# High Blood Pressure



## allisonb (Sep 29, 2009)

Just had a review with my community midwife and my blood pressure is higher than they would like it to be.  Am worried now because obviously this isn't good for baby or me.  Am at clinic to see the consultant on Monday so he will probably decided what action to take if any.  Have to say though I'm pretty sure it's white coat hypertension.  Had my blood pressure checked a few months ago by my GP who was quite rude and told me it was far too high and that there was no way I should be considering getting pregnant again, he tested it a few times during the appointment and it just kept going up.....I wonder why!?  When I saw my diabetic consultant the following week he took me off the blood pressure tablets that the GP had prescribed and did a 24 hour blood pressure test which showed that it's not consistently high.  Mmmm....I don't know, just want my baby to be ok.

Ax


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## Steff (Sep 29, 2009)

hi Alison i can totally understand why your worrying ,your carry a baby and you want to do everything you can to have a resonably good pregnancy, i would say stay calm and wait and see what the consultant and yourself come up with xx


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## allisonb (Sep 29, 2009)

Aw thanks Steff.  It's just one of those moments when you wish you didn't have diabetes and things could be 'normal'.  Given the chance I'd have no intervention and would seriously consider having my baby at home.  Guess I just have to get used to the fact that that's never going to happen!!!


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## Steff (Sep 29, 2009)

your right hun sometimes in life we got to just grin and bear it , im sure your consultant will take the cause of actiong that best suits you x are you well looked after by your team?? x


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## Emmal31 (Sep 30, 2009)

Hi Alison,
I'm pretty sure I have this white coat hypertension thing too I always try and breath steady to try and calm myself down (even though I've got no reason to be worried!). I saw somebody new the other day when I went to the antinatal clinic and it was a bit high because I was nervous. Perhaps that's why your blood pressure is high when they check it cause your nervous even if you don't think you are? Like steff said try to stay calm about it otherwise you'll feel worse about it and see what the consultant says about it next time you go hopefully it'll come down.

I feel exactly the same way as you I really wish i had the option to have the baby at home but that will never happen with being diabetic. 

x


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## Twitchy (Sep 30, 2009)

Hi Alison,

It's a bit of a bugger being a pregnant diabetic isn't it!  For what it's worth, I had massively high blood pressure last time round (it turned out to be pre eclampsia) but they stuck me on various blood pressure meds which kept things under control & I delivered at 34 weeks...early, but not a disaster by any means!  Baby was absolutely fine, it was me who was feeling rough... He's absolutely great & I was soon back to my old self (ok, a sleep deprived version!!)

My hubby has annual medicals (he's a pilot) & has definite white coat hypertension - he has also been put on 24hr monitors before now to prove that's what it was.  He now does deep slow breathing exercises prior to having his BP done, usually by a sympathetic medico (they know what aircrew are like!) and they usually take it a few times & can see it coming down.  The last time he had a 24 hr monitor the batteries ran out 1/2 through, so we were madly dashing round trying to find new batteries, lol!  Thankfully the medics accepted the reason for the spike!  Bless...

Hope the above helps give you a bit of peace of mind...the BP medication didn't have any obvious bad effects on baby or myself. 

All the best, hope it goes well on monday & you get some good reassurance!


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## allisonb (Oct 1, 2009)

Thanks for all your caring replies guys.  I'm trying hard not to worry.  Will see how it goes on Monday and I'll let you know. xxx


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## Copepod (Oct 1, 2009)

My blood pressure is always higher than normal when measured by an unknown nurse in the diabetes clinic - first thing they do when you arrive - but always OK when I check it myself or get a colleague (I work in a medical research unit) to check for me, after I've been sitting down for a few minutes and am not worried about anything. So, white coat hypertension doesn't need a doctor or midwife or white coat! As Alison has shown, a 24 hour blood pressure test is much more reliable. Hope you and your consultant can agree on a course of action when you meet on Monday.


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## allisonb (Oct 6, 2009)

Morning Guys.  Well my blood pressure was border line yesterday but the consultant decided that we should just keep an eye on it and if it goes high and stays there will start me on medication to bring it down again.  He asked me if I'd ever had any tests to check for kidney damage due to diabetes, I thought that was something that you get if you had bad control and also thought it was something that you're unlikely to get if you've had diabetes for less that 10 years???

