have you changed your diet?

[mychaelelaine]

i was wondering, after experiencing preeclampsia, pih, and/or hellp and being pregnant again, has anyone strictly modified their diet? i had high blood pressure 5 years before i became pregnant so they called super imposed preeclampsia (i think). so, my situation might be different than some on this board if you didn't have high blood pressure before being pregnant. i don't put any salt on my food, ever. BUT, everything we eat is loaded with sodium. several years ago, i tried a very low sodium diet (attempted under 600 mgs). it was horribly difficult. i wonder if you already have high blood pressure, how helpful is drastically lowering sodium intake. i am doing it just because, even if it won't help in the end. BUT, i'm just wondering if i can lower my chances of developing preeclampsia by strictly modifying my diet. i know the week and a half i was in the hospital, i wasn't on a restricted diet @ all! also, i went to the doctor up to 13 weeks post partum. my doctor NEVER asked what i eat. thoughts?

[blythe]

I know the Cochrane reviews and our Experts have said that there isn't good research to support restricting sodium in pregnancy. On the other hand, I vaguely remember an article from a while ago (try our search, maybe try user: Laura and keywords: salt-sensitive hypertensive -- sorry I'm on the run today and can't find it for you!) that said to just assume that if your blood pressure is wonky in pregnancy that you're probably also salt-sensitive. So, important outside of pregnancy, but the placenta and hemodynamics of pregnancy end up working so counter-intuitively so often in this disease that I've given up making assumptions for the way our bodies function during pregnancy. One of the very many fascinating and frustrating things about this disease.

[MomTimesThree]

I'm going to search for that, because yesterday before my bp spike, I was on the go and I had a saltier than normal lunch... Thanks for making me think about this!

[alviarin]

I am on a gluten-free diet, but that is only because I figured out that gluten is a migraine trigger for me.

Now that I'm pregnant I've cut way back on caffeine and I'm trying to cut out sugar.

I'm a "chronic hypertensive" and I'm salt sensitive. Eating out can raise my blood pressure (especially Mexican or Asian food). I don't try to limit myself to a certain sodium intake, just follow my cardio's reccomendation to avoid the salt shaker and beware of salt in fast/canned/processed food. We still use sea salt when we cook at home, just not as much as some people would like. All and all, I don't think cutting back on salt can prevent pre-eclampsia but if you are a chronic hypertensive like me it can be a strategy to help keep your blood pressure controlled.

[danielsmom]

I don't know how helpful this is, but I've quit caffeine mainly to rule out reasons why my BP may NOT be up (although it wouldn't make it go up 50 points). For the first 20 weeks, I just really cut back, but then I'd get a higher reading in a morning appointment and wonder if it was because of my morning coffee. Also, if I'd have a can of soda for dinner and not have one the next day, I'd get a headache. Great, another PE symptom! So it was easier and more peace of mind for me to completely go decaf.

Anti-histimines or decongestants can jack up your BP as well.

I really do not believe that diet can cause or prevent pre-e. I think pre-e is usually caused by poor placentation. However, as for any pregnant woman, I think eating a complete diet - the more natural the better - can help your body function the easiest. Pregnancy is enough strain on the body, so why not help it out. There is 2 other things that I do: eat plenty of eggs and get plenty of calcium. Of course, this is in moderation, like eating eggs once or twice a week and being sure I get all my daily recommended calcium from food (which might absorb better than coming from a supplement). Eggs contain albumin, which is thought to aid the liver and possibly kidneys. Calcium is something that some studies say prevents adverse prenatal outcomes, and of course some object to that... but hey, who knows.

[lennoxlm1]

before I became pregnant I cut all meat and dairy out because I was trying to lose any extra pounds when I found out we were pregnant again I added everything back I think a balanced diet it the best thing, and I try not to fret about the little things I have eaten (like ice cream)

[caryn]

There's an odd thing that goes on with this disease - we all "know" that a healthy lifestyle will help to prevent disease, but we also know that the researchers who work on *this* disease tell us that there's no evidence lifestyle modifications will affect our risk in pregnancy.

That's because this disease appears to be set during implantation, which seems to be governed by a unique part of the immune system that's just for managing placentas. It makes sense that we'd have this, since reproduction is a time when we simply have to cooperate with a foreign organ, and it makes sense that it would be broadly isolated from impact from diet and exercise, since eggs used to come with all that was necessary to develop an entire new organism (think of how chicken eggs get no further input between being laid and being hatched!). During the initial development of the placenta, the pregnancy isn't really drawing down much in the way of maternal resources, and it's later in the pregnancy when the fetus begins to demand more than the placenta can ferry (because the implantation is not working properly) that we start to see symptoms.

That said, you'd way rather go into a pregnancy healthy than not. If the placental development doesn't proceed normally, recovery from a nasty acute pregnancy condition is going to be much easier in a fit healthy young woman. If you know you're a salt-sensitive hypertensive outside of pregnancy, then odds are one way that you manage your underlying conditions is by eating less salt, but that isn't going to affect the course of your preeclampsia so far as the best research says at the moment.

(BTW, eating eggs - which have albumins in them, mostly ovalbumin - doesn't support the liver particularly. But they're yummy. )

[alexis]

Interesting - I am a chronic but not sodium sensitive (conclusively proven during the Great Salt and Vinegar Potato Chip Binge of 2009). My understanding is that a sizable number of hypertensives are not salt sensitive, tough if you don't know, it's probably worth trying.

I aim for a healthy, balanced diet. I pay a little more attention to my blood sugar, since I have PCOS and am at risk for gestational diabetes. I have actually eaten a lot of eggs during both pregnancies. No diet theories, I just really seem to like omelettes when I'm pregnant. With buttered toast. I also am prone to iron deficiency anemia even when not pregnant so try to eat more iron rich foods. (and, having gone into Caesarean #2 with a hemoglobin of 9.8, I'd probably be even more aggressive on that if I have a third. I took SlowFe, but clearly, not enough.)

[danielsmom]

Caryn,
Maybe you can help me sort this out. Nothing I read is really clear on it, but has enough buzz words to get me interested. Here's one article:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 003480.htm

Is the albumin mentioned there a completely different thing than the albumin found in eggs? Or is it the same, just coming from a different source? So egg albumin does not sort of supplement a liver function of producing albumin?

This also got me interested from the article:
"Albumin helps move many small molecules through the blood, including bilirubin, calcium, progesterone, and medications. It plays an important role in keeping the fluid from the blood from leaking out into the tissues."

That sounds like albumin and VEGF have a connected role as far as edema, and downline BP issues, and pre-e perfect storm stuff (http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 12&t=16607). By the way, great post.

[mychaelelaine]

guys, thanks so much!! i have to type reports tonight but i will read tomorrow. thanks so very much for the input!