Treatment and Prevention
Doctors and hospitals take preeclampsia very seriously. Typically only in the mildest of cases, where high blood pressure can be measured but doesn't cause any symptoms, is the woman allowed to return home - and on the condition that she goes straight to bed and stays there. If there's no improvement in a couple of days, the woman is admitted to the hosptial for observation.
Lying down for long periods reduces blood pressure. In addition, a woman may be told to lie on her left side. This decreases pressure on several major blood vessels and increases the desire to urinate. Regular urination improves the quality of the circulating blood. It is recommended to drink plenty of liquids. Salt intake should not be reduced - while this is a good idea for chronic high blood pressure, salt is needed during pregnancy.
Medications normally used to control high blood pressure are not used to treat preeclampsia. Instead, magnesium sulphate is injected. This reduces hyperreflexia (overactive reflexes) and reduces the chance of seizures. It also lowers blood pressure at the same time. The same medication is given for full-blown eclampsia. If the blood pressure is not controlled with magnesium sulphate alone, an injectable blood pressure medication called hydralazine may be used.
Magnesium sulphate helps to control the symptoms and reduces the risk of fatal complications, but the only thing that will pull mother and baby out of the danger zone is to deliver as quickly as possible. Even if the baby is premature, its chances are better "on the outside." Babies are only left in place when the mother's blood pressure is responding to treatment and the baby is clearly too small to survive outside the womb.
If the baby is big enough, and the mother's condition has been stabilized
with magnesium sulphate, the doctor will usually give medications to stimulate
labor. If for any reason a normal birth poses problems, a caesarean section
will be recommended. This operation is very common in
the United States, accounting for approximately 29% of all births in 2004.
Sometimes preeclampsia occurs in the week after delivery, but usually blood pressure falls steadily from the moment the baby is delivered. Blood pressure usually returns to normal within a few months.