Diabetes nurse ticked me off for having too many hypos, at the moment I'm having at least one a day, and said I should go back to proper carb counting and weighing food instead of guessing because I'm obviously guessing wrong.  I know I'm not guessing, I'm just being keen and adjusting on the high side to keep by BS in range because I know that's better for the baby.  Can't win sometimes can you.


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## Emmal31 (Oct 6, 2009)

allisonb said:


> Morning Guys.  Well my blood pressure was border line yesterday but the consultant decided that we should just keep an eye on it and if it goes high and stays there will start me on medication to bring it down again.  He asked me if I'd ever had any tests to check for kidney damage due to diabetes, I thought that was something that you get if you had bad control and also thought it was something that you're unlikely to get if you've had diabetes for less that 10 years???
> 
> Diabetes nurse ticked me off for having too many hypos, at the moment I'm having at least one a day, and said I should go back to proper carb counting and weighing food instead of guessing because I'm obviously guessing wrong.  I know I'm not guessing, I'm just being keen and adjusting on the high side to keep by BS in range because I know that's better for the baby.  Can't win sometimes can you.



Hopefully you won't have to go on medication if it's ok next time round, Is he going to do tests for kidney damage then? 

Like you said surely it's better to have one hypo a day than have high's . I'd rather be having hypo's than the high's i've been having lately. I still carb count most of my food but things I have frequently I often guess cause i know roughly what I need to take for it. Definately can't win with these people  Sounds like your doing well though if they are only concerned your having too many hypo's so well done. Emma x


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## Twitchy (Oct 8, 2009)

allisonb said:


> Diabetes nurse ticked me off for having too many hypos, at the moment I'm having at least one a day. Can't win sometimes can you.



Aaargh, the same comments I get!  (usually closely followed by 1. reduce your background & 2. don't test so much!!!)

If you're happy running lowish, stick with what you know.  Every appt I;ve been to in the last few months I have had the same comments, despite trying to tell them that if I reduce the BI as they suggest I run in the 8-9+ range all day, can't be good surely?!  Starting to think they are rationing insulin as well as pumps & test strips these days!!! 

Anyway, glad your BP reading wasn't too bad!  If they keep a close eye on you that's a good thing - that way if it does start to creep up they can control it with meds if necessary rather than things getting out of control before they even notice!


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## allisonb (Oct 13, 2009)

Well I give up.....blood pressure was 'a little on the low side' today.  So I have no idea what's happening apart from every time I got to the hospital they keep me waiting for so long that I get frustrated that I've been hanging around and perhaps that makes my BP go up. 

HbA1C was 6.8% which I thought was good, it was 6.8 before I was pregnant so at least it's not gone up, but apparently it 'could do to be nearer 6' which is quite frustrating given last week I was told off for having too many hypos!

Guess I'll just plod on.  What's most important is that my BS levels are in range and I feel very well.


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## Steff (Oct 13, 2009)

good news on the hbA , seems your GP is never going to be happy hun , i reckon half the time we struggle is because we are trying so hard to get to what our docs want us to be at , as long as your happy and you feel like you have gave your all and tried your best i for one think that is worth a well done xxxx


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## Emmal31 (Oct 13, 2009)

The waiting around hospital every few weeks drives me barmy! I hate it, it really stresses me out so know how you feel. Good news that the hba1c has stayed the same, really can't win with the consultants one hand they say your having too many hypo's but then say your hba1c should be a bit lower... 
I would be pleased with that myself and would just take what they say with a pinch of salt really. Like you said main thing is that your blood sugar levels day to day are in range so well done 

Emma xxx


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## Twitchy (Oct 17, 2009)

aargh!  Are the Shefflied & Leicester teams really the same person/people moonlighting in two jobs?!!     Can't please these bods, can we?!  

I've given up & gone independent, at least temporarily - I've managed to wrangle it so that my next appt is 6 weeks after the last dire effort - so at least I'm not missing tons of time off work every 2 weeks (I only work PT as it is!), burning tons of fuel in the car park queue & getting incredibly stressed at hanging around forever without even being properly reassured if baby is ok at the end of it all! Grumpy grumpy growl growl!   It's enough to raise anyone's BP! 

I'm confident I can control things as well as anyone can in my shoes on MDI (even if my neighbour did comment on how much weight I'd put on already - cheeky madam!!...Like to she her achieve tight blood glucose control without putting a few pounds on due to the extra insulin... snarl!).

Anyway, hope all you other pregnant ladies out there are keeping well & happy!


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