TOXAEMIA OF PREGNANCY – INTRODUCTION | Health News. Lots of resources and information

May 15 2009

TOXAEMIA OF PREGNANCY – INTRODUCTION

Pregnancy, labor and delivery are usually normal and uncomplicated.

One of the prices we pay for medical control is that pregnancy and childbirth can be thought of as an illness.

But it is only by close monitoring of the mother and the developing baby that complications can be prevented or recognised early and controlled.

A complication that appears to have arisen as part of our highly developed, over-fed civilisation is the condition of toxaemia of pregnancy, or preeclampsia.

The cause of this is unknown but it is rare in

underdeveloped countries and during war time when food is rationed.

In pre-eclampsia there is a generalised constriction of all the blood vessels of the body and a rise in the blood pressure. At least 15 per cent of women with their first pregnancies will develop some rise in blood pressure.

This can damage the kidneys, usually temporarily but occasionally permanently, and shows by the protein albumin leaking out in the urine. As well, sodium along with water is retained in the tissues and causes oedema or swelling.