Tips to help lower blood pressure? - Page 2

[craftmuffin]

I had PIH with my first pregnancy -- just high BP with no other symptoms. My midwife had me monitor my BP at home a few times per day. At my appointments, I would lie down on my left side and take some deep breaths before we took it. And I agree about making sure that they're using the proper cuff size.

In my case, my normal reading was 120/80 to begin with so it didn't give me much wiggle room. My BP rose to various top numbers over 90 off and on for the last few months. No protein in my urine, just the high BP. My midwife was concerned toward the end, wanted me to try all sorts of herbs to get things moving -- but I ended up with a totally normal, full-term, unmedicated vaginal birth.

My second pregnancy had no BP issues at all and so far none with this one. My OB said that PIH is very common in first pregnancies. Please, do monitor yourself carefully and take whatever precautions your doctor advises - but I wanted to reassure you that high BP alone won't necessarily lead to serious problems.

[Carma]

My BP was also relative high my first pregnancies (~140/80), but now with the 3rd it has been 120/60 all the time. Not sure what I did different, maybe even less salt and caffeine?
But I would take the 160/90 very serious especially if you have been low all the time sofar and you are indeed not feeling very well. I know several people that ended up with preeclampsia, that is not a lot of fun.

Carma

ps. Just saw you additional replies. The home meters are indeed less accurate.

[claddaghmom]

I won't pretend to be an expert in this and it sounds from the PP as if it might be serious.


But as to your queston on how to lower it...my mom had Toxemia, pre-e/e during her last two pregnancies and managed both of them with diet and exercise. High protein diet, no sugar, no carbs.

[BekahJ]

Replace your salt with sea salt. It really helps me with my swelling and bp.

[7swans]

I am back from the doctor's so I just wanted to post an update. The news was mostly good: my home blood pressure monitor is not very accurate. I brought it in for them to test, and it was giving readings 25 points higher than what the nurse was getting. They've asked me to get a manual one (with the large cuff) so I can continue taking readings at home. My blood pressure is still kind of wonky - 112/70 this morning, 137/86 around lunch. Seeing that it does go up to the higher end of "normal", they want to keep an eye on me but they're not too concerned right now. I get to stay with my OB because she also takes patients at the high-risk clinic. My next appointment is at the regular clinic, but the one after that will be at the hospital because she'd like to do a quick ultrasound to check the baby's growth. I think it's pretty ideal that she works at both places because I get to stay with her and still have some extra monitoring.

She said my diet is fine and I can continue exercising, which I'm very happy about because tonight is my aquafitness class! I'm feeling way less stressed about the whole thing now. I asked what the course of action would be if things got worse, and she said they would try medication first, and they would only induce if I developed pre-eclampsia or very, very high bp (180 or higher). Basically, they're not induction-happy, but they will do it if necessary. I think that's all I can ask for.

I'm still taking all of the advice into consideration though! I definitely want to keep things under control. Thank you to everyone for the support!

[MyZymurgy]

I'm glad your bp's back down. I hope it stays that way!

You mentioned in your original post that you weren't feeling great when your bp was high. That can be related, depending on what brand of 'not feeling good' you were talking about. I have PIH this pregnancy (pre-e and HELLP with the last). I recently had a cold and my bps SOARED to scary heights - like 190s/110s. When my cold resolved, the bps went back down to 140-150/90s. (Which is still high, yes... like I said, I have PIH and I'm on meds right now for it.)

So I just wanted to throw out there the possibility that your high bp reading was tied to not feeling well.

I understand not wanting to be labeled "high risk"... but if you are high risk, you are high risk. Ignoring something as serious as bp just because you are afraid your dream birth will be taken away is understandable in many ways, but it's dangerous thinking. I know your primary goal is a healthy baby (and healthy mama) and if that means you have to have closer monitoring, so be it. I know it's hard to feel like you are "giving in" to the medical establishment if you are wanting a very natural no-intervention low-key pregnancy. But... you can't fight reality. If you have bp issues, they must be addressed by your doctor for the sake of your health and your little one's health. I don't mean to sound like I'm lecturing (I know you don't need that!), but my perspective is one with a history of really scary bp issues in pregnancy.

Of course... hopefully that high reading was just a fluke and you won't have any more scares!

(BTW - staying well hydrated is also important for bp, I've found!)

Good luck!



ETA: Sorry, I missed reading your last post for some reason. Your doctor sounds awesome! It's great that you've talked about reasons to induce and she laid it out for you. All doctors seem to have different thresholds for when they do interventions - especially with pre-e and bp related issues. Even if you get pre-e, you may not get induced right away if your pre-e is very mild and your numbers are stable. I had pre-e for many weeks before I was induced.

You are doing awesome, though!!! You are handling this so well and doing all the right things. Sorry again for sounding "lectureish" above. I'll leave it there just in case the encouragement to seek doctor advice for bp issues is helpful to any lurkers - but you obviously didn't need it.

I'll send you lots of low bp vibes.... take care, hon!!!

[7swans]

MyZymurgy: Don't worry, mama, I wouldn't have taken your post badly anyway. It's good advice!

I was really afraid of getting switched to a doctor who I don't really click with, but "giving in to the medical establishment" is also an issue in a sense, because I really don't want to to end up having interventions soley because I'm high-risk, not based on how I'm actually doing.

I think the hardest part I really want to do things "right", and sometimes it's really hard to know what's right!

Edited to clarify that I'm really happy I saw my doc about this! I just get mixed feelings whenever stuff like this comes up (WinRho was another tough one).