HELLP after delivery....

[julybaby7631]

My Hellp worsened after delivery as well. To my knowledge no-one knew I had hellp until the OB told my husband that I had a stroke (3 days after delivery they did a ct scan of my brain) that is when they discovered that I had a stroke and that when they discovered that I also had Hellp. My bp is still high to this day and it's been almost 9 months!

[cindergretta]

My HELLP worsened after delivery. I had epigastric pain for 10 days, elevated bp, protein, etc. My right shoulder hurt and I was itchy all over. My platelets weren't checked until the day they said "You have HELLP" and delivered me. After delivery, they crashed to the low 20s and hung out. My gums and nose were bleeding, etc. I was a giant bruise. At 24 hours or so, my platelets started to slowly rebound. I was on mag for 96 hours after delivery. I think it can often get worse temporarily after delivery and THEN improve....

[catherine]

By the time that I got to the hospital, a blind man on a galloping horse on a dark night could have diagnosed HELLP because I had the hemolysis and elevated liver enzymes in spades. I was also frankly symptomatic for the epigastric pain, had proteinuria and had a ridiculous BP. My platelets were still relatively high, but under 150. Immediately post-C-section I scored the lab values that put my platelets down in the low 20's and the ancillary garbage that buys a person DIC. I think it was about 48 hours before I got an upswing on those, at least 6 days to get back to platelets in the 100s but I left the hospital with liver enzyme levels just a hair above normal, with normal platelets and a with a healthy baby at 10 days pp. At that point the only remaining ugly numbers I had to deal with were kidney-related, and all ultimately tended back to acceptable levels by 6 weeks pp.

I think my experience reflects a very acute illness with (happily) no problematic sequelae. A little time needs to pass until you know whether this is the worst thing that you experience. The other possibility is that you have some underlying, aggrevating condition. The severity of your illness could conceivably unmask or worsen an undiagnosed condition that will now require attention.

[nborrayo]

My platelets had been falling in the week before, but were "technically" still considered normal(above 150). Immediately following my c-section, or concurrently, I was diagnosed with HELLP. Platelets fell to 47. In the 4-5 days following, they slowly went back up. As far as I know, the Dr. did no follow-up after I left the hospital to see when they returned to normal for me. He did not do any blood tests at my 6 week post-partum checkup either.

[dmalcolm]

My HELLP did not really kick in until one day post-partum. I had been on Mag. Sulfate and they needed a new IV started and blood was gushing all over the place and bruises suddenly showed up. They bloodwork confirmed their suspicians that it was HELLP. It took several days for my BW to show improvement but from then on each blood draw showed improvement and everything was back to normal by my six week. My preeclampsia was a different story! I still had protein in my urine and high blood pressure for six months after my delivery. At eight months post-partum I am now off of the Procardia.

[missgamecock]

My blood work was off for about the 6 weeks pp with Kirsten. I was in a Belgian hospital under the care of Belgian docs when I had Kirsten. After 10 days, I left. My bloodwork was still a bit wacky at the hospital till I left, but they had taken all IVS and everything out. I followed up immediately with a military ob high risk guy. He reran all of my bw and urine, plus had me in for bp monitoring. It took 6 weeks for my bloodwork to clear up, 3 months for my urine to clear (picked up a particularly nasty bacteria in the hospital for a bladder infection. It was pretty rare and really hard to treat, required antibiotics for a long time, and 6 weeks for bp back to normal.

[onfaith]

just curious - HELLP worsened greatly for me after delivery and continued on a decline for several days - - how many of you had HELLP "show" up after delivery - and to your knowledge, how long did your bloodwork show you were still suffering from it?