# Does High blood pressure have an effect on fertility?



## Ann_P (Aug 24, 2007)

Hi, I've tried to find an answer to this but so far no luck.

I went through many tests investigating our inability to conceive/hold on to a baby several years back.

No-one mentioned (I don't remember it being checked actually) that I had high blood pressure until I went for my lap & hysteroscopy op and was being prepared for general anaesthetic (some 5 years ago). They were waiting for my bp to go down all morning as felt it was too high to go through with the op, but in the end they went ahead anyway. I put it down to just being a bit worried in hospital.

After being told by an NHS consultant after this that nothing was wrong, but IVF would be a waste of money because of my age (as my chances were so slim) WE GAVE UP trying, other than 'naturally'.

A few years later by chance, on a voluntary health survey, I was told that I had VERY high blood pressure and should get it checked out.

I did this after returning from a holiday and discovered that my bp was way over the top, even throughout 24 hour monitoring (so not just white coat). I had various tests etc and nothing seemed out of the ordinary (except high oesophils in my blood - something to do with fighting off allergies apparently). so it is not known why I had high bp or for how long.

I'm now on tablets for life and it's under control.

So, my question is, could my high bp, assuming I've had it long before I knew, have been a factor in my miscarriage and/or lack of conception? Or is it irrelevant to that?


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## Ann_P (Aug 24, 2007)

Nobody knows    ??


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## Maisyz (Dec 15, 2010)

Hi, I can't give a total answer as not sure there is one. I went trough a similar experience, had surgery stopped due to blood pressure, 24 hour tests etc, etc, etc. Now under control and have been through treatment etc. No one has ever said that it would affect fertility directly. In my case the blood pressure may have been caused by something else which undoubtedly did affect fertility though (fibroids), which have now been removed and which has led to a much improved blood pressure as well.(I may in fact be able to stop the bp meds if it continues to be stable). Whenever I am on cycle the consultant says bp has to be 100% under control and I change meds to a preg friendly one and higher dose to make sure it is under control so assume they think there is some link but no one has said anything specific.

Sorry I can't give you a more specific answer, your NHS consultant sounds horrible btw. Good luck in the future with whichever avenue you choose.

Maisy


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## Ann_P (Aug 24, 2007)

Maisyz- thanks for replying. Your post is really interesting.

I didn't know fibroids could cause high blood pressure! We have been looking for a reason why my bp was so high and the tests came back with nothing, which is worrying as I can't fix it if there's no reason, but it was way off the scale. It is under control now but I take two sets of pills daily.

I too have fibroids! It's all in my gp's notes but no-one seems to know they could be the cause. 

I was advised not to have them removed and that they would not affect fertility, other than if a fertilised egg landed on one it could not embed there. However they are bad enough to have distorted the womb out of shape, so my thoughts are that they may well cover a fair surface area of the womb and have affected my chances greatly.

The trouble with the NHS is that I believe they don't want to spend their resources on this, so instead of telling you the truth, they just say there's no point having them removed.

You're right that particular consultant was pretty heartless. I was on my own for that appointment and she bluntly told me not to bother trying as it's never going to happen. I had a bit of a breakdown on the bus home, just could not stop the flood of tears, no matter how much I mopped up, to the point where a lady passenger got off at my stop (it wasn't hers) just to make sure I was ok.

I wish now that I hadn't listened to that consultant, she just quoted statistics at me and made me feel like some kind of stupid old woman.


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## Maisyz (Dec 15, 2010)

Hi, I was also told that fibroids would not affect fertility, my signature tells the whole sorry tale. I have now had them removed (mostly) and the consultant who did them believes they do affect fertility a lot (the medical community is often divided). 

I have felt very hurt and angry at times, that they wrote me off as some stupid old woman and their answer to everything is donor eggs and it was very hard to find out that essentially I'd been ripped off for 3 cycles of treatment when the broids meant I had no chance. Also discovered that they put me on some stuff which made the broids much much worse (essentially they were feeding them their favourite food of oestrogen at high doses and unnecessarily omg). Have parked being angry as still recovering for more attempts.

With my blood pressure the thinking is that as I was in almost constant pain with the broids this was affecting the bp. As I said it's being monitored, given that they made such a big deal and made me go on life long meds for it they need to be pretty sure before taking me off the stuff after all!! I know there is a lady on the broids board who has looked into this a lot more than me so you might want to have a look for her post (can't remember her name sorry but will have a look

Good luck for the future - Maisy


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## Ann_P (Aug 24, 2007)

Thanks for the advice to check the fibroids board Maisyz. 

I had been advised not to have them removed and am now wondering if that was bad advice. Jeez, don't they know these decisions affect your whole life.

How was the op to remove them? Was it painful? How long was recovery time?

I'm so sorry you have had such a hard time of it. We are at the mercy of the professionals, but thank god we can communicate with each other these days and become better informed.

All the best to you too...


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## seemedlike4eva (Jan 26, 2010)

I've had high BP for all my adult life - it went up in my first pregnancy, lost the baby at 36 weeks, and never went down..
It's well controlled, I've never been told that it would affect my fertility per-se, but that it would limit the 'life' of any pregnancy and make it a juggling act to get to a point where I was still safe & baby strong enough to survive outside, plus I'd need to concieve on aspirin. When we started this TTC lark, we knew DH had a problem but all my tests were OK. 
I do have some auto-immune disease, and discussed with my rheumatologist that we're giving it one more try, and the only concern is keeping my BP & clotting under control in pregnancy. 
Was a cause ever found for the high BP? It maybe an underlying thing causing the BP that has given you problems - depends how extensive the tests were that they ran to find a cause.


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## Ann_P (Aug 24, 2007)

No, no cause ever found. They did some regular tests, found nothing and that was it. It is worrying as I feel there must be a problem, and the tablets I'm taking are merely keeping a lid on it. 

What about you Seemslike4ever? I'm so sorry to hear you lost your baby at 36 weeks. If the pregnancy was the cause of your high bp why didn't it go down afterwards? Is it the auto-immune disease that is the cause of the high bp?


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## seemedlike4eva (Jan 26, 2010)

Yes, auto-immune disease is likely cause, although it took 12 years from pregnancy loss to get the lupus properly diagnosed. I was fobbed off with all sorts, the classic 'it's your weight' - losing 2 stone made no difference, 'you're unfit' - exercise made no difference... As I developed more problems, I did my own research, fought hard for specialist referrals and got the diagnosis of lupus. I had joint pains, migraines, mouth ulcers, and added together to the blood pressure, it became apparent. 
I know what you mean, the younger you start to suffer from blood pressure, the more likely it is that there is an underlying cause x


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