A Brief Overview on Pregnancy Induced Hypertension

Pregnancy is a certain condition when a woman becomes able to give birth of a new life. This is the time of excitement and happiness. It is an experience for life. A woman during pregnancy needs extra care and affection from their near ones to make her delivery hassle free. However, even with enough care and affection from closed ones can not make a pregnancy risk free always. A woman may experience certain undesirable health condition, such as pregnancy induced hypertension.

Pregnancy induced hypertension is characterized by a typical health condition occurring, as its name suggest, at the time of pregnancy. Similar to the common form of hypertension, pregnancy induced hypertension involves an unusually high degree of blood pressure and it mostly occurs during third trimester, or in other words, last three months of pregnancy. However, it may also happen in other months, but in rare incidences.

Common Causes

Although the field of medical studies has been progressed dramatically in recent decades, alas, no one yet has been able to conclude a single explanation behind the development of pregnancy induced hypertension. No one even can define the triggering factors for this undesirable condition. However, pregnancy induced hypertension is seen to be more prevalent in the case of first pregnancies, but less prevalent in successive ones.

Diagnostic Procedure

The diagnosis of pregnancy induced hypertension is possible by comparing the blood pressures of the mother during prenatal visits. Once the doctor has identified a threshold point, or a striking rise in the blood pressure level from the baseline, then the doctor generally concludes that pregnancy induced hypertension is present in the patient. However, administering successive tests are also necessary to confirm the condition.

Possible Treatments

The treatment strategies largely depend on a wide variety of factors, such as pregnancy level, severity of the condition, the condition of the baby inside, other health complications, etc. Considering all of these vital factors, doctors recommend relevant treatment procedure. Essentially, the patient is asked to take complete bed rest whenever possible. During this period, blood pressure is monitored in a more persistent fashion.

On the other hand, other monitoring tests are also conducted. These tests may involve blood tests, urine tests to identify the protein level, fetal cardiac rate monitoring, fetal growth and evaluation of amniotic fluid volume. There is no possible cure for this condition other than the delivery itself. However, following the delivery, even the condition may persist for few hours to few weeks.