What should you know about magnesium sulfate for pre-eclampsia?

Pre-eclampsia can affect the brain as well as blood pressure and other organs. Magnesium sulfate is a medicine used to protect against eclamptic seizures; it does not cure pre-eclampsia or replace treatment for high blood pressure. It may be given through a vein or by injection, depending on the hospital plan. You may feel warm, flushed, sleepy or nauseated for a short time. Staff usually check your breathing, tendon reflexes, blood pressure and urine output because the medicine leaves the body through the kidneys.

Stay in the monitored setting and tell the midwife or doctor promptly if you feel increasingly drowsy, weak, breathless, confused or unable to pass urine. Do not adjust, stop or repeat a dose yourself. Your team will decide how long treatment continues and will coordinate it with blood-pressure medicines, labour care and the plan for birth. Read more about [Pre-eclampsia](/conditions/pre-eclampsia/) and your wider [Antenatal Care Package](/treatments/pregnancy-and-birth-care/antenatal-care-package/).

If you are pregnant or recently gave birth and have a severe headache, vision changes, pain under the ribs, severe shortness of breath, confusion, a seizure, or a sudden worsening in swelling, seek emergency maternity care immediately. These symptoms need assessment even if you have not yet been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. Do not drive yourself after a seizure or while severely unwell.

Ask why magnesium sulfate is recommended for you, how it will be administered, which checks will be performed, what side effects should be reported, and how it fits with induction or a [Caesarean Section](/treatments/pregnancy-and-birth-care/caesarean-section/).