# Moms who were misdiagnosed w/pre-eclampsia



## islandmama143 (Jul 25, 2008)

I'm writing an article on the controversial diagnosis and treatment of pre-e. I'm looking for Moms to tell their story of misdiagnosis, moms who may have had the condition and still delivered naturally and midwives who are willing to help moms who get diagnosed and/or mws who have attended homebirths of hypertensive and/or pre-e or supposed pre-e women. I was misdiagnosed w/pre-e in late March. I was thirtsy and hungry after my 5 mile hike. I was stressing b/c of disagreementsw/my mw. My bp was up and I was spilling protein at the doctor's office (which my mw had sent me to to ask permission for more time for my baby to be delivered naturally --I was 40 weeks, she thought I was 41). I wish I knew more about the condition, natural treatments, what happend in the hospital and their procedures for the conditon ect...I want women to know that they have time they won't explode...and they can trust themselves. I wish I had just rested and went to the doctors in the morning...I think then I would have maintained more of my power as a woman --knowledge is power and I had little knowledge of this controversial condition. Please share your story. I'd love to hear from you and perhaps you would be apart of my article! Thanks


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## StarMama (Jun 25, 2002)

Yup that's me, misdiagnosed with my first. I was already in early labor, my bp was slightly elevated (not high enough to be worried about, I just had to monitor it), and my protein was +3, except I had blood in my urine my entire last 2 trimesters (I had to have a U/S on my kidneys to see if something was wrong), plus was having lots of bloody show when I gave my sample.

I was induced after speaking to my midwives, with pitocin, mag sulfate, external and then internal monitors, ended up with an epidural because I couldn't cope with broken water contractions without being able to get up, ending up vomitting my son out which ended up with me having both uterine and rectal prolapse issues (I was 25 at the time).

In the birth video afterwards the nurse says "Oh look at that! You didn't have pre-eclampsia after all!". OMG I wanted to strangle someone.

I'm not quite sure if I agree that women who really do have pre-e do have time, if properly diagnosised it can kill mom/baby and hits like lightening when it does hit.

But I'm really pissed off that I (and other women) are misdiagnosed, especially with the horrid mag. sulfate medication (basically having the flu during labor sucks!).

I also wish I had more options, that my midwives had shared safe herbal and dietiery changes I could have tried when my bp started creeping up.

And I've also been reading that the mag. sulfate isn't a for sure to stop any seizures, I sure wish I knew more about that when I consented to it (as omg it was quite YOUR GONNA DIE so I consented to everything).


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## DentedHalo (May 27, 2008)

A bit of food for thought:

http://www.wombecology.com/preeclampsia.html

Quote:

Hormones such as cortisol are also known blocking agents. This can explain how the emotional state of the pregnant woman influences the risk of preeclampsia.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *StarMama* 
In the birth video afterwards the nurse says "Oh look at that! You didn't have pre-eclampsia after all!".

How did she tell? Is there some indication at birth?


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## StarMama (Jun 25, 2002)

Not a clue I was really drugged up and didn't speak to her (didn't notice she said anything until the birth video actually), I figured it was a liver panel or whatever they do with the urine testing...


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## Multimomma (Jan 25, 2008)

My first had prenatal care under midwives, my OB nurse mother insisted they were 'babykillers' and they got all their mistakes. I blew it off, cause hey, what do mom's know?

Fact is, that i showed preeclamptic signs at 20 weeks, and when I asked the midwives told me I was overreacting and that my problem was canned vegetables. And meat. i should stop eating all meat and canned veggies. Only fresh raw veggies and water. And they sent me home. At 24 weeks, I was just as swollen and had gained something like thirty pounds in less than a month. Still, they accused me of lying and said that they knew I was eating junk food. They canceled my next appointment as retaliation. Each month my weight gain was worse, although they said my blood pressure was 'okay'. They never told me what it was, and being the uneducated first time mom, I never thought it was within my rights to ask.

At 42 weeks, dazed, sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day, they did a NST, and found not only was my son stressed, my blood pressure was 180/130. They sent me to the hospital for a repeat NST. The hospital sent me home and said to come back at 6am the next morning for an induction. Which was 14 hours of vomiting and pain racking contractions before the dr came in and said my blood pressure had gone up to 220/190 and that they were doing an emergency c right then.

In hind sight it makes me excruciatingly angry. Knowing what I know now, at 20 weeks I should have been told about MORE protein, not less. If they had been able to look past their preset conditions and admitted that perhaps I DID have an issue, then it could have been handled better. Fact is, that all of my boy pregnancies I tend to swell, and moving into an insanely high protein emergency diet has decreased my symptoms within four hours. I try to follow Brewer's diet whenever I'm pregnant, and I've never had a bp problem again.

Probably not what you are looking for, but a story that shows that knowledge and the proper natural treatments CAN eliminate preeclampsia. My SIL DID deliver naturally with a midwife when she had pre e. It's an amazing story that I can't do justice to, five day active labor due to swelling, but very well handled and afterbirth care was amazing.


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## StarMama (Jun 25, 2002)

Oh I'm also in the process off getting my medical records from the labor and birth, I'll be looking over it to see what I can figure out as well.


