Blood Pressure

[steve]

My wifes doctor instructed us to purchase something to monitor her blood pressure. At her last apointment her pressure was 145 over 92 which alarmed our doctor.

My wife has had major swelling in the mast few months (even my mom and sister who have had 3 kids each said the swelling was bad).

For the past two days we have been monitoring the pressure and it has allways been boarderline high like 138 over 86 and at times over the 140/90.

Anyone know if we should be concerned or what we can do to make my wifes pressure lower?

[annegarrett]

A couple things to ask first:
1) How many weeks pregnant is she?
2) Is this her first pregnancy?
3) Have you read through About Preeclampsia in the main section of the website? I would recommend it.


And a couple bits of advice:
1) Take her BP sitting up every morning about ten minutes after she gets up.
2) Write it down
3) 140/90 qualifies as high blood pressure. It is potentially a problem because it can cause lots of complications. It is good your wife's doctor is asking you to monitor the BP.
4) I would ask the doctor to discuss preeclampsia with you. Does he think she has it? What plans does he have? Some doctors will put her on antihypertensives. Depending on how far along she is--others will deliver her. You will need to ask him what his plan is and ask what YOUR options are. You should know if anything--doctors do not tend to deliver babies early unless they feel the risk to the mother outweighs the benefits to the baby of staying inside. Also, this disease can be dangerous to the baby--so if they say it is time to deliver--usually--they are saying this because they feel there is no other choice.

Please let us know how you and she are doing. I know this can be scary. We would be happy to help you understand what is going on.



Anne

[defence63]

My doctor has told me i need a blood pressure monitor that can be used on the
right arm as well as the left arm. I found a monitor [url]http://www.jpimall.com/bloodpressuremonitors/automatic-arm-monitors-hem-780.html [/url] Omron
HEM-780 sold by a company called [url]http://www.jpimall.com [/url]JPI Imports
reasonably priced at $78. They have so many [url]http://www.jpimall.com/bloodpressuremonitors/index.html[/url]blood
pressure monitors to choose from i got confused. Does anyone have experiance
with this unit i need to know if it is a good one.

[sandy]

Hi and welcome,
I have an Omron brand blood pressure machine. Purchased it a few years back. It's not the same one in the picture that you posted, but it did cost right around the same you are quoting.

It has worked well for me.

Please post back here as you learn more about your wife and baby's condition. We will be happy to share our experiences and our support with you as the pregnancy progresses.

~Sandy/DD born via emergency C at 35 wks/1 day June '03 due to Severe PE/class III HELLP

Risk factors: HBP/asthma/high cholesterol

currently trying to catch an egg...