New With Questions *Labetatol Questions

[trying4two]

Just an update on ME...

I had my incision check today. And yikes. When I was admitted to Antepartum, my BP was 166/90. Today it was 160/110. Twice.

They made me lay on my left side for a while, and it was then 156/98.

Deja Vu. Same exact scene as the last time I was in the office. Except this time Mia isn't in my belly. And my Blood Pressure isn't supposed to be so high! Isn't it supposed to go down after the whole emergent delivery thing, not up? I can't say that I was shocked, though. I have not been checking it at home, but it was consistently high before I was discharged (150's-160's/80's-90's).. but it was basically disregarded ("oh, the monitor is reading it high"..."it's not high enough to treat aggressively"). Silly doctors.

And for whatever it's worth... I really don't get the whole lay on your side and we'll re-check it thing. If it goes down a bit, what does that prove? That it can go down if you stay on your left side for eternity? Does the reading that they get after laying on your side for a few minutes override the one that they got when you were sitting upright (like most human beings are, most of the time)? Yeah, I don't get it.

She double-checked with me to be sure that they gave me Mag after delivery, which they did. Then she put me back on the Labetatol. But this time for my BP, not my Tachycardia. She wants me to come back in a week to have it checked again. And she wants me to check it on the home monitor... you know, the home monitor that her nurse swore was reading it high back before it went REALLY high and I was admitted. I took it tonight and it was 157/101. I'd say my monitor is pretty spot on. But wherever they come from, these numbers scare me!

I also have an appointment with the Cardiologist on Wednesday, which I wasn't planning to keep.. but I suppose now I will.

Does anyone have any insight/experience with Hypertension NOT going away after delivery (two weeks ago)?

[adragic]

Hi!
I had a problem with my blood pressure rising after delivery too, as it seems like a lot of people here have experienced. I hope this helps.
My b/p prior to delivery was 170/120 which went up to about 210/120 during delivery. (My mom quit telling me my blood pressure readings at that point :) I was on mag during labor and for 24 hours after labor, and my b/p stayed around 130/80's while I was in the hospital. The day I was going to be discharged, it went back up to 160/100's (approx. 48 hrs. after delivery). I was started on Labetalol at 100mg twice a day. I went in the following week, and they checked my b/p at that time, which was still over 160/100. They increased my dose to 200mg twice a day. I can't remember exactly when my b/p started to come down, but I know that by my 8 week appointment it was down to 120/80's and they took me off the Labetalol. That was about 8 months ago and my b/p has stayed around 120/70.
Hope you're feeling better soon, and congratulations on little Mia!

[hhbeachgurl]

Mine was the highest of al 2 weeks after delivery, it went down with delivery, was creeping back up at discharge, 5 days after and by day 6 through about 25 days pp it was higher then when I was pregnat. It then slowley crept back down. My old bp, prepreg was 90/50 but is now consistently 110-120/70-75 and at the docs 130's/80's, but defintly down from the 160's/100's that i had after delievery

[rosalinda]

PE can "unmask" a tendency towards hypertension, for some the high BP's will resolve after delivery, for others like me, they will not. I am now considered chronic hypertensive and I'm on Nifedipine and Atenolol.

[caryn]

The left side thing makes *no* sense postpartum; the argument for it before delivery is that laying on the left side takes the weight of the uterus off of the main artery supplying it, which might send more blood to the placenta, which might make it less short on oxygen, which might keep it from producing the chemicals that raise blood pressure. But you have no placenta now. :-)

Postpartum, what's going on is that your body is still mopping up the chemical flood from the last few weeks of pregnancy and delivery, and hasn't had time to repair your vasculature yet. One protein the placenta makes, soluble FLT, binds to VEGF in the vasculature, and VEGF's job is to shepherd around the repair molecules inside your bloodstream. And until all that soluble FLT gets mopped up by the VEGF you normally produce so that your VEGF can go back to repairing your bloodstream, your pressures will stay up...

My hypertension didn't go away for *four months* postpartum, which my internists tell me means I'll be a chronic hypertensive when I get older. But I'm not on any meds at the moment, because my pressures are normal when I'm not pregnant. Normal recovery that doesn't mean you're an unmasked chronic happens sometime in the first six weeks postpartum, so you've still got time to avoid my fate. :-)

How is Mia doing?

[trying4two]

Thank you so much everyone!!

Mia is doing... okay. She's still not at her birth weight and is 2 weeks today. She was at 6 pounds, 7 ounces even yesterday. 10th percentile for weight. We have another weight check on Monday. Feedings are about the same.. maybe a tiny bit better - or maybe that's just my wishful thinking ;o).

[trying4two]

It's me again :O). I just don't go away, eh?

Mia FINALLY hit her birth weight yesterday, and she turned 3 weeks today. So I'm excited for that. Still worried about how her feedings haven't really improved and how slowly she's gaining... but I'm trying to be positive.

I saw the Cardiologist last week for a follow-up and had to fill him in on everything that went on in the past few weeks. My BP in his office (back on 100mg Labetatol 2x/daily) was decent compared to what it had been! I believe it was around 140/82. My pulse was still around 100 (Tachycardia was my original issue, if you read back), so he doubled my Labetatol. I'm on 200mg 2x/daily now.

He wants me to come in at the end of the month to do some labs - full chem panel, thyroid function, and magnesium. He also said something about possibly doing some kind of more involved 24-hour urine depending on how my labs are. Does anyone know anything about what he may be looking for in any of the above? I know that I should have asked, but it had been a very stressful day with Mia's feedings and he has a really thick accent that usually prevents me from understanding most of what he says anyway.

Also, did anyone have increasing side effects when their Labetatol dosage was increased? Or if you started off at the dosage that I'm now on or higher? 100mg 2x/daily really didn't affect me.. but since he doubled it, I've felt terrible. Very tired, weak, light headed, very blurred vision, and a lot of pressure in my head. And my migraines have come back with a vengeance. Could it be from my BP coming down so much so quickly (it has been around 118/72 today), or are those true side effects from the Labetatol? I've actually been forced to skip it entirely on a few occasions (or only take what I used to be on) because I've had such a hard time functioning normally. I'm not sure if it's the Labetatol or my BP dropping, though.

[summerw77]

When I was first put on Toprol I felt awful for a week> Sometimes when your bp is traveling down you feel that way. Labetalol didn't make me feel that way, but by the time I got prego I had been on bp meds for years so........................................

It really wore me out when my bp was going down on the meds the first time.

Congrats on Baby Mia! It's so exciing isn't it!