If a pregnant woman says she has high blood pressure with swollen legs/face, take her to hospital before she lose her baby and lose her life.
If a pregnant woman says she has high blood pressure and you also see she has swollen legs/face, take her to hospital. Why? Uncontrolled high blood pressure can make a pregnant woman have a seizure, go unconscious, lose her baby and lose her life. This is a medical condition called PRE-ECLAMPSIA. It happens in pregnant…
If a pregnant woman says she has high blood pressure and you also see she has swollen legs/face, take her to hospital.
Why? Uncontrolled high blood pressure can make a pregnant woman have a seizure, go unconscious, lose her baby and lose her life.
This is a medical condition called PRE-ECLAMPSIA. It happens in pregnant women usually after 5months.
They have high blood pressure and protein in urine. There may be no symptoms at all. That is why it is a very dangerous condition.
This is why they must go for antenatal care.But in some women with the condition, there may be symptoms like:
-swelling of the feet, ankles, face and hands caused by fluid retention (oedema)
-severe headache
-vision problems like blurred vision
-pain just below the ribs
All of these are signs of an impending eclampsia.
It is called ECLAMPSIA- if the pregnant woman has a seizure. This is a life threatening situation for both mother and child.
That child must be taken out of the mother to save her life.
Thankfully, with good monitoring, this is rare- but if it ever happens, the woman can die.
What causes Pre Eclampsia?
We don’t know the exact cause of pre-eclampsia, it’s thought to occur when there’s a problem with the placenta (the organ that links the baby’s blood supply to the mother’s)
We only know of certain things that can increase a woman’s risk of having it.
Things that can increase a woman’s risk are:
Diabetes,
Hypertension,
Kidney disease,
Obesity, (especially BMI more than 35)
Twin/Triplet pregnancy,
Being pregnant after 40years,
Taking a break of 10 years since your last pregnancy, And having family members with the condition.
The most important things to learn:
Register for antenatal care if you are pregnant. Make sure you get your blood pressure and urine checked.
Use your medications if prescribed.
If you start to get any of the symptoms I listed above, go to hospital ASAP.
Thanks for reading.
