High blood pressure Worries

[Misskylie]

Hello,

I'm a little concerned about the rise of my blood pressure, four weeks ago at 14 weeks I had my blood pressure taken and it was well within the normal range. (125/60)
Then two weeks later at a routine appointment my blood pressure was (140/70) 16 weeks.
My doctor was a little concerned about this rise and now I am being monitored every two weeks, my latest result was at 17.4 weeks (140/80) , this shows an increase in the low pressure , which is what is causing the most concern.
I have never had high blood pressure to my knowledge in the past and my lifestyle is very easy going and i have no great stress. I have also quit smoking this occurred 4 mths ago , when i found out that i was pregnant.
My question is ,other than the possibility of medication ,that i may have to go on, are there any other methods that i can use now to try and bring it down. I have heard that complete rest sometimes is used for this and mothers are admitted to hospital for long periods if the blood pressure is not brought down. I would like to avoid this any suggestions?

[Mum0809]

Hello,
When I was pregnant with ds I had high blood pressure when I went to the doctors. I was put on medication and only stayed on it 2 days, cause it sent my blood pressure so low I thought I was going to pass out and I ended up going up to the hospital to get bub checked cause he stopped kicking and moving. Everything was ok but I didn't take anymore medication.The doctor was worried so she sent a blood pressure monitor home with me for me to check it twice a day. 99.9% of the time my blood pressure was normal at home, but at the doctors it was always high. As long as it was normal at home she wasn't worried. I think I got stressed going to the doctors even if I didn't feel stressed. Would you be able to get a monitor off your doctor or rent one from the chemist, to check if it is high at home. Best of luck.

[chocolatecatty]

I had high bp during the last two weeks of pregnancy (so quite a different scenario than yours) and they started threatening induction, so I pretty much lay on my bed reading for a few days straight and it bought it back down. Hmmm, probably not helpful information at your point in pregnancy, but bed rest helped me ditch the high bp.

Good luck

[Misskylie]

Thanks for the reply HP

Well I've decided to hire a blood pressure monitor from my local chemist for a week and see how I go. Hopefully like you said its anxiety about going to the doctors, again thank you very much. I'll keep you updated

[Snacks]

Hi Misskylie, I think if it gets higher they will suggest you stay for a few hours so they can monitor you regularly over that time? I had a similar thing, though later on in my pg. Each time I stayed, they monitored me over the course of a couple of hours and both times it was within normal limits after an hour or so. I was never conscious of being anxious about going to see the middies, but I still had that white coat syndrome...
Hope all goes well for the rest of your pg and that your bp behaves itself.

[BellyBelly]

I have heard of bowen therapists treating pre-eclampsia... try giving that a go? You could probably try acupuncture too.

[paradise lost]

It could be white coat. I had white coat. I was VERY aware of being anxious and every time they took it it was higher as my panic rose throughout the pregnancy with all the talk of medication, induction and c-sections. Mine is higher now just typing this! I practiced relaxation and breathing techniques to remain calm while it was being taken and took a warm bath and ate chocolate before appointments (which can help bring BP down, but ONLY if it's anxiety-related, so you won't mask a real problem that way).

In the end i had a blissful homebirth, and the only "normal" BP reading i got in my entire pregnancy book was taken during a contraction about 40 minutes before i delivered. Go figure.

Best of luck

Bx

[sweetpea678]

if they are really worried they will watch you really closely and you will be put on meds and restricted activities, though 140/80 is not to bad they will worry if it get close to 100 more so.

[DiannaQ]

Go see a good naturopath - i had the same problem - became a high risk patient had to change hospitals and was under the close watch of the professor at my hospital - i invested some time and effort into seeing a naturopath - she mixed me a heap of concoctions and got the blood pressure under control - it was fine from that point on, the Renal professor was so impressed he got her details to pass onto other patients - my problem started at 17weeks - so pretty early also - I would highly recommend going down this path - Good Luck I know it can be daunting but you can get it under control - the earlier the better

[DiannaQ]

also thought I should add - if you're on the "plumper" side of things - you should ask for a Large Cuff when they take your blood pressure - it makes a huge difference in the reading