Preeclampsia: symptoms and prevention

How does high blood pressure occur?

Your unborn child must be supplied with sufficient nutrients in your belly. This happens via the placenta and the umbilical cord. In order to guarantee an optimal supply of nutrients, your blood vessels dilate and you store more water and salts. This can lead to high blood pressure in pregnant women. A special form of high blood pressure is the so-called gestosis , formerly known as “pregnancy poisoning”. If your doctor finds protein in your urine in addition to high blood pressure during screening, you may have preeclampsia.

Symptoms of preeclampsia (and gestosis)

If the following symptoms occur, doctors speak of preeclampsia or EPH gestosis :

• Hypertension greater than 140/90 mm Hg
• Increased protein excretion in the urine

Other signs of preeclampsia can include the following symptoms:

• Water retention in arms and legs
• headache
• visual disturbances
• tinnitus
• stomach pain
• dizziness
• Shortness of breath during exertion

What are the dangers of preeclampsia?

If your blood pressure is high for a long time, it can damage the placenta’s blood vessels. As a result, your baby no longer receives sufficient nutrients and too little oxygen. This can lead to low birth weight and other problems for your baby. In the worst case, preeclampsia can turn into eclampsia. This clinical picture is life-threatening for you and your baby. If the illness is so serious that your and your child’s health is at massive risk, your doctor will suggest an immediate delivery. As a rule, your child will then be brought into the world as part of a caesarean section. If the child has not yet developed far enough, an attempt will be made to promote the development of the lungs sufficiently by administering cortisone,

What factors favor preeclampsia?

• If you already had high blood pressure before you became pregnant
• If you are under 18 or over 40
• If you are pregnant for the first time or expecting multiple births
• If your mother also suffered from this disease
• If you are overweight

prevent preeclampsia

Unfortunately, the core causes of preeclampsia are not known. As explained in more detail about the gestosis, there are different theories as to how these two clinical pictures could arise. You can therefore only treat the symptoms and prevent them:

• Pregnant women should above all avoid stress. Rest is important for the body. Therefore, you should take breaks more often, put your feet up and relax.
• Doctors and midwives advise pregnant women to make sure they eat a healthy and balanced diet . It should be high in protein and include lots of fruit and vegetables. Under no circumstances should pregnant women avoid salt. This practice, which used to be strongly propagated, is now rejected and even seen as counterproductive, because the body needs an adequate salt intake. Under no circumstances should you take measures to dehydrate the body. This can thicken the blood further, increasing high blood pressure even further.
• In addition, all check-ups should be carefully observed in order to have the values ​​checked regularly. This is particularly important for the risk groups mentioned above.