Pregnancy question

[colesmommy]

I am wondering if any symptoms or issues early in pregnancy could indicate preeclampsia later.

First, as I have indicated in another post, my progesterone was very low and I had to take supplements the first trimester.

The other thing is-I never felt pregnant until well after the first trimester. I didn't have morning sickness, sore breasts (never had those) the first trimester. I had issues with not making enough milk, and I wondered if the no sore breasts had anything to do with that. Also, I didn't really start feeling sick until going into the second trimester, and I was sick every morning. I am not complaining about lack of symptoms, but what made me think of this is on the Today show the other morning, two women doctors were on discussing caffeine and pregnancy, and one of them said morning sickness was a sign of a healthy pregnancy. So, since I didn't really have it, plus I had low progesterone, I wonder if those two things were signs that things wouldn't go well.
I have just been thinking a lot and can't seem to get it off my mind.

[caryn]

I don't think there's any universal pattern. A lot of our posters are so sick with hyperemesis that they have to go in to the hospital for rehydration IVs, and then get PE on top of that. One place that I found to be really interesting reading on this website when I first found it was the "Questions of the Day" -- people's experiences are so, so varied.

Here's a link: http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15760

[brooklynsmom]

I had really bad morning sickness with my PE pregnancy, and then hardly any at all with my PE free pregnancy. In fact, I thought I was destined for PE again with my second because of that! Everyone is just so different!

[heather100]

From my experience, the m/s wasn't a factor. I had it until 18 weeks with Paige (my pre-e pregnancy) and until 23 weeks with this pregnancy (so far pre-e free). I know I've read some studies that show hypermesis can lead to a slightly higher chance of pre-e but who knows.

I have also heard like you said that m/s is a sign of a healthy pregnancy b/c it means the hormone levels are increasing like they should. But... I've known many women that had none and had healthy pregnancies (like 15% of people do not get m/s at all).

[laura]

Missy- I was one of the hyperemesis girls, and tried to find as much information as I could- regular garden variety morning sickness is common, and is commonly considered a sign of good progesterone levels. Some have argued that it is an adaptation that helps moms choose foods that are less likely to be toxic to the developing fetus.

Hyperemesis, on the other hand, is m/s so severe that you loose a percentage of your prepregnancy weight- and I've read that liver biopsies of women with hyperemesis show signs of subclinical liver disease. The surveys that the HELPHER foundation has done (the hyperemesis org) have shown that a larger percentage of their membership develop preeclampsia than you'd find in the normal pregnant population, but I don't know if our survey has replicated this. I don't know if we asked about it, now that I think about it!

[hhbeachgurl]

I had low progesterone with one of my m/c but not with my PE pregnancy. Since we knew that was a problem for me in he past I was tested several time Also I never really had morningsickness with any of my 3 pregnancies, the 2 m/c and my PE one.

[colesmommy]

Laura-based on what you said about the HELPHER foundation-since signs of subclinical liver disease are sometimes apprarent, do these women actually develop HELLP syndrome, or is it just any level of preeclampsia? Very interesting information.

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I think just gathering information and knowing more about preeclampsia helps me deal with the situation better.

[laura]

I went back and tried to find the (one) article that mentions the liver biopsies, but you know, I read it five years ago and can't seem to locate it! Boy, there's a lot more out there about HG than when I last suffered from it in 2002-03. I found a review of the studies and it seems to say that although over half of HG sufferers will have abnormal LFTs (seemingly increasing risk of HELLP) it looks like it is caused by the nvp, rather than causing it. It does implicate an immune system reaction, which might be tied to later preeclampsia, however.

http://humupd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/11/5/527.pdf

FWIW, I had severe HG with my first two pregnancies, a respite via Zofran during my 3rd-- and 'just' had garden variety PE, not HELLP syndrome. HTH!

[cindergretta]

I had HG w/ #5 and developed HELLP. I had about 10 weeks between the 2 where all was good! [;)]

My sister has low progesterone w/ all her pgs, but has only had pre-e w/ her first.

Another variance! [:D]