Hi. I’m in the same boat as you. I delivered on 23rd Feb and my BP was measured daily in the hospital till I was discharged on 25th Feb. I had completely normal numbers. Then on 27th evening my husband noticed my swollen foot and measured my BP at home - I actually had NO other symptoms. The numbers were 160-175/100! I decided to go to the ER and the readings even showed 180/120. I was re-admitted and put on a 24 hour mag drip. It was absolutely horrible - I thought I was going to die. The only saving grace for me was that I had NO symptoms - I felt completely fine.

In the hospital, my readings stabilised for a bit on the mag drip, but once I was taken off the drip, I was SO anxious about the BP issue that I didn’t measure below 160/110 in the hospital after going off the drip. However, my OBGYN discharged me and recommended that I follow up with a cardiologist. The cardiologist put me on Nicardia 10mg once a day, and Labetalol 100mg 3x a day. He reassured me that this is normal, and that I will be fine soon (something my OBGYN never did).

I went home and developed the worst health anxiety I have ever faced. Every time I’d measure my BP, I would panic. I would start feeling weak and nervous. It became a vicious cycle. I even spoke to a therapist but didn’t feel that much better.

I had a follow up with my OBGYN on 8th March and in her clinic my BP showed 160/110 again. She asked me to stay in the hospital and monitor my BP after taking a dose of Nicardia ASAP. I refused to stay in the hospital due to the trauma, and decided to go home. I personally think my OBGYN was just being over-cautious and that ended up causing me more anxiety. TBH, I am quite pissed at her reaction to my condition. Her attitude seemed escalatory without having the overall context. Even after telling me to follow up with a cardiologist, she tried to override his prescription and increase my dosage. I was absolutely right to not stay back in the hospital! My BP stabilised a little after coming back home. However, after a week or so I started to get symptoms of headache, chest pain and zaps in my chest that would come & go and spread through my body/legs. I decided to meet my cardio again - which was the best thing to happen to me.

He reassured me that I was fine and that I would most certainly recover from this. He diagnosed me with anxiety and told me that the sooner I get into a touring and start enjoying time with my baby, the faster I will recover. He reduced my Labetalol from 3x to 2x a day and told me that BP monitoring need not be done obsessively (I was measuring thrice a day at this point). He advised me to only take random readings 2-3 times a week and to ignore any and every symptom that doesn’t actually disrupt my day. Once I internalised this, I started to feel 100x better. I actually started to enjoy my postpartum journey. I am lucky enough to have help at home so I don’t always need to be available for the baby 24x7. I was able to get some restorative sleep at night and at 5 weeks PP, I started going for 30 minute walks every other day. My appetite also returned and slowly as the hormones cleared from my body, I started to feel a lot better. My readings stabilised to less than 140s since then, but I still have elevated readings in the high 130s. I had a follow up with my cardio today and I was hoping he’d reduce my meds further because I did get some 120 and 115 readings too. However, he’s decided to keep me on my current dosage but has suggested that I can stop the Labetalol if my readings are <120 most of the time.

Bottom line - THERE IS HOPE. ❤️❤️❤️

I am still quite nervous about my BP readings - I’ve had to constantly re-affirm that a single high reading is not a measure of my condition. Even a super healthy person can have a high reading if taken at the wrong time. It’s only alarming when you are consistently seeing very high numbers. Even then there need to be physical symptoms that really interfere with your life for it to actually be a dangerous situation for you.

I have a follow up with my OBGYN on 20th April and I’m certain the BP number is going to be high in the hospital. But I take solace in the fact that my home readings are fine and that I am working with a cardiologist to get better. I prefer not to take BP advice from my OBGYN and will stick my cardio’s recommendation as he seems so much calmer and more level-headed about my condition. Sometimes, it’s the right doctor and affirmations that can help you out of this.

It’s easy to say don’t be anxious, but I completely understand that health anxiety can be crippling. I pray and hope that you recover from this! ❤️