Hi Ladies,
I am due with my second son at the end of July. With my first pregnancy I was never diagnosed as pre-eclamptic but starting having very elevated blood pressures at about 36 weeks. This led to me being induced early. I am now 30 weeks and my blood pressure is starting to elevate yet again. I do not have protein in my urine, but my dr. went over the other symptoms of pre-eclampsia with me (swelling, headaches, vision change etc.). When I asked him what kind of headaches (as I have had headaches all throughout this pregnancy), he just said it was an intense headache that wouldn't go away. So I am looking for any moms with pre-eclampsia headaches experiences. What was your headache really like? Thanks in advance for any help.
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best,k
My blood pressure went up with my son right at the end of my pregnancy. They induced me and I had the baby, but the blood pressure stuck with me. They let me out of the hospital on high blood pressure medication, but apparently it wasn't enough.
I wasn't out of the hospital for 6 hours before I had a raging headache. It literally brought me to tears. I took Tylenol hoping it would go away, it did not.
High blood pressure headaches were described to me as "the worst headache you've ever had in your life" or migraine times 10 and they are right. It won't go away and it doesn't respond to most mild pain relievers.
When I got to the hospital my blood pressure was like 188/98 and they admitted me. I was there for 7 days while they worked on getting it under control.
Hope that helps a little.
My blood pressure went up with my second child. And I did get headaches. It took it to be from lack of sleep as I had a almost two year old at home. Also was doing work on the house. In the delivery room they discovered her cord wrapped around her neck. I would suggest getting an ultrasound to you to make sure this is not causing your high blood pressure and headaches. It can be very dangerous to the baby. Mine was what they call a blue baby and we almost lost her. My Mom had eight of us kids, two sets of twins. She said she had the swelling, headaches and high blood pressure while pregnant with her last two. They were both perfectly healthy babies.
I was never diagnosed with pre eclampsia but I had Pregnancy induced hypertension.. 150/100 starting at 28 week.. I was on high blood pressure pills from 28 weeks.. the pills worked great for me and kept the BP under control until the last week.. when it was up to 150/100
the headache is weird.. not a normal headache.. hurt in the back of my head... felt better if I laid down.. but if I sat up or walked around my headache came back.. tylenol did not help one bit.
I also saw black floaters in my eyes.. try to rest on the couch as much as you can..
I wouldn't worry too much about what your headaches are like as long as you are monitoring your blood pressure. Just like your doctor said, they can be a sympton, but really just checking it with the cuff is probably the best thing you can do to know if it is really elevated Hopefully you have a monitor at home and are monitoring your blood pressure a couple times a day. If you do get a headache you are worried about, maybe just check your blood pressure at that time. I had preeclampsia/HELLP syndrome with my first 2 pregnancies and so far in this 3rd, I am having no issues at all (but I do have headaches sometimes so I just continue to check my blood pressure when I am not sure). My high risk doctor did put me on calcium twice a day this time, no idea if that is the reason, but maybe look into trying that as well. Hopefully you are resting, monitoring your blood pressure and seeing your ObGyn at least once a week (where they check your protein in urine too). It is good that you had it so late last pregnancy, because chances are you will have it late again. It is great that you are already aware of your preeclampsia and your doctors will make sure you are just fine! Getting a monitor for home if you don't have one would probably help you to relax more too. Good luck!
