Thank Goodness for Second Chances

Melissa Mihalovic

Written Communication

Cause and Effect

Preeclampsia/Eclampsia:

               

 

                Today I will discuss some causes and effects of preeclampsia which can lead to eclampsia. Which is life threatening to the pregnant mother and baby.  I unfortunately know of eclampsia all too well, since this happened to me 4 years ago after giving birth to my last child.  It is very rare to only have eclampisa without having preeclampsia, actually only a 0.1% chance of this ever happening. 

                Preeclampsia is high blood pressure that develops or increase while a women is pregnant, and can lead to eclampsia which involves seizures of the women.  Preeclampsia usually develops after 20 weeks pregnant.  I can be mild or severe, and can even affect the kidneys, brain, liver and lungs.  If the women’s blood pressure gets too high then she can and will develop eclampsia which is a bleed in the brain and then causes seizures.  My seizures developed a full one week after I gave birth which is very rare.  There may be some signs and symptoms of preeclampsia which include agitation, confusion, changes in mental status, decrease urine output, nausea and vomiting, headaches and visual impairment.  I had all of these symptoms and went to the doctor several times but because this is so rare after giving birth they did not look for this and was sent home.  A lot of times there are no clues or warning signs that eclampsia will occur.  During or after a seizure a women may bite their tongue, break bones, harm her head, develop fluid in lungs and can also be life threatening.

                There are many causes that can contribute to preeclampsia and eclampsia, but there are times as in my case where they have no cause and no warning.  Some of these causes include, high blood pressure before even getting pregnant, or developing high blood pressure during pregnancy, also diabetes, having a baby before the age of 20 or after the age of 35, a first pregnancy, or low socioeconomic status.  These are just a few causes but there are many more that are not known. 

                Diagnosis begins with a complete history and physical while pregnant.  This does include multiple blood test and history of both father and Mother.  There can also be long term effects from having preeclampsia and eclampsia which include, increased risks for C section next time, placenta abrubtio, in which the placenta breaks away from the uterine wall, stillbirth, premature birth, death of mother, acute kidney failure, and PRES syndrome, which I was also diagnosed with, this is a reversible brain swelling to put it in better terms.  They say the only treatment for eclampsia is to give birth but as we know this does not always stop the seizures.  When this happens to someone once the risks for it the next time the Mother becomes pregnant is high.