High Blood Pressure

[lab80]

Any other mamas have high blood pressure? Mine was fine until about 2 weeks ago then it went up. My MW has me taking Calcium/Magnesium but who knows if it's helping. She said she can't legally care for me if my bp is above 1??/90 (I always forget what the first number is, but the 90 I'm certain about). I'm due a week from today and now I just want my baby to stay put until I can get my bp lowered. It makes me sad because I want him here so bad and now I need him to wait a little longer. What's a mama to do?

Lisa

[faithhopelove]

Mine was up to 130/84 once and I got a tad freaked out. I took a cream of tarter/lemon juice/water concoction and it was down to 104/60 the next week lol I would def try this! It's like 2 teaspoons in about a 1/4 cup of lemon juice and add some water. Or that's what I did anyway.

Hope yours goes down for you!

What were your numbers??? Did it increase a lot since your last visit? Cause that is more important than the actual number.

[lab80]

Mine was like 146/93. DH has been looking up info about it online and he thinks it may be transient hypertention, hypertention you get the last few weeks of pregnancy. We have a MW appt. tomorrow, we'll see what she says. I really don't want a hospital birth.

[faithhopelove]

It is normal for your bp to rise in the last weeks...I guess it's cause your body is doing so much more work. That is what made me calm down a bit. But taking the cream of tarter stuff can't hurt and has been used by many with great success on blood pressure bulletin boards. Its supposed to reduce it by 30pts in 3dys.

[pumpkinsmama]

Mine went way up, too. But they aren't really worried yet, so I'm not worried. Just keep an eye on yourself... lots of stores have bp machines if you want to check yourself. (I wouldn't have any idea what is normal or dangerous for diff. body types/stages of preg, but I'm sure you can just ask if you don't know either)

I was a little freaked out at first when they said it had gone way up, but since I have no other symptoms for pre e and it isn't at the danger level, I think it is just late stage preg. as fhl said.

(Although since your midwife has you on counteractives it sounds like you may be dealing with something completely diff)

s I hope it works out how you need it to. Try the cream of tarter and let us know if it works!

[littleteapot]

My BP raised quite a bit at the end of pregnancy and I successfully lowered it in a week's time.

2 tsp cream of tartar with 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice in half a cup of water. once daily for three days, stop for two, repeat if necessary.
Cucumbers and watermelon
Increase your water intake
1 clove of garlic swallowed like a pill daily
2 tsp chlorophyll 2-3x daily
Valerian root capsules 1-2x daily.


Doing this I lowered my BP from 133/89 average to 111/79 average in only one week. (133/89 is quite high for me personally). I felt WAY better.

[lab80]

Thanks for all of the advise, I will give the cream of tartar a try. Do you use fresh lemon juice?

[leurMaman]

Mine is usually very low (runs in the family) 90/50 type thing. Lately it is around 120/70. That is super high for me, so I am paying attention even though the midwives don't seem to care. I like the suggestions here.

[littleteapot]

Originally Posted by lab80

Thanks for all of the advise, I will give the cream of tartar a try. Do you use fresh lemon juice?

I used Real Lemon, but otherwise you use the juice of half a lemon.

[faithhopelove]

I used real lemon as well. I had no idea what half of a lemon was though and my bottle didn't say so I just squirted till it looked good.

Have a chaser handy

[littleteapot]

Originally Posted by faithhopelove

I used real lemon as well. I had no idea what half of a lemon was though and my bottle didn't say so I just squirted till it looked good.

Have a chaser handy

I SECOND THIS! It really is disgusting.

PS. On the back of the large bottles of Real Lemon it says that 3 tablespoons is equal to the juice of one lemon, so I just halfed it.

[lab80]

What would you reccommend as a chaser? Water? OJ?

[littleteapot]

I used OJ or chocolate milk. I found milk products worked better.

[faithhopelove]

I think I just drank water but that's cause I wanted to rinse out the leftover in the glass and drink it. Cause it doesn't really dissolve great and you want to make sure you get it all.

Honestly... I didn't find the taste horrible, maybe it was the concentration I used. But the chalkiness was the nasty part for me.

[boscopup]

Also, try taking your bp on your own - like at the grocery/drug store or at home if you have a cuff. I was 144/85 at my last OB appt, when normally I've been 120s/70s. Freaked me out! OB wasn't worried because the 85 was less than 90. I checked it again at Walmart the next day, and it was 124/78. Then at my midwife's appt the next week, it was 122/72. So apparently, I was dealing with some whitecoat hypertension (and I've sometimes even had that at the midwife's appts, even though I'm not at all nervous around her or in her homey, non-office environment).

[lab80]

I have been checking it at Target, and it was higher than when she did it last time. Which was last Friday at our home visit. So we were at my home, yet my BP was still high. So I'm not so sure it's a nervous thing. I'm going to check it again tonight at Target. I hope there is a change for the good.

[faithhopelove]

Make sure you are drinking a lot of water too!!! I know I wasn't so I started drinking it like crazy. I also only too one dose of the cream of tarter stuff instead of 3dys in a row liek I was supposed to. So I think the water had to do with it as well. Are you staying hydrated?

[lab80]

I'm staying as hydrated as I can.

[Chicky2]

Lisa, a good rule of thumb for hydration while pg is half your weight in ounces of water daily. I drink 5 20 oz bottles of water a day, plus a couple of cups of rrl/nettle tea.

Also, those bp machines at places like Target are really not always accurate, from what i understand. A manual bp cuff is cheap (like $15) and it's super easy to take it yourself at home. You can get one by the pharmacy in Wmart or Target. If we do end up meeting up this weekend, and you don't have a cuff yet, I'll bring you mine, k?