Pregnant with High Blood Pressure

I would tell her to take it. The benefit outweighs the risk in her case. I read the other responses, and I too am a nurse, so this is coming from a nursing standpoint as I have never had high blood pressure. If her blood pressure gets too high she could have a stroke which would affect her and the baby. She could also end up in the hospital on IV drips (med continuously infusing) until they can control her blood pressure. Again, this would affect her and the baby. High blood pressure on it's own, even if she doesn't have any issues from it will affect the blood flow to the baby and restrict it's growth, possible causing a premature birth or low birgh weight. Again, I would strongly urge her to take the med. I myself take seizure meds, so I know what it's like to not want to take the meds while pregnant, but like I said before, the benefit waaaayyy outweighs the risk. Has she discussed not taking her atenolol with her OB & regular doctor?

Good luck and congrats on being an Aunt!

I always had high blood pressure until I got pregnant.
Pregnancy actually settled that down for me (perhaps, because I ate more healthy and also exercised more. Because I prefer a more holistic path, and believe pregnancy is a natural thing to behold, I am more prone to ask a midwife/nutritionist/etc for help, rather than a medical doctor. She must do what she feels is best for her though

My BP shot up around my 30th week and I delivered at 35 weeks. I was put on Labatelol once a day then up to 2 times a day. My OB/GYN was the one who researched this and said it was safe. I went into the hospital for observation (bleeding/contractions) at 35 weeks, my doc was on a cruise!!! Dr Armbruster was her fill in and he agreed with the choice of med. and was the one who upped the dose. Gave borth the next day, 5 weeks early to a healthy 5 pound baby girl who was discharged from the NICU when i got to go home!!! so have your sis inquire about this medicine! Good luck

i am a nurse and work in L&D, and i have seen pt's on aldomet, procardia and labetalol. every drug works differently, so the doses are very different. she should ask her MD about these.

High blood pressure runs in my husband's family and seems related in large part to dehydration. Given how important water is while pregnant and how it can at least increase blood pressure problems, I would encourage her to drink as much water as humanly possible...at least 100oz per day but more is better.

Cantalope is very good for high blood pressure and definately decrease you salt intake. Lots of water which I am sure you know all that just wanted to make sure. Also your prenatal vitamins should help with that for sure.

Has she had her arteries checked?????
My cousin also had high blood pressure from a very young age. Refused to take blood pressure meds while pregnant. This past year she had a massage heart attack at 50 years of age. They told her that her arteries have been clogged most of her life. If a doctor had checked this when she was young it may have made a completely different ending....

Hi D.,
Like your sis, I am one who had BP problems before. I did not take Atenolol prior to or after, but my doc put me on Aldomet during - it is apparently one of few drugs known to be safe during pregnancy. I did not have a problem, as my pressure stayed normal throughout, except when I was stressed out by an uncalled for admission to hospital at about 7 months pregnant. Outcome was a 8+ pound boy at term, who is now 4 1/2 y.o.
Hope she'll have a happy landing/birthday!
G.

Get her to have a nutritional work up- many safe supplements can help- check International Chiropractic Pediatric Association for docs that take care of moms and babies-k

I had the same issue when I was pregnant with my daughter 7 years ago. As a nurse I was VERY worried about this. They placed me on Aldomet (OLD fassion drug). Once they found the proper doseage it worked fine. The side effects I had were fatigue and nasal congestion.

Look it up here:
http://www.drugs.com/pdr/aldomet.html

Best of luck,

T. Lynn

Hello D.,

I am currently 7 months pregnant with pregnancy related BP issues. Procardia hasn't worked for me. However, Aldomet is doing its job quite well. Every patient is different, but it's something for your sister to ask her physician about.

Good Luck!

