DE and higher risk of pre-eclampsia?

[Kitkat10]

hi all,

I am venturing down the DE route for a sibling and I’m now nearly 43 but thankfully had a healthy IVF pregnancy with my son when I was 40/41.

The consultant briefly mentioned an elevated risk of high blood pressure with DE but did not say pre-eclampsia and now I have researched a little it seems that DE double the risk of PE.

It does still seem a relatively low absolute risk 4% OE increased to 10-11% DE pregnancies.

Does anyone know any more about this? From reading I think that most cases of PE are mild and treatable but I’m just scared that I’m not considering seriously enough a complication which I’ll be higher risk for anyway as I’m already 40+.

I did take low dose aspirin from 16 weeks with my son which I think was offered as I was first pregnancy, IVF and 40+ so I think that is one precaution.

Talking to the consultants at my clinic is a closely guarded privilege to which I’m not invited 😂😂 hence my own research ….

Grateful for anyone’s thoughts/ experiences 🙏

[minnesota_girl]

Hiya KitKat, I am pregnant with a DE and 44 (43 at time of transfer). What it's meant for me practically is that I was filtered into a consultant-led (alongside midwife) care protocol at the hospital for my maternity care. This means extra scans after 30 weeks to check sizing, automatic diabetes scanning at 26 weeks, I'm on 150mg aspiring as standard, more consultant appts just to check everything is ok.

Also the midwife and consultants at every appointment check urine and blood pressure to monitor signs of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. At this stage I'm there at least once a week so there's quite a bit of monitoring and my understanding is that for preeclampsia, if it's being proactively checked for, can be handled as it's dangerous when it's not spotted and allowed to progress.

I'm not sure whether the risk is greater for pre-term preeclampsia or not - but I've been told that for those who reach 37 weeks before symptoms it's manageable by progressing to c section if it's spotted and unable to be controlled through other means.

I'm 33 weeks now and touch wood seem to be OK for now and I certainly feel like I'm being taken care of so any issue could be resolved.

I hope this helps!!

[Kitkat10 in reply to minnesota_girl]

Thank you so much and congratulations ❤️❤️ your checks seem quite similar to mine when I was 41 with OE, so I’m hoping that’s the same for me if I’m lucky enough to have DE success too. Thank you and hope everything continues smoothly x

[minnesota_girl in reply to Kitkat10]

Thank you! Yea tbh the way the consultant explained it, it's the same level of elevated risk over 40 and IVF pregnancy so they tend to just follow the same protocol as the checks will throw up anything important either way! Best of luck to you 💕

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi Kitkat. All I can say that there are medications to treat high blood pressure in pregnancy, which would lower the risk of pre eclampsia. Good luck. Diane

[Maeve88Troy]

Hi, I think it's best you discuss it with the consultant at your clinic. Ask them all the questions. They would know best how to treat you. And good luck on your next cycle!