High Blood Pressure -- Still

[bufferroo]

Rats. Rats, rats, and more rats. You know, I never had high blood pressure before I was pregnant, and didn't have high blood pressure until a couple days before I had Allegra. It's been 2 1/2 years since then, and my blood pressure is still high. My doctor has decided that no way will it ever normalize, and I will need medication, since I have been unsuccessful in controlling it with diet and exercise. I wish I could understand why this is bothering me so much, but it is. I don't understand why my blood pressure never went back to normal. I don't understand why I can't control it by eating right and exercising (heck, I can't even lose weight doing those things, and I have been trying really hard...it just doesn't work... perhaps because I'm still nursing my girl?).

Last night I stayed up all night wondering if my blood pressure would be normal if I could have taken the medication prescribed to me when I left the hospital. My doctor prescribed 2 weeks worth of bp medication, but I didn't get it because at the time I couldn't afford it, not after the breast pump rental deposit. Since then, it's never been right, although it's never been this high.

Grrrr.

Did anyone else have the consequence of permanent high blood pressure after their pe/HELLP experiences?

I just wish I didn't feel so completely annoyed that my body is doing this to me, as if it hasn't already done enough.

[jarnett]

I had the same thing it stablized for a few years and then it just went up and stayed up. It could be that you, like me were just pre-disposed to having hypertension.

Jen

[taras mom]

I understand your frustration! I hate the idea of being on pills for the rest of my life, but chronic hypertension runs in my family. I didn't go on meds until I was pregnant, but in retrospect I think I should have been on them long before; my doctors kept saying, "Let's wait and see." The new guidelines call for an even lower normal value, so I think we'll have lots of company in the years to come. (My dad tells me that they used to calculate a normal systolic bp as your age plus 100!)

Don't beat yourself up over not taking the meds; it's unlikely that two weeks would make a big difference in the long run. Knowing that I need meds every day bothers me, too. What if I get stranded on an island? Sure, I can live on coconuts and pineapples, but without meds? Rats indeed!

Carol (38)
DH Bill (40)
Tara Mairichi
12/7-12/9, 2002
The Mightiest Little Angel

[paljane8]

Hey Guys,

Jen is right. Sometimes pregnancy uncovers an underlying predisposition for hypertension. It is a bummer! It is such a physical reminder of what you went through with the preg. This is a post by a lady with the same issues. http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2077&SearchTerms=chronic,hypertension

And on the losing weight while nursing thing: I can always tell when my sil stops nursing beacause her pregnancy weight just falls off!
Look up the losing weight thread on this same forum.

Good luck! What meds is your doc starting you on?

Nancy Eastwood
Moderator/WA State Co-Coordinator

ds-8yrs, dd-7yrs
Scott-4yrs (PE)
Janie-5/12/03 (PIH, oligo and low blood flow)
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/4/4lbs/

[bufferroo]

Thank you so much. I'm feeling a little better about it now; and I'm glad to know that this does happen. (Not in a misery loves company kind of way, but in an I'm glad I'm not weird way, LOL.)

I get to be the first person in my family with chronic hypertension... whoo hoo...

I'm not sure what meds he's going to start me on, I have to see him again on Thursday.

[paljane8]

I totally agree! Validation that you are NOT crazy goes a long way! Let us know how it goes on Thurs.

BTW, I lived in Toronto [:D].

Nancy Eastwood
Moderator/WA State Co-Coordinator

ds-8yrs, dd-7yrs
Scott-4yrs (PE)
Janie-5/12/03 (PIH, oligo and low blood flow)
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/4/4lbs/

[bufferroo]

You did? Small world! I did too... lived there for 3 years. I enjoyed it, loved my apartment, but I'm a small town girl at heart who just doesn't belong in the big city for long stretches at a time, LOL!

I'm in Hamilton right now (I work at McMaster University, where my daughter was born -- talk about therapy, having to walk past the room where she was born all the time, and seeing the little preemies in their transport units arriving/leaving...)

Did you like Toronto? (I'm betting WA is much nicer?)

[paljane8]

That has got to be tough to constantly be reminded of your experience, eh? What do you do for the university?

I love Toronto! I was there for 5 yrs. We lived near Dundas and Royal York. We are in the Seattle area now which is only a few hours from Vancouver, BC. So when, I get a coffee crisp craving I head there to take advantage of your exchange rate. [:p]

Nancy Eastwood
Moderator/WA State Co-Coordinator

ds-8yrs, dd-7yrs
Scott-4yrs (PE)
Janie-5/12/03 (PIH, oligo and low blood flow)
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/4/4lbs/

[bonnie]

Not that I have anything to add here, except that I lived in the TO area for nearly 16 years!! My dh and I moved to the Seattle area in 2000. I go back to TO every few months!! Our families are just "north" of the GTA. Both dh and I went to UofT.

Seattle is great, but I miss a good Second Cup of "white hot chocolate" [8D].

Ok, I must run. . .

Yoni's ima

Yonatan 7/10/2002 (35 weeks PE)

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE . . .
http://rosenbloom.homeip.net/yoni

[bufferroo]

Nancy...

It's actually not so bad being here. It brings back a lot of memories, but not all of them are so horrible, and I have a lot of opportunity to speak with new parents of preemies and share my experience. When my daughter was in the NICU, a family friend gave me her granddaughter's scrap book (her granddaughter was also a preemie). It gave me a lot of hope and comfort, and so I try to do the same. The NICU where my daughter was is no longer in use; they have a new facility now, so at least I don't have to see the same room and isolette...

Also, they now have a wall of fame, pictures of all their preemies that parents have sent in (some of them are in their 30's now!), which I find comforting in a lot of ways. So sometimes it kind of feels like being home. (Let's face it, I still know a lot of the staff, and I like to drop in on the social worker and the labor delivery dept on occasion just to say hi...).

I work here as an admin assistant for the head of the Centre for Functional Genomics and the Institute for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. It's not my dream job but I'm a single parent and it'll pay the bills until I finally finish my PhD in Social Psych (although with tuition costs being so high this may never happen, grumble grumble[:(!]).

Dundas and Royal York is a terrific neighbourhood, no wonder you have fond memories of TO! My first living experience there was in the gay village, which was a blast, but the apartments are notoriously full of cockroaches, and I only needed to see one before I broke my lease and headed northeast to the Leaside Towers in East York. We were right on the ravine along the Don River, near Sunnybrook park and Ontario Place. It was terrific.

Bonnie, I also went (still go, actually) to U of T! It's great that you get to come back so often (I have a lot of friends just north of the GTA... nice housing out there!). Isn't Second Cup's white hot chocolate just to die for? They sell it in packages now, so you can always stock up the next time you come!![:D]