I just went thru this!!! DO NOT IGNORE IT!!!! I took 3,000 mg of Aldomet everyday. I ate properly and was on bedrest for 2 months. I had my baby 6 weeks early because my BP got to 250/150. I was at the hospital when it skyrocketed thank God! I lost all feeling and movement on my rightside. They had to do an emergency C-Cection.thankfully we are both fine now but, it was VERY scary and was quite the recovery. I am now taking Atenol and my BP is great. I too have been battling BP issues and noone has been able to tell me why. Good luck and DO what ever they tell you to do!!!

I take Methyldopa; I took it with my first baby. I fought it tooth and nail because I didn't want to take anything while I was pregnant; My doctor persuaded me to talk with his wife who was his PA in his office plus I did research. Sometimes it's what you don't do rather than what you do do.

I am currently 7 months pregnant and I just had intuition to check my blood pressure a couple of weeks ago because I just wasn't feeling right. Sure enough it was high so I called my doctor's office and I asked them if I could come in early. Sure enough it was elevated. My doctor was on vacation and so I saw one of his associates and I had to do a 24 hour urine and some bloodwork. If I didn't do this, I wouldn't have found out that I'm slightly anemic too.

I requested to be put on the meds because my doctor this pregnancy is different from my last doctor and this doctor doesn't usually put his patients on bp meds. He will have you see a specialist but since I took this with my son, they didn't hesitate.

I just didn't want to mess with it as I am very active and it seems that at this point in my pregnancy, with the heat, makes me crazy, I get elevated BP.

I hope this helps.

Also, are you under any stress, my hubby got hurt at work and they also cut back on his hours; I also have a three year old to take care of; It's hard to take care of myself when there are others to be taken care of at this time.

My hubby tries to help but he has a tear and a fracture and needs to stay off his feet.

At this point in my pregnancy, I wanted to take it easy but it's not possible at this time.

Hi, I had the same problem as your sister(hypertension since 19 yrs. old-no known cause).I am now 39 w/ 2 beautiful children 2 and 5.I went into both pregnancies knowing I would be high risk. My last pregnancy I took pindolol which worked really well for me. It is ESSENTIAL that your sister be monitored by a perinatologist thru her pregnancy. He/she has to monitor her pressure and medication while pregnant.He can reccomend the best meds for her situation.Although class C sounds really scary it is way more dangerous for your sister and the baby to not be on meds and have the pressure go out of control.(if this happens before 25 weeks they may possibly have to abort to save moms life and after 25 weeks deliver to save moms life-verySCARY having a 25 week preemie)The side affects of the blood pressure meds available to pregnant women are nothing like birth defects(those are class D-big no no)They are more like possible lower birth weight(much safer for mom and baby than eclampsia that she is assured to have if she doesn't take meds to control pressure) Also, FYI your sis will undoubtably go on limited activity and then eventually full bed rest towards the mid to end of the pregnancy. You guys can start now to get prepared and used to the idea of this most annoying fact. The goal is to get your sister to 36 weeks so babies lungs are mature. I was thin, in shape and ate really healthy when I became pregnant and the minute I tried to excercise or had the tiniest bit of stress my pressure shot out of control. When the pressure is high the nutrients don't cross the placenta and baby suffers, also if pressure goes to high mom can stroke out. I am not trying to scare you but it is essential to realize the seriousness of the situation of not following a trusted doctors orders in this type of situation. I live in Boca and I saw Dr. Venu Patel who is an amazing Perinatologist specializing in high risk pregnancies. I tried all the holistic approaches you could think of and the bottom line is if you had hypertension before pregnancy you are at a much greater risk of preeclampsia/toximia/eclampsia during pregnancy. Please feel free to e-mail me with any specific questions if you need as I went through this twice! (____@____.com) Good luck. Hope this helped!!

Methyldopa is used safely in pregnancy. I don't have references with me to tell you whether it's a category A or B, but they use it in L & D.

Your sister might want to find another doctor. They should be aggressively trying to control her pressure, and it's not acceptable to say they don't know. They can research it.