Not dumb at all. Some docs will check you for underlying tendencies towards funky clotting, on the idea that you might end up clotting off even more of the placenta than a normal pregnancy (normal pregnancies have lots of clots and dead areas of the placenta.) If they check for the most common genetic clotting polymorphisms - changes that can predispose to funky clotting - that's a thrombophilia panel.

First pregnancy is the biggest risk factor of all - but a history of ectopic wouldn't count as a history of pregnancy in the sense that matters here, because the placenta wouldn't have implanted into the uterine lining. Placentas remodel the spiral arteries that supply the uterus, and subsequent pregnancies often go better because that remodeled area is easier to implant into.

Thanks ladies ...When i posted I didnt think of PCOS which i struggle with and yes i do have fertility challenges as in addition i only have one fallopian tube the result of a prior ectopic..... i was surprised when teh doctor told me all my test results had come back as normal. he did test for lupus and that too was normal .....this may be a dumb question but what is a thrombophilia panel?

It is pretty common to develop PE without any underlying conditions. Many of us get tested for a range of autoimmune, clotting, or other issues just in case. My doctor and I chose a set of tests based on my family history. If you feel like it might be help, you could talk with your doctor about testing for conditions that run in your family or anything in your personal medical history. It is frustrating to go through all of the testing and not get any answers. There are women on the forum who have had healthy pregnancies after a first that was complicated by PE without underlying conditions. I haven't been brave enough to try again, but I might get there someday.

The morning before I had my baby girl I had perfect blood pressure level and no protien in my urine. The next morning when I went in with contractions I had copius amounts of protien in my urnie, partial kidney failure, a blood pressure of 210/120, and placental abruption. This all happened within 24 hours of being perfectly fine. I don't have a history of high blood pressure for me or in my family. And I was at an average size when I got pregnant. Even before that at 5 months I went to the emergency room with severe right side pains the first urine test they took came back with protien and I was told I may have preeclampsia. They took another one and loe and behold there was no protein. A change can happen within a drop of a dime... As I learned. So is it possible to develop pe without underlying symptoms... yes! And it is even more possible to develop pe in a VERY SHORT period of time.

PCOS does raise risk, as does a history of infertility. Anything that raises maternal inflammation levels (which PCOS does) or that indicates a potential problem with implantation puts us into a higher risk category. The idea is that implantation of the placenta is shallow in preeclampsia, because of an immune conflict between maternal and paternal genes over the size of the fetus at delivery.

Underlying conditions are a loose catch-all because of that - being human and making babies with another human is really the relevant underlying condition, for all of us. Preeclampsia is incredibly common and it just doesn't appear in other species - it's a uniquely human disease.

I have PCOS which is loosely considered an underlying condition though there are many, many women with PCOS that do not get pre-e. But other than that, they found nothing, and I went to 2 different MFM's. My MFM still believes I probably have some sort of underlying clotting condition that they may not have a test for/is known, especially given our daughter's severe growth restriction, so they put me on blood thinners anyway. I had a healthy second pregnancy on blood thinners (LDA and lovenox) with DS, and so far have made it 5 weeks farther than my first pregnancy for my third pregnancy.

It sounds like they didn't do a full thrombophilia panel, which I would have wanted done, and I'm not sure if the lupus test is included with that or not, but I know we've had some posters that have that end up coming up.

I just got my post pe 6 week blood test results back and they all came back as normal (except for slight anemia) ie i have no underlying conditions ...the tests they did were for antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (B2 Glocoprotien i and cadiolin AB) ...
1) are there other tests that should have been done ?

2) are there other instances where women have had no underlying contions but still developed PE? ...

3) has anyone here not been fd with an underlying condition and had a successful 2nd pregnancy ?