What is eclampsia symptoms

Because preeclampsia can lead to eclampsia, you may have symptoms of both conditions. However, some of your symptoms may be due to other conditions, such as kidney disease or diabetes. Patients with eclampsia can have the same symptoms as those noted above, or may even present with no symptoms prior to the onset of eclampsia.

The following are common symptoms of eclampsia:. Eclampsia often follows preeclampsia, which is characterized by high blood pressure occurring in pregnancy and, rarely, postpartum. Other findings may also be present such as protein in the urine. If your preeclampsia worsens and affects your brain, causing seizures, you have developed eclampsia. They can explain how the symptoms of preeclampsia may lead to eclampsia.

Preeclampsia is when your blood pressure, or the force of blood against the walls of your arteries, becomes high enough to damage your arteries and other blood vessels. Damage to your arteries may restrict blood flow.

It can produce swelling in the blood vessels in your brain and to your growing baby. Preeclampsia commonly affects kidney function. Protein in your urine, also known as proteinuria, is a common sign of the condition.

Typically, your kidneys filter waste from your blood and create urine from these wastes. However, the kidneys try to retain nutrients in the blood, such as protein, for redistribution to your body.

When high blood pressure reduces blood flow through the vessels, the placenta may be unable to function properly. This may result in your baby being born with a low birth weight or other health problems. Problems with the placenta often require preterm delivery for the health and safety of the baby.

In rare cases, these conditions cause stillbirth. If you already have a preeclampsia diagnosis or have a history of it, your doctor will order tests to determine if your preeclampsia has happened again or gotten worse. These tests can include:. Your doctor may order several types of blood tests to assess your condition. These tests include a complete blood count, which measures how many red blood cells you have in your blood, and a platelet count to see how well your blood is clotting.

Blood tests will also help examine your kidney and liver function. Creatinine is a waste product created by the muscles. Your kidneys should filter most of the creatinine from your blood, but if the glomeruli get damaged, excess creatinine will remain in the blood. Your doctor may order urine tests to check for the presence of protein and its excretion rate.

Delivering your baby and placenta are the recommended treatment for preeclampsia and eclampsia. Your baby needs more time to mature, but you need to avoid putting yourself or your baby at risk of serious complications. Rarely, preeclampsia develops after delivery of a baby, a condition known as postpartum preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia sometimes develops without any symptoms. High blood pressure may develop slowly, or it may have a sudden onset. Monitoring your blood pressure is an important part of prenatal care because the first sign of preeclampsia is commonly a rise in blood pressure. Sudden weight gain and swelling edema — particularly in your face and hands — may occur with preeclampsia. But these also occur in many normal pregnancies, so they're not considered reliable signs of preeclampsia.

Make sure you attend your prenatal visits so that your care provider can monitor your blood pressure. Contact your doctor immediately or go to an emergency room if you have severe headaches, blurred vision or other visual disturbance, severe pain in your abdomen, or severe shortness of breath. Because headaches, nausea, and aches and pains are common pregnancy complaints, it's difficult to know when new symptoms are simply part of being pregnant and when they may indicate a serious problem — especially if it's your first pregnancy.

If you're concerned about your symptoms, contact your doctor. The exact cause of preeclampsia involves several factors. Experts believe it begins in the placenta — the organ that nourishes the fetus throughout pregnancy. Early in pregnancy, new blood vessels develop and evolve to efficiently send blood to the placenta. In women with preeclampsia, these blood vessels don't seem to develop or function properly. They're narrower than normal blood vessels and react differently to hormonal signaling, which limits the amount of blood that can flow through them.

Preeclampsia is classified as one of four high blood pressure disorders that can occur during pregnancy. The other three are:. The more severe your preeclampsia and the earlier it occurs in your pregnancy, the greater the risks for you and your baby.

Preeclampsia may require induced labor and delivery. Delivery by cesarean delivery C-section may be necessary if there are clinical or obstetric conditions that require a speedy delivery. Otherwise, your doctor may recommend a scheduled vaginal delivery. Your obstetric provider will talk with you about what type of delivery is right for your condition. HELLP syndrome. HELLP — which stands for hemolysis the destruction of red blood cells , elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count — syndrome is a more severe form of preeclampsia, and can rapidly become life-threatening for both you and your baby.

HELLP syndrome is particularly dangerous because it represents damage to several organ systems. On occasion, it may develop suddenly, even before high blood pressure is detected or it may develop without any symptoms at all. When preeclampsia isn't controlled, eclampsia — which is essentially preeclampsia plus seizures — can develop. It is very difficult to predict which patients will have preeclampsia that is severe enough to result in eclampsia.

Often, there are no symptoms or warning signs to predict eclampsia. Because eclampsia can have serious consequences for both mom and baby, delivery becomes necessary, regardless of how far along the pregnancy is. Researchers continue to study ways to prevent preeclampsia, but so far, no clear strategies have emerged. Eating less salt, changing your activities, restricting calories, or consuming garlic or fish oil doesn't reduce your risk. Gestational diabetes can be treated with a combination of diet changes and medication.

As stated before, each case of eclampsia is different. People could develop any of these symptoms or none at all. Researchers have not yet discovered a definitive cause for the condition. Each case of eclampsia is unique, and the pregnant woman may share few or no characteristics with other women who develop the condition.

Most of the recent studies have focused on determining the risk factors for preeclampsia early in pregnancy to prevent or predict the development of the condition later on. Risk factors for preeclampsia and eclampsia will vary from patient to patient. Factors that should be taken into consideration are:. Other medical conditions, including lupus , gestational diabetes, and renal disease, also increase the chances of developing eclampsia.

Symptoms of eclampsia can present at any time during pregnancy. There may also be very few symptoms, leading to a woman developing eclampsia without it being detected by medical professionals. There is no cure for preeclampsia except delivery of the baby. Antiseizure medications can also be used to prevent a seizure from occurring in the event that severe preeclampsia progresses to eclampsia.

While pregnant women should be seeing a doctor regularly for prenatal care, they should schedule an appointment immediately if any symptoms of preeclampsia appear. Additionally, anyone who experiences bleeding, severe headaches, or reduced fetal movement, should see their care provider as soon as possible. During regular prenatal appointments, the doctor will also do blood and urine tests to look for:. The presence of elevated protein levels in urine can be an early indicator of preeclampsia, as can decreased renal function.

Depending on the severity of the symptoms, the doctor might prescribe diet changes, bed rest, or medications to lower blood pressure and prevent seizures. In the past, women dealing with the complications of preeclampsia have been directed by health experts to take low-dose aspirin daily after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The only way to cure the symptoms of eclampsia is to deliver the baby. Allowing the pregnancy to continue while the mother has eclampsia can result in complications.

In most cases, the symptoms of eclampsia resolve themselves within 6 weeks after the baby is born. In rare cases, there can be permanent damage to vital organs, which is why it is so important for women to keep their care provider informed of their symptoms.

If anyone experiences any symptoms similar to the ones listed above, it is essential to make an appointment immediately.