ECLAMPSIA

WHAT IS ECLAMPSIA?
A person with signs of pre-eclampsia
who has a least one convulsion or
episode of coma between the 20th
weeks of pregnancy and of the 6th
weeks after delivery must be
presumed to have eclampsia if other
causes can be excluded.
 RISK FACTORS
1 Pregnant with multiples.

2 Have an autoimmune condition.

Consume a poor diet or have obesity (a BMI

3 greater than 30)

4 Diabetes

5 Hypertension
 RISK FACTORS
6 Kidney Disease

7 Younger than 17 or older than 35 .

8 First pregnancy

Family or personal history of

9 preeclampsia or eclampsia
 WHAT CAUSES ECLAMPSIA?
Proteinuria
• it is the protein in your urine
called. Normally, your kidneys
remove waste from your blood and
turn it into urine. However, in
order to distribute nutrients to your
body, such as protein, the kidneys
work to retain those nutrients in
the blood. Protein can leak through
the kidneys filters, (known as
glomeruli), and excrete in your
urine if they are damaged.
High blood pressure
• Preeclampsia is a condition in which
your blood pressure, or the force of
your blood against the walls of your
arteries, rises to a level that causes
artery and ither blood vessel damage.
Blood flow may be limited by artery
damage. Your brain and your
developing baby’s blood vessels may
swell as a result. Seizures may
happen if your brain’s capacity to
operate is limited by this irregular
blood flow through the arteries.
WARNING SIGNS OF SYMPTOMS OF
ECLAMPSIA ECLAMPSIA
Severe headaches
Seizures
Difficulty breathing

Nausea or Vomiting
Severe distress or
Trouble urinating or not confusion
urinating often

Abdominal pain (esecially on the Losing consciousness

upper right side)

Blurred vision, seeing double

or loss of vision

Swelling of the hands, face or

ankles
 COMPLICATIONS
FOR ECLAMPSIA

1 Placental Abruption
4 Stroke

2 Preterm labor
5 Stillbirth

3
Blood clotting
issues 6 Death
 DIAGNOSIS & TEST
Your doctor will request tests to see if preeclampsia has returned or gotten worse if you have previously been diagnosed with it or if it
has in the past. In order to figure out why you’re having seizures and rule out preeclampsia, your doctor will perform testing for
preeclampsia as well as other conditions.

Blood tests Urine tests Creatinine tests

• it counts the number of • Creatinine is a waste product
• to examine the by the muscles. The majority of
platelates in your blood
to determine how easily excretion rate the creatinine in your blood
your blood clots and should be removed by your
and presence of kidneys, but if the glomeruli
the number of red
blood cells in your
protein are injured, more creatinine
will remain in the blood.
blood. Blood test can
Preeclampsia may be indicated
be used to check how
by elevated levels of creatinine
well your kidneys and in the blood, but this is not
liver function. always the case.
MANAGEMENT / TREATMENT

1 Anticonvulsant medication or magnesium sulfate

infusion to prevent seizures.

2 Blood pressure medication to lower blood pressure.

3 Corticosteroids to help develop and strengthen the

fetus lungs.
 PREVENTIONS

1 Your chance of having eclampsia can be decreased by receiving

treatment for preeclampsia.

2
A healthy lifestyle, early medical attention, and participation at all prenatal
checkups can help lower your risk.

You may be more prone to developing preeclampsia and eclampsia due to a

3 number of factors, some of which are beyond your control.

4
If you are at increased risk, starting low-dose aspirin in the first trimester may
help educe your risk of developing preeclampsia.
T h a n k
yo u!