Thursday 25 August 2011

Postpartum Hypertension In Pregnancy

A sudden rise in blood pressure after childbirth is called postpartum hypertension. This condition can generally occur after a week of childbirth. Some of the signs associated with the condition are the inflammation of the hands, feet and very intense headaches. There are no definite causes to this problem and no medical reasons to this condition. In case of a woman who shows the signs of postpartum hypertension, she needs to be totally examined by a doctor. There are many women who may also experience this condition permanently and there are also cases where the condition can be treated in a few weeks.

The causes and the reasons that contribute to the occurrence of this type of hypertension vary and they are not uniform to all patients. One of the main causes of this condition could be some kind of anxiety disorder as childbirth can be stressful enough. If the mother is sleep deprived and has a lot of worries related to the child she can become a victim of this condition. She needs to be admitted to the hospital immediately and needs to be administered drugs until her blood pressure normalizes. After discharge she also needs to undergo therapy so that she is no longer affected by the threat of hypertension. There is another cause of postpartum hypertension and that is the administration of drugs during childbirth. This often leads to a rise in the levels of blood pressure. The doctor needs to give her medicines to lower the levels. There are instances when the doctor needs to stop the drug that is the root cause of postpartum hypertension. The next step of treatment is then taken up by the doctor.

Smoking can also contribute to the rise in blood pressure. A pregnant woman should stop smoking as this is a very dangerous habit and it is not only harmful to the mother but it is also harmful to the fetus. Mothers that smoke generally have babies with low weight and there is a big chance the babies will develop the smoking habit as well. Here the cure is pretty simple and if the mother quits smoking the levels of blood pressure is likely to come down. Weight is also a prime determining factor that plays a very important role in the cause of postpartum hypertension. One thing in common between women that experience postpartum hypertension is that most of them are overweight. Weight reduction becomes the need of the day in these cases. When the time of the delivery comes it may so happen that the blood pressure levels of the mother are at dangerous levels and a cesarean operation may have to be conducted for the mother and child.

In the first few months of pregnancy the mother has the tendency to put on weight and eat too much. She can make sure that she eats a balanced diet and food that is rich in vitamins and minerals. Her diet should be mostly salt free because it has been observed that salt and fat food contribute to the rise of blood pressure.

Visit us for information about how to lower blood pressure fast. You can also read details on the different types of heart disease.

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