood vessel problems
- Autoimmune disorders
There are also risk factors that can increase your chances of developing preeclampsia which include first pregnancies, women whose mother or sister who had preeclampsia, obesity, women carrying multiple babies and for the ones having a history of diabetes, kidney disease, lupus, or rheumatoid arthritis.
If you’re diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, you should be admitted to the hospital so you can be monitored, depending on how severe your pre-eclampsia is. If the preeclampsia is severe enough delivery might be the only safe option to endanger the health of you or the fetus. Steroid injections or intravenous medications may be given to mother to quickly develop babys lungs
If you have mild preeclampsia and your baby has not reached full development, your doctor will probably recommend you do the following:
- Getting to bed rest
- Increase prenatal checkups
- Reducing your salt intake
- Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day
- Change your diet to include more protein.
Preeclampsia can be fatal for both mother and child if it’s left untreated. Other complications include; bleeding problems, breaking away of the placenta from the uterine wall and damage to the liver
During pregnancy, keep you and your baby as healthy as possible. But even with proper care, unavoidable conditions like preeclampsia can sometimes occur. Talk with your doctor about things you can do To reduce your risk of preeclampsia, consult your doctor regularly and talk about the warning signs. If necessary, they may refer you to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist for additional care.