# High blood pressure in early pregnancy and other worries



## Ruthee (Aug 3, 2008)

Dear Emily Caitlin,

Sorry this is a bit long-winded.

I wonder if you can help me. I have a 17 month old son from donor IVF. I was originally pregnant with twins but lost one. I had hyperemesis very badly and during a hospital admission at about 9 weeks pregnant my blood pressure was sky high (180/110). I had to have medication throughout pregnancy to bring it down which worked initially but not so well towards the end of pregnancy. Everyone I spoke to kept trying to convince me that I had high blood pressure before pregnancy but I know for a fact that this is not the case and after pregnancy my blood pressure returned to normal within 6 weeks.

Anyway getting to the point ... I recently had another donor IVF and was pregnant. Again I got very sick very early and at 6 weeks my blood pressure was high again (140/100). Unfortunately I had a missed miscarriage before I could see the consultant.

I want to have another baby desperately but I am worried that my blood pressure will rise and that this will harm the baby before I can get medication. The consultant told me that it wasn't the anti-sickness meds or the high blood pressure that caused the miscarriage but I am inclined to think that maybe she was just being kind and trying to make things easy on me.

I am worried that my body just doesn't respond well to pregnancy and that I will continue to have miscarriages because of this. Also, I am worried that if I do get pregnant, I might die and leave my son without a mother. I know that sounds a bit ridiculously dramatic but I had so many problems in my first pregnancy that when she was screening me recently the midwife's eyebrows just kept going up and up and I swear I could almost hear her thinking: "why on earth are you doing this agin??" My mum had exlampsia when pregnant and I am 41 years old. If I am going to get pregnant again, I really think I need to do it in the next year.

Any advice would be very appreciated,
Ruthee
xxx


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## emilycaitlin (Mar 7, 2006)

Hi,

I'm sorry for the losses you've had 
I really don't think that the blood pressure or the anti sickness medication contributed to the miscarriage, I don't think she was just trying to be kind, I've not heard of either of those causing miscarriages before. You are obviously at high risk of  problems in pregnancy due to your age and your history, so I can't say that things will be 100% straight forward. I think the best idea would be to get an appointment to see your consultant before getting pregnant, and a plan can be made for possibly even starting blood pressure medication as soon as you get pregnant,
Let me know how you get on,

Emilycaitlin xx


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## emilycaitlin (Mar 7, 2006)

Hi,

I'm sorry for the losses you've had 
I really don't think that the blood pressure or the anti sickness medication contributed to the miscarriage, I don't think she was just trying to be kind, I've not heard of either of those causing miscarriages before. You are obviously at high risk of  problems in pregnancy due to your age and your history, so I can't say that things will be 100% straight forward. I think the best idea would be to get an appointment to see your consultant before getting pregnant, and a plan can be made for possibly even starting blood pressure medication as soon as you get pregnant,
Let me know how you get on,

Emilycaitlin xx


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