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## Belia (Dec 22, 2007)

:

My urine sample at the mw came back a +1 for the first time on Friday. I have no other signs or symptoms- my blood pressure has been fine all along (inc on Friday- 120/70 I think, and I was VERY NERVOUS at the time) and I'm not swelling or even gaining hardly any weight (I've gained 1 lb. in the past month). They did some kind of blood test I'll get the results of next week. My sister did have severe pre-e with her kids, though.

So I'm interested in everybody's stories.


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## islandmama143 (Jul 25, 2008)

It's definitely a tricky condition...I can't say that I did not have pre e 100%...but I'm 75% sure I had stress induced hypertension (which of course too can be dangerous). I've gotten my medical records and spoken w/another doctor and two holistic midwives about my story --all of whom say that I was either misdiagnosed and/or had a mild case that could have been treated...at the very least I should not have been rushed into the hospital...diagnosed and treated all w/in such a short frame of time.

But I'm a naturalist and now, more than ever, know that we can heal ourselves (herbs, excerice, meditation ect). Just listening to what your body needs is key. Every woman is differant. My bp, after my 5 mile hike, was 160/98 and then it steadily went down to 140/90 (not bad --still higher than my norm but I was basically having a panic attack being in my "nightmare" senario -- so not bad). All my tests came back clear...everything was normal. My initial urinalysis showed 4+ proteinuria which can down to trace protein within 5 hours (I drank a gallon of water on the way to the hospital). I had no idea about anything at the time...what all this meant and how to cure myself...but what my heart told me what that I need 1. water 2. protein and 3. rest. I was basically having a panic attack for the last 2 weeks (family issues, midwife, approaching birth). I definitely should have been doing some calming meditaions and positive thinking. Next time is going to be SO differant. But the condition is a serious one and if lets say I did have it, I would have given myself some time to deliver w/out getting on that magnesium sulfate, which didn't make me sick but totally worked against what we were trying to do (it tightens your urterus...making it near impossible to deliver). Also I would have moved around more...I mean I was in the hospital right. My bp wasn't that bad and they said I couldn't move around --or even sit up or my bp would go up. Strange thing of it all though is a week after my baby was born, and my mother was visiting arguing w/me about my parenting methods (no vaccinations) and I checked my bp -175/125. Also, I just went for that hike I went on almost as long but not quite (my baby is already 20lbs) and I came back and checked my bp...pre-hypertensive...much higher than my norm. Intersting stuff.


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## gwerydd (Jun 7, 2007)

i'm not sure if i had pre-e or just very severe PIH but in either case it got to be very dangerous. i'm not sure what my protein levels were but my bp went from 140/104 to 171/119 to 212/121 in a very short period of time. i started to get flashes in my eyes. my dd was also complete breech and only 35 weeks so not engaged and it was decided that it was just too dangerous to induce given all of this. my doctor did tell me after the birth i was pre-eclamptic, but i was so out of it i didn't think to ask him. i spent one night in the ICU after my dd was born because my bp stayed at dangerously high levels. so i don't know if i technically had pre-e but it was very traumatic.


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## mwherbs (Oct 24, 2004)

from recent studies the beginnings of pre-eclampsia start at implantation - and how the placenta/maternal circulation interplay, including maternal immune response-- so things that change maternal circulation like auto-immune disease, diabetes, chronic hypertension, oxidative stress- there may be ways to mitigate some of these factors and maybe even regulate how and if problems are expressed-

as for something to read you can download(pdf) the booklet or read it online archived-- this is the national working group report on BP in pregnancy includes PE as well as other forms of hypertension

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof...p/hbp_preg.htm

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also here is an illustration of uterine spiral arteries
http://www.sgul.ac.uk/depts/immunolo...roph/troph.htm

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and here is an interesting bit written and illustrated by a biologist
http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/c..._preeclampsia/

here is one recent alternative thing that can be tried- it is interesting to note that folic acid also helps to form clotting factors and that falling platelets can be a sign of folate deficency (atleast according to hemotologists )

Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2008 Jan;198(1):45.e1-7.

Folic acid supplementation in early second trimester and the risk of
preeclampsia.

Wen SW, Chen XK, Rodger M, White RR, Yang Q, Smith GN, Sigal RJ, Perkins SL,Walker MC.

OMNI Research Group, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Medicine, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. [email protected]JECTIVE: The objective of the study was to evaluate the association between folic acid supplementation in early second trimester and the risk of developing preeclampsia. STUDY DESIGN: We carried out a prospective cohort study between October 2002-December 2005. We recruited women who had their prenatal care visit (12-20 weeks' gestation) at the Ottawa Hospital and Kingston General Hospital. All charts for participants with a diagnosis of preeclampsia were audited and blindly adjudicated by 4 study investigators to validate the diagnosis.
RESULTS: A total of 2951 pregnant women were included in the final analysis.Supplementation of multivitamins containing folic acid was associated with increased serum folate (on average 10.51 micromol/L), decreased plasma homocysteine (on average 0.39 micromol/L), and reduced risk of preeclampsia (adjusted odds ratio, 0.37; 95% confidence interval, 0.18-0.75).
CONCLUSION: Supplementation of multivitamins containing folic acid in the second trimester is associated with reduced risk of preeclampsia.

PMID: 18166303 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


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## Jojo F. (Apr 7, 2007)

This thread here has a lot of good information. It should really be a sticky.

My story is in the end of the thread.


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