supplements

[ktsl123]

Hi ladies I am TTC in 3 months and wanted to start taking any kind of supplements that may help by any chance in preventing or prolonging preeclampsia.
I saw a great study on COq10 and will be taking that. I may do aspirin and magnesium& calcium. I have also read a study in dark chocolate reducing pREE if eaten every day. So I have those on my list! Is there anything anyone else can recommend??? and Include a study done or any information on why it may help.

[caryn]

Take what your doc advises you to take, and make sure everything you're taking has been run past a doc. We used to say, hey, can't hurt, might help! a lot with this condition, but then it turned out that supplementing vitamins C and E (on the basis of a few very positive, but small, studies) was actually causing harm. Here's the Lancet abstract, which says Concomitant supplementation with vitamin C and vitamin E does not prevent pre-eclampsia in women at risk, but does increase the rate of babies born with a low birthweight. As such, use of these high-dose antioxidants is not justified in pregnancy.

But the first initial studies looked very promising. This may also be the case with CoQ10, so I'd be very cautious indeed about taking it. Calcium does not change rate of preeclampsia but does seem to lower overall maternal blood pressure in people eating Third-World quality diets; supplementation in a population in the US had no effect whatsoever. Dietary magnesium oxide supplementation has no benefit either. Here's a review talking about dietary modifications and how they just don't work; in the calcium and baby aspirin cases this meta-analysis has been superceded by bigger randomized controlled trials, so ask your doc about those specifically.

I wish a dietary supplement would fix this, but incidence has been pretty steady worldwide and for a historical timeframe of about 2000 years, while diets and lifestyles have varied widely over that period and geographic distribution. Rates are going up in the US recently, mostly because of IVF and partly because it's heritable and more people are living through delivery these days.

[kerisue]

I've read some promising research about l-arginine supplementation and talked to my doctor who ok'ed it. I can't site you any articles and I don't really have a way to rate how well the research was conducted. Search around pubmed though, you may find some. I haven't seen anything negative about l-arginine, though as Caryn says that may just be that we don't know the negative consequences or side effects yet. I think some gals also take additional folic acid too.

[ktsl123]

I will ask my Dr. That study did not mention anything about how exercise can prevent preeclampsia. I am curious if there is a study and what the results are. I do know that if your are overweight that losing weight is supposed to lower your chances of getting preeclampsia, but what about exercising for the average sized person....

I am not overweight at 130 and 5"4, but I have not exercised in 10 years!! and I am not sure what to think of that and if it would be beneficial to exercise or if it's pointless because I am not overweight.

[caryn]

Anecdotally, we've had posters who were biking centuries or running marathons every weekend and posters who were drill instructors for the Army and posters who were ballerinas. So I'd expect exercise might at best lower risk somewhat.

The most recent thing I can find in PubMed pretty much says the same; it might lower risk a little bit: High levels of early pregnancy active living activity (OR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1-1.1, ptrend=0.07) and household/caregiving activity (OR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1-1.3, ptrend=0.07) were associated with a 60% reduction in risk of hypertensive disorders relative to low levels; however, these associations were of marginal statistical significance. High levels of total physical activity (OR: 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1-1.0, ptrend=0.06) in early pregnancy were associated with a 70% reduction in the risk of hypertensive disorders relative to low levels; however, this association was also of marginal statistical significance. Pre-pregnancy physical activity was not associated with hypertensive disorders.

"Marginal statistical significance" means "just barely affects the overall data." Near enough.

Here's another with similar findings: Although we found a tendency towards a lower risk of pre-eclampsia in women with the highest degree of physical activity during leisure time, especially in overweight women, no significant associations were found. It was concluded that leisure time physical activity the year before pregnancy does not protect against pre-eclampsia.

That said, I'd certainly vote for eating well and exercising moderately preconception and taking care of yourself well in pregnancy. If nothing else, it makes recovery from the acute illness of preeclampsia much easier. It would be no fun to take that PE beating without some reserves, kwim?

[alviarin]

I would get my vitamin D levels checked for a deficiency. Not that taking vitamin D has been shown to effect pre-e rates, but I felt better after getting my vitamin D levels up to normal.

[l412angel]

I have to chime in here and say I worked out with a person trainer and was a runner before my pregnancy with Cara and Carter. I also made sure my vit d levels were up to par and took a d supplement per docs orders

[rydberg]

Vitamind D - I did some research before having my second. My first ( who is doing great now) was born at 29 weeks, 2lbs, 10oz after having pre-e. I went to the doctor for unrelated problems a few years after my first pregnancy and found I was very vitamin d deficient. I read that this can cause pre-e. I was put on a high dose of vitamin D for 12 weeks, during which I became pregnant with my second. I continued with the vitamin d supplement, in addition to the my pre-natal vitamin, and had no problems during my second pregnancy. I delivered at 38 weeks this time only because my water broke and actually went into labor!

[caryn]

It's so hard to tell if something that happened during a second pregnancy helped, because most second pregnancies go well even if you don't do anything! Were you supplementing anything in your first pregnancy?

Vitamin D deficiency isn't thought to cause PE, actually, but it's known to be correlated with PE. Here's a couple of posts about studies of it: http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 28&t=44476 and http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 28&t=24297

Welcome to the forums.

[ktsl123]

Just saw this posted on facebook! I actually had spoken to my Dr about supplements that may help. He told me to take aspirin while ttc because he believe in may help with implanation. He also explained to me that coq10 is a naturally ocurring substance in the body that decreases as you age. There is actually a lot of new research that has come out on coq10 regarding cancer, migraines, anxiety, heart issues, fibromaligia and many other things. He was ok with me taking it before and during pregnancy. He explained how it worked and how it improves blood flow through the body. I have actually been taking 200mg of it a day for 4 months now and I love taking it. I would get chest pain on a regular basis related to anxiety and it has stopped. I also have more energy and have lost weight ( it turns food into energy). I am now TTC and am also taking 1000mg of calcium per day, 4000 vitamin D, the amount of vitamin D recommended per day is too low according lots of research.