How are you doing? Pain, vomiting, and floaters are all red flags for HELLP syndrome. We recommend getting checked out and having a PIH blood panel run ASAP by your doctor or at L&D in the hospital. They can do the test really quickly (typically less than an hour) in the hospital. It doesn't sound like a good idea to wait a week for your blood work. Your doctor should be able to get the results much more quickly than that.

Lee, your advice sounds right. The PIH panel should be STAT since she has so many of the side effects that could be HELLP. All PIH panels at my OBs office are stat. Ask for the bloodwork to be stat. Usually when they do mine, they ask me to come in the morning before 8:45 AM and have the blood drawn. The lab courier arrives around 9:00 AM and the results take between 2-3 hours. If I have an appointment, I usually find out then; if not, I call and leave a message every hour until someone calls me back. If your doc doesn't want to to the BW and urine collection, go to the emergency room.

I would definitely pester for the blood tests back sooner - a straightforward liver enzyme test and platelets should take no more than an hour! How about seeing your normal GP or going down to A&E? [Sorry I live in the UK so this advise might not be relevant]

**HUGS**

Has your OB done a PIH panel to check your liver enzymes and platelets? My blood pressure was very high when I was diagnosed. After bloodwork, it was confirmed as HELLP. I also had a lot of protein in my urine, but at the time, I didn't know what was high. You should have the bloodwork and a 24 hour urine collection done ASAP. At the very least, your OB will have a baseline of numbers in case something goes wrong. I did have the epigastric pain (upper right and around to my back) as well as floaters. I almost died so please take your symptoms very seriously. Once diagnosed, I was in L&D in 4 days and delivered a stillborn.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Mistie

Hello. I am new to this board and am really, really nervous right now. My 1st pregnancy, I had chronic gestational hypertention that developed into mild preelampsia in week 39. I was induced and had a very healthy baby boy (though he was under 7 lbs). I am pregnant again and in week 36 and I am afraid that I could have HELLP syndrome. Several weeks ago, out of nowhere, I became very nauseated like I had food poisoning and started vomiting profusely. I vomited bile for hours and hours. The OB's office said they thought it was a virus (but did not see me). Since then, I have experienced nausea almost continually - but occassionally out of no-where, I will start vomiting again. It is almost always yellow bile. Last night, I vomited so hard that the blood vessels around my eyes broke. About a week ago, I started having severe pain under my upper right ribs and running over to my sternum. It hurts to touch the area. Also, there is a stabbing pain in the same area that seems to come from the inside out. It happens sporadically at night sometimes and the pain becomes so intense that I wake up screaming in pain. I also have had issues with what I have assumed is urinary incontinence because my underwear are always wet (I know, TMI). In addition, I have been seeing what I call "floaties" several times a day and my vision seems a little blurry. I have checked my blood pressure multiple times (because I remember what pre-e felt like) but it is normal. My OB keeps telling me the rib pain is probably just from my ribs expanding, but I never went through this with my first child and I just feel strongly that something is really wrong. They finally took blood yesterday, but the results won't be back for a week. I know with HELLP, time is of the essence. Does this sound similar to anything you went through or am I panicked about nothing? I apologize if these are stupid questions, but I want my baby to be healthy and am so scared. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!