BP reading of 178/110... go to ER or okay to wait till tmw?

[GeorgiaGirl]

I am on 250mg methyldopa 3x/day for hypertension. My BP readings have been high anyway at my last 8 or so OB appointments (no proteinuria yet) and the OB said there was no need to raise my dosage yet... but yikes, tonight's home readings have been through the roof (super stressful night).

I decided to double tonight's dose of methyldopa and am now in bed for the night on my left side.

Do you think I'll be okay just going to my scheduled OB appointment in the morning or am I in serious danger in spite of jst having taken methyldopa? I'd call the on-call doctor to ask this but I have no idea how to do that... my hunch is I'll be okay for tonight since I have no headache or visual disturbances or anything.

[caryn]

I would go. Pressures like that correlate well to abruption.

They've got the equipment to make sure things really are okay, and the worst that can happen if you go is an annoying lecture from them about how you're fine, which is much better than the worst thing that can happen if you're really getting sick!

[GeorgiaGirl]

OMG... okay... this is a new monitor and I don't know how accurate it is... Going to take another reading now that I've been lying on my side for a bit and make a decision...

[caryn]

I would love to tell you you're fine to stay home, but I went from trace proteinuria to over a +4 in under a week and didn't have a headache, either. This disease is sneaky.

[GeorgiaGirl]

168/103... calling the on-call doctor....

[caryn]

Keep us posted as you're able.

[GeorgiaGirl]

On-call doctor still hasn't called me back... it's after 1am here; if she doesn't call back soon I'm taking another 250mg tablet of methyldopa and going to bed... it seems the BP is coming down, at least (and again, I have no idea how accurate this new monitor is).... (baby is moving and kicking normally, and I'm not experiencing any bleeding, so at least I didn't have a placental abruption when it hit that high earlier)

eta: just got off the phone with the on-call doctor; after she asked me a bunch of questions (hx, symptoms, etc.), she advised me to take the extra 250mg of methyldopa I was considering and lie down and go to sleep... BP seems to be coming down, but as the doctor said, sitting up obsessing about it can only make my BP worse. I'm also going to call the OB's office first thing in the morning and see if I can get in any sooner than my 1:30 appointment (if I have another alarming BP reading, that is).

Grrr, I hate the constant anxiety and panic attacks that come with watching for this condition to catch me.......

eta again: Caryn, thank you for taking time to reply to me at such an absurd hour... you are as kind as you are knowledgeable, and I appreciate both this and all the other helpful replies you've taken time to write in the past.

[trish]

Just checking in to see how you are doing. Hang in there! (((HUGS)))

[GeorgiaGirl]

Thanks, Trish... At my OB checkup, BP was 165/110... They said I needed to go to triage for a couple of hours for monitoring. Hit some more scary highs while there so I'm having to stay overnight. They bumped up the methyl dopa and gave me another med to bring it down quickly (can't remember the name of that one)...have started steroid shots for baby's lungs, doing another 24-hour UA while here and three NST's. Thankfully no protein in test strip; fingers crossed the 24 hour looks good too. Baby is still kicking away doing great! Latest BP was down to140s/90 so that's good. My MFM is coming by to talk with me in the morning. Hospital food sucks. That's about it for now!

[alexis]

I'm glad they admitted you and are keeping a close eye.