Pregnancy and Hypertension, Things You Need to Know

 

The relevancy and seriousness that this topic demands cannot be overstated. As pregnancy being one of the most complicated phases of women, the complications need to be well categorized in the most understandable forms. This blog will only and only deal with some important things you need to know about the hurdle of hypertension during pregnancy.

Preeclampsia, a potentially serious and in some cases fatal pregnancy complication related to hypertension, is reported to be 8-10 percent in Indian pregnant women. Also 7.8 are the percent of pregnant women who suffer from hypertension disorders in India. Now, as the statistical seriousness of the issue is also established, following are some important things to know about high blood pressure during pregnancy.

How normal hypertension is different from pregnancy induced one?

Pregnancy induced hypertension is the increase in blood pressure that is recorded freshly in a previously normal pregnant women. This hypertension is induced due to some specific changes in the body that a woman goes through during pregnancy. It is different from the normal hypertension in a way that the people who are susceptible to high blood pressure will develop it due to very different obvious reasons.

The hypertension in pregnant women is only seen as a complication in certain cases such as preeclampsia. A woman is recognized to have preeclampsia if two blood pressure readings, which should be resting blood pressure readings, show to be greater than or equal to 140/90 mm of hg after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The gap between two readings should be of the period of 5-6 hours and the significance of two readings is to avoid the reading of high BP due to nervousness. The other criterion for a woman to have preeclampsia is the presence of protein in her urine. So, a urine test is also taken. Thus, pregnancy induced hypertension is not always a complication and for it to be, certain other symptoms are always accompanied because in those complications vital organs such as kidney, liver or brain are involved.

Other than these complications, a woman can have high blood pressure situation which is not seen as a problem. One example of such heightening of blood pressure is Gestational hypertension.

What is the cause of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension?

The basic cause of pregnancy induced hypertension is still a mystery. There are only speculations of some conditions being related to the increase in risk of developing this hypertension. These conditions are as follows:

•         Kidneydisorders.
•        Pregnancy induced hypertension with previous pregnancy.
•      Being pregnant with more than one baby.
•      Diabetes.

How is Pregnancy Induced Hypertension dealt with?

The treatment for all four categories of pregnancy induced hypertension; chronic, preeclampsia-eclampsia, HELLP syndrome and gestational hypertension, start with evaluation of cause of hypertension and the symptoms and signs attached to it. The symptoms might be such as; sudden increase in weight gain, swelling in legs, diastolic notch, raised pulse etc.

Then, after evaluation, treatments are suggested in accordance with the patient’s condition and the treatments are such as:

•      Rest
•       Monitoring of fetus
•      Corticosteroids
•      Magnesium sulphate
•       Delivery

The present guidelines do not restrict the salt intake for the prevention of gestational hypertension or preeclampsia. In fact salt intake should not be high or even low otherwise would worsen the complications of pregnancy induced hypertension.