Treatment
Preeclampsia is treated depending on how serious the condition is and how far you are in pregnancy. In severe cases, the condition progresses towards eclampsia, which can lead to coma or life threatening seizures. There are two cases of how serious preeclampsia is, mild and severe. Even if the preeclampsia is not as serious, you still need to check in with your doctor and get it treated so it does not get any worse. Women who have experienced with preeclampsia are at a greater risk of developing high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases later in life so it is important to get it treated as soon an possible.
How Is Mild Preeclampsia Treated?
Most women who has mild preeclampsia do not have serious health problems after 37 weeks of pregnancy. If you have mild preeclampsia before 37 weeks, your doctor/provider will:
Check your blood pressure and urine regularly.
May ask you to do kick counts to track how often your baby moves. There are two ways you can do this: time how long it takes for your baby to move ten times everyday (if it takes more than 2 hours than tell you doctor), or time how long you baby moves in an hour three times a week (if the number changes tell your doctor).
May give you medicine or break your water (amniotic sac) to make labor start early to be safe.
How Is Severe Preeclampsia Treated?
If you have severe preeclampsia, your doctor/provider would most likely want you to stay at the hospital to monitor you. If you have severe preeclampsia, your doctor/provider:
Treat you with medicines called antenatal corticosteroids (ACS). This medicine will help speed up the development of your baby's lung.
May get medicine to control your blood pressure or medicine to prevent seizures (magnesium sulfate).
If the condition gets worse your doctor/provider will recommend you to give birth early because it will be safer for you and your baby if you're at least 34 weeks pregnant.
If you have HELLP syndrome (life threatening disorder of the liver), you most likely have to deliver your baby early. About 2 of 10 women (20 percent) with severe preeclampsia develop HELLP syndrome.
Your doctor/provider may also recommend:
Blood tests
Urine tests
Fetal ultrasound: monitoring your baby's growth, through ultrasound
Nonstress test or biophysical profile. A nonstress test is a simple procedure that checks how your baby's heart rate reacts when your baby moves. A biophysical profile uses an ultrasound to measure your baby's breathing, muscle tone, movement and the volume of amniotic fluid in your uterus.
This health condition does not affect a woman's nutritional needs in terms of its treatments. The treatment of preeclampsia is most likely to deliver the baby early. This does not affect the dietary and nutritional needs that are needed for women who have preeclampsia. If your doctor tells you to take a specific medication to reduce blood pressure or anything else it also does not affect or change the nutritional needs for women who have preeclampsia.
Health and dietary needs:
Health and dietary factors are a key factor in the development of preeclampsia. This includes low intakes of calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and omega 3 fatty acids that can increase the risk of preeclampsia. Some other factors include high triglyceride levels, high BMI, low Omega 6: omega 3 ratio and high calories consumption. What you can do to maintain healthy habits is to:
Exercise daily
Eat a healthy diet
Maintain a healthy weight.
Use little or no added salt in your meals
Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day
Avoid fried foods and junk food
Get enough rest
Avoid drinking alcohol
Avoid beverages containing caffeine
Your doctor may suggest you take the prescribed medicine and additional supplements.
It is important that if you have preeclampsia that you take a nutrient-rich diet. This diet can include: wholegrains, fish, nuts, legumes, fruit, vegetables and dairy products. Having a nutrient-rich diet will help your baby get the nutrients it needs because preeclampsia reduces the amount of nutrients your baby gets.