Pre eclampsia follow up

[Aliciainwunderland]

I know I am probably getting my knickers in a twist over nothing but here goes… basically I watched an episode of House about pre eclampsia and it got me thinking.

I was diagnosed with pre eclampsia during Labour. Was on medication for 6 weeks to bring blood pressure down, was nearly hospitalised at week 2 after being sent back to hospital after midwife appointment.At my 8 week appointment with GP he didn’t actually believe me that I had had pre eclampsia as it wasn’t on my notes. He insinuated it was all in my head - actually said the said the words ‘it’s an emotional time - sometimes it’s easy to get confused’ he was also about 21… ughh.

Anyway, four years later and there was never any follow up on my blood pressure. The medication ran out and when I called to get a repeat prescription they said it wasn’t needed. Should there have been follow up? My local Boots does free checks so going to get one but have only recently found out that there can be long term affects of pre eclampsia.

All sorts of after effects but just get BP checked first as it can remain raised.

I was told once I finished my medication it was a case of routinely checking it as you would anyway.
I was very poorly with PE (intensive care poorly / baby 4lb) and never had anything once I’d finished the after medication.
No problems since with BP until very recently but as it was 12 years ago I assume this is now age and not related.

I have only just realised that there can be so many after effects! I would have thought someone might have mentioned it?? GP, mid wife, health visitor?

Sorry to hear you were so poorly! I havnt had my blood pressure tested in 4 years. I didn’t know I should be doing that.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition of pregnancy. You are at more risk of getting pre eclampsia again in a future pregnancy if you already had it, but otherwise you are not at more risk of having hypertension when not pregnant or in the future than any other person so they wouldn't do follow ups as usually pre eclampsia resolves shortly after birth (few weeks max)

this is wrong. Pre-eclampsia and PIH both increase the risk of hypertension later in life.

www.preeclampsia.org/the-news/Healthcare-practices/understanding-long-term-effects-of-preeclampsia-and-taking-charge#:~:text=Preeclampsia%20puts%20women%20at%20increased,%E2%80%93%20sadly%20%E2%80%93%20to%20their%20doctors.

this says otherwise. The information here is frankly terrifying!

can I ask where you have your information from that it does not affect outside of pregnancy?

Sorry I stand corrected!

I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at 37 weeks pregnant and was admitted to hospital on the spot, given steroid injections for a week then had my ELCS brought forward a week to 38 weeks.

From a week of regular monitoring and decent care, I then had my DD and never ever got checked again. I was sent home less than 24 hours later, no follow up doctors appointment, no advice on any concerning symptoms to look out for etc.
In fact 'pre-eclampsia' was never mentioned again until I got pregnant for the second time 4 years later.

However there is usually no more follow ups as such as the risk is not immediate I would imagine. Whether that's right or wrong. If you are concerned go to your surgery for BP checks or get a home monitoring BP machine for peace of mind?

I was diagnosed with pre eclampsia at 32 weeks and was in hospital for the next 7 weeks . I had high BP and odema but no protein until 38 weeks when i was induced. My BP went back down as soon as ds was born, although i was in hospital with someone whose BP remained high and was put onto medication and was still on it when i saw her months later.

i had DD 2 years later and my BP was slightly raisedat 37 weeks but dd decided to put in an appearance 2 days later. I wasnt well with a bad cold, but BP was not an issue.

IM 62 now and have issues with BP and diabetes (which is also connected to pre eclampsia apparently) and am on 2 Bp tablets and insulin and metformin for diabetes.

this was obviously a long time ago but i was told then that PE was mainly a disease of first pregnancies or a new pregnancy with a diferent father.

I had pre eclampsia twice. The first time I had to go to high dependency after the birth and had a two week hospital stay afterwards (and I'd been in and out of hospital a lot previous to the birth) . The second time was less severe. I then didn't get it at all in my third pregnancy. I've always mentioned it at any medical appointment and it's always been brushed off. I totally understand how you feel OP

Thank you for messages. Definitely seems that it is something that should be discussed more! In the meantime I am going to take advantage of the free boots checks for over 40s

Interestingly, my PE was with a second pregnancy, same father. Multiple (and I mean lots) of doctors who treated me asked if this baby had a different father. Became quite awkward after a bit and thankfully DH could laugh it off but they do need to be careful with that as some husbands would get a real issue with repeatedly being asked if children had different fathers.

