Pre-existing high blood pressure in pregnancy

[stramash]

Posting for a friend ( though it's nice to be back in the pregnacy forum!)
My friend has high blood pressure for which she takes medication. She's 16 weeks pregnant and her bp has been 150/90 but is now 120/80. Her obstetrician has stopped her medication as it's a beta-blocker not safe in pregnancy and has told her he'll only restart treatment her bp gets to 160/110.
Does anyone have any experience of taking blood pressure medicines for pre-existing high blood pressure in pregnancy? How high was your bp before you were treated?
My friend is a bit worried cos she feels 160/110 is a bit high . Also stressed that she'll get pre-eclampsia ( 1 in 4 chance apparently).

I had high bp at the end of my first pregnancy, and it rose to unacceptable levels a week after delivery. I was put on Nifedipine (Adalat Retard) and will be again, either during pg or after, if it gets high this time...am currently 35+ weeks and its been fine, but is beginning to creep up.

If your friend's bp was that high at her booking in appointment, her 'normal' will be taken into consideration rather than just an arbitrary figure - whats high for one person is low for another, and vice versa. I was medicated last time when my bp reached about 150/105...but not before...so the figures aren't wildly high, but I totally understand her anxiety. I would be nervous too, maybe worth asking for a lower baseline and voicing her concerns to the OB??

I never got pre-eclampsia last time, and no sign of it this time either - just an inherent tendency to hypertension that was unmasked by pregnancy.

Not medicated when not pregnant, so maybe not very useful....hopefully someone else will post who was on meds pre pg! Wishing her all the best, both pg and bp-wise...

HI Stramash
What a caring friend you are, Your friend should have no need to worry if she has you doing it for her, which is a goood thing as worry will make BP worse. I had pre eclampsia and post partum high blood pressure, went on med in late preg after lots of monitorning and was then induced. There are two safe medications for pregnancy and breastfeding, in Australia they are called Catapress and Enalapril- check last ones spelling. I do think it is strange to be taken off medication, But if she has lots of monitoring, i.e even takes her own blood pressure every day she should be fine. My bp is always much higher a dr's so it is good to take it at home and know what it is really doing.