Magnesium Therapy for Pre-Eclampsia and Eclampsia Prevention

Magnesium therapy halves your risk of getting pre-eclampsia,
a dangerous pregnancy complication

The British Journal of Anaesthesia lists pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, as the third highest cause of maternal mortality after abortions and pulmonary embolism. Pre-eclampsia, also sometimes referred to as Toxaemia or Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), can be potentially dangerous for the mother and also the unborn child if it goes undiagnosed and unattended.

If you are pregnant or are planning to start a family, it is imperative to understand pre-eclampsia, its symptoms and proper management. Left untreated, pre-eclampsia could turn into a more severe condition called eclampsia, which is accompanied with seizures and convulsions, and requires hospitalisation.

Understanding Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia usually occurs in the late 2nd or 3rd trimesters or in the middle to late pregnancy. It is characterised by sudden elevated blood pressure and the presence of excess protein in the urine. Both of these are difficult to detect unless you go in for regular prenatal checks and your doctor puts you through all the routine tests.

Some of the noticeable symptoms of pre-eclampsia are:

• Swelling of the hands and face/eyes (oedema)
• Weight gain of over 2 pounds per week or a sudden weight gain over a couple of days

However, again as swelling of the feet and ankles, and weight gain are normal occurrences during pregnancy, there is a possibility that mild pre-eclampsia remains undetected unless the doctor has been keeping a very close eye on the health of the mother and the foetus.

Symptoms of severe pre-eclampsia are easier to detect and include:

• Dull or throbbing headaches that do not go away
• Abdominal pain, mostly felt on the right side, underneath the ribs. Pain may also be felt in the right shoulder, and can be confused with heartburn, gallbladder pain, a stomach virus, or the baby kicking
• Agitation
• Decreased urine output, not urinating very often
• Nausea and vomiting
• Vision changes like temporary loss of vision, flashing lights, auras, light sensitivity, spots and blurry vision

Who can develop Pre-eclampsia?

The exact cause of pre-eclampsia is not known. But women who have previously suffered toxaemia/ pre-eclampsia or have some close female relative who suffered from this condition during her pregnancy are more likely to suffer from preeclampsia. Also women who are pregnant for the first time or those with a multiple pregnancy (carrying twins or more) are more likely to develop pre-eclampsia or toxaemia.

Other risk factors for pre-eclampsia include:

• Obesity: An ideal pre-pregnancy weight is essential to prevent the onset of toxaemia. Women with a BMI above 30 stand the risk of pre-eclampsia during their pregnancies.
• Older than 35 or younger than 20: Being pregnant past the age of 35 raises the risk of toxaemia. However, younger women, particularly those who are under 20 at the time of pregnancy can also get pre-eclampsia
• Women with past history of diabetes, high blood pressure, or kidney disease tend to develop toxaemia or pre-eclampsia as well

Why is Toxaemia/Pre-eclampsia dangerous?

If toxaemia or Pre-eclampsia is left undiagnosed and untreated, the continuous increase in blood pressure can lead to complications for both the mother and the baby.

Apart from the damaging effect of high blood pressure; Pre-eclampsia can lead to liver and kidney damage or failure. It can even cause eyesight problems and if Pre-eclampsia is left untreated, it can cause the patient to go into convulsions. These convulsions are a sign of eclampsia which is very dangerous and can lead to coma and even maternal death.

Magnesium Therapy for Toxaemia Management

Pre-eclampsia requires prompt intervention with an aim to prevent convulsions, control the elevated blood pressure and deliver the foetus. The World Health Organization recommends magnesium sulphate as the safest, most effective, and lowest-cost medication for treating Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia.

The Magpie Trial, a large international study conducted between 1998 and 2001, with 10,141 women participants at 175 hospitals in 33 countries, showed that magnesium sulphate halves the relative risk of eclampsia, without harmful effects on either the mother or the baby in the short term.

Most studies use magnesium sulphate as a choice as it an accepted standard. Magnesium sulphate is also known as Epsom salts which is for external use only and recommended as a bath salt. An effective alternative is Magnesium Rub or Magnesium Gel. Magnesium Rub is a sea water concentrate, with the sodium removed, and when applied directly to your skin, it absorbs much the same way magnesium sulphate Espom salt does (transdermal). For the busy mum to be, who doesn’t have time to take a daily bath, they can just apply a little of the Rub on their hand and applied directly to their skin. It is also easier to know how much magnesium you are absorbing. Another effective magnesium supplement is Magnesium Supreme.

Magnesium and Calcium Supreme for stress-free pregnancy

A few studies have also hinted that magnesium deficiency in pregnant women might contribute to toxaemia or pre-eclampsia of pregnancy. In 1957, DG Hall collated enough experimental and clinical data to show that magnesium deficiency leads to neuromuscular irritability and convulsions and possibly contribute to toxaemia of pregnancy. He found that plasma magnesium levels were lower among toxaemic than among normal pregnant women from the 12th to 25th week.

Another study published by Altura, Altura, and Carella in the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine (2001) stated that magnesium deficiency may lead to spasms of umbilical and placental vasculature. They used this to explain why magnesium therapy works well in management of pre-eclamptic syndromes. Research by Adam, Malatyalioglu, Alvur and Talu also suggests that low cellular magnesium levels in women with pre-eclampsia may contribute to the development of hypertension in these patients.

If you are pregnant, or are planning to have a child soon, take plenty of magnesium in your diet (Click here to see a list of magnesium rich foods). You can also safely add a good magnesium supplement and calcium supplements like Magnesium Supreme and Magnesium Rub to enhance your daily intake minerals, without any adverse effect to you or your baby.

The extra magnesium that you intake will not only offer lower your chance of getting pre-eclampsia, it will also ease a lot of discomfort you face during pregnancy. To see if you at risk for magnesium deficiency please click here.

We plan on adding a few more articles relating to pregnancy soon.

References:

1. British Journal of Aneasthisa http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/49/1/3
2. Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine (2001, Vol. 10, No. 4, Pages 246-250) Magnesium deficiency-induced spasms of umbilical vessels: relation to preeclampsia, hypertension, growth retardation
   BM Altura, BT Altura, and A Carella
3. Non-medical prevention of pre-eclampsia: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9225653

Disclaimer
The information in this article is meant for information purposes only and is not prescriptive. We recommended that you consult with your doctor before you introduce magnesium in your diet, especially if you have a severe kidney or heart disease or are taking hypoglycemic drugs.