High Blood Pressure Symptoms In Pregnancy

Your body is a complex operation, sometimes it’s easy to identify high blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy, other times not so easy. You’ll want to get diagnosed early to avoid other complications. In many cases, knowing some of the possible causes of high blood pressure, such as the ones we’ll be covering below, can allow you to make helpful changes in your lifestyle.

Pregnant Women

Some women experience high blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy which usually isn’t severe but sometimes does need to be controlled with medication. When blood pressure spikes to extreme levels during pregnancy it is called preeclampsia and is very dangerous for the baby and the mother. This can happen to women with no history of hypertension but women who had high blood pressure before becoming pregnant are at a greater risk. This is why monitoring blood pressure is so important during pregnancy. There are however some people who will notice that they are predisposed due to a family history. You need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of hypertension especially if your parents had it. You need to know if your family has a history of diabetes and heart disease as well. Lifestyle is the biggest factor under your control for avoiding these conditions. Our biggest point is that your genetic disposition can play a role so it is in fact important to pay attention.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is one of the lesser know causes of high blood pressure. This is a sleep disorder that makes it difficult to breathe normally when sleeping. Women with sleep apnea often snore as well which is a symptom of obstructed breathing while asleep. Women with sleep apnea are often tired throughout the day because they are not getting restful sleep. Doing a sleep study at a sleep disorder center is the only way to diagnose this condition that mainly affects those that smoke and who are overweight. If you are pregnant you should not be smoking at all and keep your weight under control. Not only does chronic sleep apnea contribute to high blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy but also to heart disease so it’s important to find out if you have this condition.

See Your Doctor

Because there are many causes of high blood pressure, you should work with your doctor to determine why you may have developed it if you have been diagnosed. Knowing what caused your blood pressure can be a key in figuring out how to control or even reverse it. Even if only some of the high blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy mentioned above apply to you, you still need to consider your lifestyle and medical history as there are many other causes as well.

How to Tell if You Have High Blood Pressure?

It’s important to know about risk factors and high blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy, as so many people have this problem and don’t even know about it. Regardless of whether you show symptoms or not, it is wise to have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis. Don’t wait until you have a serious problem to have this checked, as most people do. If you have hypertension these are some possible symptoms you may experience.

Systolic Pressure and Diastolic Pressure

What high blood pressure actually is, can be quite a controversy. Most are aware that blood pressure is a combination of two numbers called systolic pressure and diastolic pressure. Most experts agree that if your blood pressure is 140/90 or above you have hypertension, but there is some disagreement about what lower numbers mean. Your blood pressure would be considered normal if you for instance had a reading of 130/85. However, experts now call this prehypertension and state that blood pressure is only healthy below 120/80. Your doctor may believe differently, a blood pressure reading above 120/80 should be cause for you adding exercise to your routine, as well as monitoring your diet. Another symptom of hypertension we will discuss is nausea and vomiting. Your doctor will be the best source to determine the cause of these high blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy. A woman with severe hypertension may experience frequent bouts of nausea and possibly vomiting, and when it has reached this stage, prompt medical attention is required. If you are a woman with slightly above average blood pressure, this is still serious and needs to be addressed, but you probably won’t experience symptoms such as nausea. Most research shows that symptoms of high blood pressure don’t usually show up until the blood pressure is extremely high.

Signs of Anemia

In some cases, a sign of anemia can be one of the high blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy. When your body isn’t producing enough healthy red blood cells you have anemia. Symptoms of anemia may include unusual fatigue, depression or shortness of breath. Yet if you have mild anemia, there may not be any symptoms, and only medical tests can verify if you have this condition. See your doctor if you show any of these signs or symptoms for anemia or high blood pressure.

Early Prevention

When you suffer from high blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy there may be apparent warning signs, especially if your condition has gotten to a super high level. It is a lot easier to control your blood pressure when you are diagnosed early enough to properly treat it before it starts to threaten your life. If any of the signs or symptoms of high blood pressure that we talked about in this article start to appear for you, consult your physician because you might need medication or, more likely, your doctor will teach you how to treat the hypertension naturally. What is most important of all is that you treat your condition with respect and that you make the changes you need to make to control it.

Useful resources

US Department of Health and Human Services