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Conditions

Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is a condition of pregnancy that causes high blood pressure. It usually starts from about 20 weeks, though it can begin earlier, or in the days and weeks after the birth. The first signs are usually high blood pressure and protein in your urine — things found at a routine antenatal appointment rather than things you notice yourself, which is much of why those appointments matter. Get medical advice straight away if you have a severe headache that painkillers do not touch, problems with your vision such as blurring or flashing lights, pain just below the ribs, sudden swelling of the face, hands or feet, persistent heartburn, vomiting, or you simply feel very unwell. Risk is higher in a first pregnancy, over 40, with diabetes, existing high blood pressure, kidney disease or an autoimmune condition, if you are Black or South Asian, if you are carrying more than one baby, if it runs in your family, if you have had pre-eclampsia before, or if there is a gap of ten years or more since your last pregnancy. There is no cure. Medicines can lower blood pressure and prevent seizures, and the condition usually settles after the birth, so delivering early is often recommended. Left untreated it can be serious for both mother and baby.

This is a plain summary, not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for talking to your GP or your clinical team. For NHS information about pre-eclampsia, speak to your GP or call NHS 111.

People who have talked about it

2 stories, each one written in our own words from what the person said publicly themselves.

  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor

    Sophie Ellis-Bextor read a passage in a pregnancy book and recognised herself

    Content note — this story covers a subject some people would rather choose when to read.

    Sophie Ellis-Bextor was twenty-four and pregnant for the first time. It was a low-risk pregnancy, midwife-led — the kind where you go in occasionally and they say they will probably see you towards the end. She did not feel right. Her ankles swelled, she had headaches, and she describes not looking like herself and not wanting to see people. What she concluded was not that something was wrong, but that she was bad at being pregnant. She had always wanted a baby, and here she was finding it hard. At a check-up on a Friday a midwife told her that her blood pressure was a bit high, gave her tablets, and asked her to come back on the Monday. That weekend she went to a christening, and the mother-in-law of a friend told her she did not look well. Her reaction was relief. She says she wanted to hug her — finally someone had said it. The night before the Monday appointment she was reading a book about pregnancy and reached a short passage about pre-eclampsia. She started crying. She was, she says, pretty sure that was her. She was right. At the appointment she was told she was not going home and not packing a bag. She was taken straight to a hospital with a neonatal unit and told she would be having her baby in days, not weeks. She was thirty-one weeks pregnant. She describes being somewhat in denial — being shown around the unit where her baby would go, and thinking that none of it would really happen. Her son was born that Friday. It happened again in her second pregnancy, nearly five years later, and it arrived differently. No headaches that time and no swelling, just her blood pressure. She found out close to by accident: she was due to fly abroad for a gig and needed a letter from her consultant to travel. The consultant checked her and told her she was not flying anywhere. That baby was born nine weeks early. Before her third pregnancy she asked whether it was likely to happen a third time, and says she was told that having had it twice does not mean you are expected to have it again. She carried that pregnancy to full term, and says the thing she could not believe was being handed the baby straight away, because with the first two she had not been able to hold them. Looking back, she says it is quite wild that she simply went: okay, next time. Nothing here is medical advice. The NHS says pre-eclampsia usually causes no symptoms you would notice at first, and that it is normally picked up through the blood pressure and urine checks at routine antenatal appointments — which is much of why those appointments matter. It also lists having had pre-eclampsia in an earlier pregnancy among the things that raise the risk of getting it again.

  • Alexandra Burke

    Alexandra Burke was trying to leave hospital when she lost her sight

    Alexandra Burke was very ill during her second pregnancy with pre-eclampsia, and it was not caught early. She has described it as dangerous for her and for the baby, and she had to deliver a month early. The part of her account most worth reading is what she was doing when it became an emergency. She was due to have her baby shower on the day she ended up delivering. The hospital wanted to keep her in and she did not want to stay, so she tried to discharge herself. Then, suddenly, she could not see. She had a migraine and could not open her eyes. Seven or eight nurses came in, kept her on the bed and told her she could not leave and would have to deliver within twenty-four hours. Her own reaction at the time, she says, was that they were all being dramatic. She did not know. Losing your vision is not a detail. Blurred vision or flashing lights, and a severe headache that painkillers do not touch, are among the symptoms the NHS says to get medical advice about straight away in pregnancy. She only found out how ill she had actually been about three months before this interview, when she asked her husband directly — she was cleared, past it, and thinking about another baby, and she wanted to know. He told her it had been bad enough that he would be content for them not to have any more children. She says she thinks she had been in some denial about it at the time. She is now hoping to try for another child. Nothing here is medical advice. If you are pregnant and have any of the symptoms above, the NHS advice is to get medical advice immediately — do not wait for your next appointment.

Photographs, in order: Sophie Ellis-Bextor by Ibsan73 (CC BY 2.0); Alexandra Burke by Garry Knight (CC BY-SA 2.0).