High BP and anxiety

I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and prescribed 200mg Lebatol at my 28-week appointment. I'm now 30 weeks and BP is being checked twice a week, in a much better place. But F me do I feel like a mess :( I hate getting out of the house, even if I stay in most of the day, I start feeling unsafe/dreadful if I am not in bed. Has anybody else experienced this with or without Lebatol? Just feel like curling up in a ball most of the time, looking at my mum boobs and belly makes me freak out too, like shiiit, this is real man 😰🥲 *sigh*

Show your support

Can I ask what your BP levels were?

I’ve taken labetalol in both my pregnancies and it takes a week or two for my body to get used to them. They make me really tired to begin with

Also do you monitor at home? It may be that your blood pressure is dropping a lot. I do daily home monitoring because my blood pressure is always much higher in a clinical setting

I definitely had this in my first pregnancy and it’s great they are seeing twice a week and if it’s dropped it’s unlikely to cause preeclampsia which is great news. I also felt shocking and wanted to stay in bed- but when you say you feel unsafe what do you mean?

It's very normal for BP to fluctuate throughout the day, from being active, exercising, stressed, anxious. The time when it becomes cause for concern is when it's consistently raised when resting. A lot of people are unnecessarily put on medication and then dealing with side effects. My BP goes up when I'm in clinical areas and would be considered as elevated/high but when I'm home and resting it is within the optimal/good range. Please try and monitor it yourself at home at resting periods and see what results you get

@Iona thank you, I was at 110/60 and 110/70 until my 28-week appt, at 130/90 when I was referred and now 118/70 and 110/78 the last two times they checked! And yes I did tell the Dr maybe I'm just stressed because I've been in the hospital for 5 hrs blabla, I'll see how I can monitor at home xx

@Thélise those levels are not high at all, the 130/90 ever so slightly, especially the 90 part, but like I said above, many life factors affect how our BP fluctuates daily. Please be careful taking medication where it may not be necessary. It's insane they've prescribed you medication based off that one spike, yet your previous readings are good

I agree. When I was referred mine was 150/90, when it’s been at 130 or under that has been considered borderline but normal. I’m surprised they would see you twice a week for that, I was seen once a week when mine was much higher

@Thélise definitely get yourself a monitor. On medication my target is below 135/85 when I’m at home and it’s usually 125/75-130/80 but higher in clinic. They probably referred you because 130/90 was a big jump from where you were at previously but is still only borderline, and it’s only the 90 that’s an issue.

@Thélise I also read a study a while back that suggested the level for concerning BP readings has been raised and not as low as it used to be. I'm just really passionate about the unnecessary over prescribing of medication where it's not needed, causing side affects etc. If you'd prefer not being on medication then I would talk to someone else and get a second opinion, or highly consider monitoring yourself at home when you're more relaxed etc

@Iona I am the same but maybe still a bit naive especially with new things 🥹 so I totally aproeciate your and @Stephanie feedback, I have an appt with my midwife this afternoon, I'll speak to her 🙏

@Krystina feeling unsafe as a symptom of anxiety/panic attack xx

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