Preeclampsia eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy that is associated with hypertension. Get expert tips and advice on preventing, diagnosing, and treating preeclampsia eclampsia in this video.
Follow up with you doctor regularly
Discuss treatment options with your doctor
Consult a doctor if symptoms persist
Dr. Gibbons is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist with Cascadia Women's Clinic. She has a degree of Osteopathic Medicine from Des Moines University and did her residency training with Doctor's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio in affiliation with Ohio St. University. She enjoys her work and loves the people she works with.
DR. LISA GIBBONS: Hi. My name is Dr. Lisa Gibbons, and I'm an obstetrician/gynecologist with Cascadia Women's Clinic, in Vancouver, Washington. I would like to talk with you today about preeclampsia and eclampsia in pregnancy. Preeclampsia is defined as a disorder of pregnancy typically after 20 weeks gestation associated with elevated blood pressures and proteinuria. The blood pressure is typically are elevated in the 140s systolic, and 90s diastolic range with elevated protein in the urine, and eclampsia is defined as a seizure, typically a grand mal seizure, in a lady who has not ever had a seizure before and is a much more severe extension of preeclampsia. These disorders can become quite severe and can become ultimately life-threatening to both mom and baby. Symptoms also associated with this disorder includes headaches, visual changes including black spotty vision, right upper quadrant belly pain, swelling in both the feet as well as hands and face, and some nausea and vomiting as well. We typically screen for this at each visit by having the lady give us a urine sample for protein and also checking the blood pressures at each visit. If this is detected, then further evaluation is made by blood draws to make sure that the disease process is not progressing, and we evaluate closely the baby as well. The treatment for this ultimately is delivery. Because we do not know exactly the ideology of the disease, we do not know what causes it. We do know that it has to do with the placenta so ultimately to improve the disease process, treatment is delivery. This can become quite tricky if the gestational age is quite early and the baby is either not viable or it threatens the pregnancy's viability, and we are constantly in a balance between treating both mom and baby, so I would strongly encourage you talking to your obstetrician/gynecologist and potentially high risk doctor as well, and the treatment option at your stage and severity of the disease. We closely monitor with ultrasound and blood draws and urinalysis on sometimes a daily basis for these ladies, so this can be quite severe. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, I strongly encourage you to come in to your obstetrician/gynecologist for further evaluation and ultimate treatment.
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