24 hour blood pressure monitoring. Can high blood pressure during pregnancy cause problems later on?

[Splandy]

Had an appointment today to check my blood pressure as the reading I handed in a few weeks ago was too high. The readings were still too high so they will attach a blood pressure monitor for 24 hours and get ore information. The nurse has reassured me that it will probably show that I’m fine but I’m a bit concerned.

Could blood pressure problems during pregnancy cause this later down the line? I had an eclamptic seizure with my first child and high blood pressure with my second. I was on medication for a short time after both, but it then went back to normal and I was told that it was only because of pregnancy so wouldn’t be an ongoing problem. I’m in my twenties, normal weight, don’t smoke, rarely drink and am generally fit and healthy. My youngest child is two so my blood pressure has been normal for quite a while. Anybody else had this?

I have slightly raised BP and am on a betablocker, I have had preclampsia twice and I was told years ago that that could give you an increased chance of high BP in the future.

my blood pressure is always on the high side but it's nothing to do with pregnancy. No life-style factors (drink/ smoke etc). I'm overweight now but my bp was just as high when I was extremely fit and completely scrawny. I had a 24 hr monitor a few months ago, but it's not (quite) high enough to medicate. I have to check again in 6 mos. Sometimes there isn't really a 'reason', it is what it is.
Out of interest, what are they counting as high enough to trigger 24hr monitor in your area? Mine was way higher than I expected...

Thanks for those replies. I feel a little calmer about it now, hopefully the monitoring will show all is normal. I do remember reading that I would be more at risk of developing high blood pressure after my first pregnancy now that you mention it. Perhaps some people are prone to it.

I didn't think my readings were that bad. The lowest was around 130something over 84. She was mainly focusing on my bottom number, said the top one was fine. I'm not sure why they reacted so urgently, my GP does seem to be fairly on the ball with things. I've had a look online and seen a few articles mentioning that normal-high blood pressure is a significant factor in heart problems later down the line so perhaps they're thinking of that.

They usually do 24hr monitor to rule out white coat syndrome and generally speaking, your bp would have to be over an average of 140/90 over the 24hr period to be medicated. (That is the bench line for my GP). As this is the average (it's calculated when the data is downloaded from the 24hr monitor) it is not impossible to have some readings which are over (sometimes well over) this figure, as long as there are corresponding lows... (for example, my reading at the surgery was 161/99 - my gp rolled his eyes at me - and while there were some higher readings in my 24hr monitor data, there were also much lower readings)

I'm likely to be medicated at some point, as it's fairly ordinary for bp to creep up with age and weight, and my mum has been on blood pressure meds since she was 32. That was nearly forty years ago lol. So I just figure there isn't a great deal I can do about it. I don't have any lifestyle factors I can change except losing a stone, but the gp was ambivalent.

Yes, she mentioned white coat syndrome to me, said I was probably feeling really anxious about it, which I wasn’t. I’d expected to be told it was an anomaly. I suppose it’s possible I was worried about it without being consciously aware of it and I had a lot on my mind that day. I think I’m going to make my readings higher by thinking about it so much now. I’m never sure how they will react - I was constantly watched during my second pregnancy and at one point had readings above 200/120. Midwife had a complete panic as I went from normal blood pressure to seizure within a few hours during my first, and I went straight to hospital where the staff made me wait in the waiting room for almost an hour before I was seen, no urgency whatsoever!

Do they do regular checks knowing that you are borderline? I’ve convinced myself that I am going to develop it now. I’m being really silly and need to stop it. Even if I did have high blood pressure, it is something that can be controlled. Can you see the readings as they are being taken? I think seeing some normal ones as it was going on would make me feel loads better. What if the average is higher than normal because I’m aware it’s being tested and worrying about it? Will they take that into account?

I’ve been trying to look up information showing how often a 24 hour monitor would show that there is nothing to worry about. I bet that’s the most common outcome.

Were you nervous about it? Were your readings lower when you were asleep and are they more likely to be accurate?

Sorry for all the questions, I have surprised myself by being so worried about it. I badly need to get a grip!