Does this sound like the start of pre-eclampsia??

[BedfordGal]

Hi,

Just wanted to run down the symtoms i've been having since about 19 weeks pregnant and hoping that someone with experience with pre-eclampsia can help me out.  Since 19 weeks i've been having pretty major swelling mainly in my legs. Now at 30 weeks it's starting to move down to my ankles and feet.  It's worse when i work all day and usually by morning after sleeping all night it's mostly gone.  Lately also i've been having really weird blood pressure readings...some days it's perfectly fine while others days i have spikes of high pressure ie 160/90 or such.  It never stays high long and usually withing 20 minutes to a half hour at the most it's closer to normal again.  I also have white coat symdrome so i always get a high reading at the doctors which is why i monitor it home myself.  Other then that i feel ok...i'm very very tired and have been most of this pregnancy..baby is moving well. I'm just really worried.  I've never had any protein in my urine that my doctor told me about anyway. She did blood work a couple of days ago to check liver and kidney function and i haven't heard from her yet so i'm hoping it was ok.  At 24 weeks my white blood cell count was elevated..is this a sign of pre-eclampsia? I'm just so confused and scared. I'm always checking my pressure because i'm paranoid it's going to spike really high and do damage to me or the baby. If anyone can give me some advice or tell me their experience with this i would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

[Cycl3Chick]

well, i just meant to help with swelling, in general, exercise is good for that.

[BedfordGal]

Trust me there'll be no excercising...its exercise for me now just walking across the room...i'm that uncomfortable and tired and HEAVY.  I'm taking it easy as much as possible and once i'm done work in two weeks i plan on doing next to nothing.

[Atlantisea]

If it is pre ecclampsia then rest is reccomended and NOT exercise. Check with your doctor for accurate medical advice!

[BedfordGal]

Thanks for the advice..i really appreciate it :)

[Cycl3Chick]

well, another problem with suggesting its pre-eclampsia is that lots of stuff can raise WBCs.  I think its good you are staying on top of this tho, its not something you want to be surprised with.  I have friends that got surprised with it but the delivery turned out fine.  They never had problems except swelling, until they got migraines/vomiting, and that was kind of a signal that they needed to go to the hospital asap.

  Just make sure you are drinking tons of water, exercising at least 30 minutes a day like walking, keep your feet elevated, and eat things high in potassium like bananas and potatoes.  Potassium will make the water stay in the cells where it belongs instead of o the outside of the cells (salt), which helps with swelling too.  I'm sure you know all of this but just in case someone else is looking for help I wanted to write things you can do to control it :D

[BedfordGal]

Yeah i did a little research online also and i did find a couple of sights that suggest that pre-eclampsia is caused by an immune response...and if that's true then it would definately have to do with white blood cells i think. I'll have to ask my doctor about it next appointment. She didn't seem concerned but the more i think about it the more i think it could be a sign.

[Cycl3Chick]

I looked online but I couldn't find anything that suggested WBC levels associated with pre-eclampsia.