Post Traumatic Stress

About a month ago, I found out that the wife of one of my coworkers had developed severe preeclampsia 34 weeks along into her fourth pregnancy. She had never had preeclampsia before, but there it was...the nasty, horrifying preeclampsia monster attacking again. I made a mental note to pray for his wife, and hope for the best.

Well, nearly four weeks have passed since then, and today, I saw my coworker. His wife popped into my thoughts immediately.

"Hey! How is your wife? And, how is baby?" I said unsure if his wife was still pregnant.

As he turned his face toward me, I saw it...the post-preeclampsia stress, the realization of how close "this close" actually came and landed on his wife and child. For the next half an hour, he walked us through the events leading up to severe preeclampsia. Unfortunately, his wife suffered from severe pulmonary edema and subsequently developed congestive heart failure. He rushed her to the ER after her obstetrician blew off three times of reporting she felt she couldn't breathe. In fact, breathing had become an effort just standing still, and the OB never bothered to listen to her breath sounds. The ER physicians took her seriously and eventually treated her with Lasix to relieve the severe edema.

While my coworker's wife's story was scary and horrifying, what was such a big reveal for me is that as he recounted her story, post-traumatic stress took over within me. I kept a relatively calm appearance, but I had an overwhelming urge to go crawl in a dark spot somewhere and curl up in a ball. I wanted to yell, shout, scream, and cry at my outrage toward the Preeclampsia Beast and all that it does to unsuspecting women and their families.

I'm confident that I had an anxiety attack, but I worked through it with some relaxation music...yay for iTunes and some slow breathing. I guess this entry is just me letting some more of it out so I can keep on going. I march one day at a time now to stay ahead of my survivor issues...for now.

Mixed Emotions

Preeclampsia survivors often experience post-traumatic reactions during the times of year when the initial onset of their preeclampsia/HELLP symptoms surfaced. As mothers we celebrate the births of our children, but those emotions are often bittersweet. Denise, a HELLP survivor, recounts those feelings in this poignant post on her blog, A Woman with Hobbit Feet:

http://thosecrazylangs.blogspot.com/2008/03/mixed-emotions.html

The Fake Cure for Preeclampsia/HELLP

Today, I was reviewing my personal blog's site meter. I often read the referring URLs to see how someone happened upon my blog. Readers often find my blog using Google, which happens to own Blogger where I blog, and this blog is hosted. Since Google now includes its blogspot sites in searches, someone happened upon my blog by entering these search words:

HELLP pre eclampsia

In the results which Google brought back with those search words, I found a fraud, fake, incredible lie, untruth, falsehood...whatever you want to call it. There in the results was a blog, which is hosted by Wordpress, which purports to have a diet which prevents preeclampsia or HELLP. I refuse to name that blog here, which doesn't deserve to exist.

I serves to prey on women who are dealing with a serious medical condition and are feeling distraught and upset at what is happening or has happened to them. Preeclampsia and HELLP have no cure.

Delivery of the baby begins the process of stopping the progression of the symptoms, but there is no cure. Magnesium sulfate helps, but there is nothing you can eat or not eat which stops it. There is no proven, medical research that has a cure.

When it happens, it will be the biggest breakthrough in obstetrics and gynecology. It will make the national news. It will be celebrated by ALL preeclampsia/HELLP survivors.

Them...

Preeclampsia bubbles up for me again...

http://alphagirls.blogspot.com/2008/01/them.html

Jen, mom of Grace & Meghan

Preeclampsia and Heart Disease Risk

Frankly, this is not new information for me, but when the American Heart Association sent me an email with this newsblast inside, it was a wake up call. Preeclampsia survivors do not have good odds when it comes to risks for heart disease or stroke.

So ladies, may I issue a health challenge? How about we take the new year to create a better version of ourselves? Whether that is living a happier life to improve your mental health or making your physical health important to you, it is up to you.

Newsflash:
Women Who Experience Preeclampsia More Likely To Develop Heart Disease, Study Says

Women who experience preeclampsia -- a condition in which blood pressure increases late in pregnancy -- have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke later in life than women who do not experience the condition, according to a study published in the Nov. 1 edition of BMJ, the Washington Post/Hartford Courant reports. For the study, British researchers analyzed data from 25 studies that involved more than 3.4 million women, 198,252 of whom had preeclampsia during pregnancy and 21,958 of whom had been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Women who had preeclampsia were four times more likely than women who did not have the condition to develop high blood pressure within 14 years, the study found. The risk of having heart disease or stroke within 10 years nearly doubled for women who had preeclampsia, compared with those who did not have the condition. The study also found that a woman's risk for heart disease increased the earlier during pregnancy she developed preeclampsia. The researchers found that preeclampsia did not increase women's risk for breast cancer or other cancers. The study is available online.

I had Grace 5 1/2 years ago. I guess I only have 4 more years before heart disease or stroke may hit me. Sigh. I'd better get myself to a cardiologist for a work up and figure out how I can live a healthier lifestyle. Life isn't a guarantee, but I know that all of my preeclampsia survivor friends are some of the strongest ladies I know. We can do it ladies. We can!

With much anticipation of a healthier me and you!

Jen, mom of Grace & Meghan, survivors of preeclampsia and prematurity