I have just had preeclampsia and as part of my post partum follow up I had an echo, and ecg or ekg (not sure which without going back to my notes) and blood taken to check for any impact on my heart. My trust does this now for all preeclampsia and pregnancy hypertension diagnoses following a trial that showed long term impacts had some indications immediately. They also said i should follow heart healthy advice - eg get my cholesterol down, regular BP checks and generally take care of my heart. I believe the hope is to roll this out nationally? Not sure if its happening yet. So i think you could follow most of that advice anyway plus maybe pop into the chemist every now and then to check your BP?

That is so odd! Mine was diagnosed in Labour and I had a test two day before so maybe you might have had it the first time but didn’t get a chanc?

anyway, booked BP test at boots. Pharmacist asked why I was booking and told her. She told me it was common practice in her home country (she didn’t say where but think she might have been Italian) to do BP tests regularly after PE and wondered why they didn’t here.

This honestly makes me angry! Obviously super pleased for you to get that support but found NHS post natal support for both me and dc shameful as it was non existent! Post birth was a shot show too and had to make a complaint to the trust.

@FawnFrenchieMum I dont know if they still do it, but they put something 1/1 or 2/1 or 2/2 on the corner of the notes meaning 1st pregnancy/ 1 father or 2nd pregnancy 1 father or 2nd pregnancy/2nd father . This was 29 years ago and i was in for 7 weeks for pre eclampsia, but that was for all the pregnancies, lady opposite was in because she was on something like 3rd pregnancy for something different.

I had to take medication for PE after having dd2. When I was discharged they gave me a prescription for 6 weeks. I asked if I would have a check up to see if I needed to stop it and the midwife said 'you'll know if you need to stop taking it' without being specific. One morning after about 4 weeks I felt dizzy when I got up. I borrowed a blood pressure monitor and sure enough my blood pressure was low. I stopped taking the medication and kept an eye on my BP. It had returned to normal.

Honestly the post birth aftercare in this country is shocking! I was refused a follow up bp test (blamed Covid) and told me to call 111 if I felt dizzy. Not health visits for my dc for 2.5 years after his 8 week appointment. I’m sorry you had to go through that - must have been super scary

I had pre-eclampsia with my first child, monitored quite closely in the last few weeks of pregnancy and induced at 36 weeks. I looked like a whale I was that bloated with water retention. Following discharge with tons of meds as I ended up having an emergency c-section, I was then re-admitted a few days later as BP was still too high and I couldn't get rid of the water. It was all pretty awful, can't believe I went on to have a second (no pre-eclampsia that time). There was never any mention of long term effects and I've only discovered this recently via a menopause facebook group, I'm now 53 and my DD will be 20 next week. I think it's shocking they don't follow it up with regular checks, but then our NHS is all about firefighting and rubbish at prevention.

Honestly I have Dr House to thank for alerting me! Honestly, I’ve found woman’s health to be third world on the NHS. I was absolutely raging when the GP said I must have made it up since he couldn’t see it on my notes. I mean this was the same hospital who left my 10 hours in hospital after giving birth without checking on me. When I rang the bell I was told ‘can’t you see I’m busy’

I had preeclampsia 10 years ago, I researched afterwards and was most struck by the many times increased risk of stroke, heart disease, kidney disease and failure.

I guess nhs resources don't stretch to information, monitoring and prevention for women who've had pre-eclampsia.
It's up to us to look after ourselves better, now we know.

@Aliciainwunderland it is shocking isn't it. I mean, I'm glad we have it but it really isn't up to scratch these days.

I had pregnancy hypertension with DD1 in 2021 and had nothing like this at that time so it definitely seems like a relatively new thing? But yes, it is rubbish and I really hate the NHS postcode lottery.