What are the treatment options for pre-eclampsia?

Your maternity team may check blood pressure, urine, blood tests, symptoms, fetal growth and placental blood flow. Mild disease may be watched with frequent appointments or hospital assessment. Blood-pressure medicine can reduce strain on your organs. Magnesium sulfate may be offered when seizure risk is a concern. Steroid injections may be considered when early birth is possible, to support fetal lung development. Treatment decisions change if blood pressure remains high, blood tests worsen, the placenta is not supporting the baby well, or symptoms suggest severe disease.

Keep every antenatal review and take prescribed medicine exactly as directed. Resting at home does not replace monitoring, and do not start aspirin, supplements or other medicines without your maternity clinician. If pregnancy can safely continue, the team may arrange repeated checks and discuss the safest timing and method of birth. Birth may be induced or delivered by caesarean section depending on the cervix, fetal position, urgency and previous birth history. Pre-eclampsia can need monitoring after delivery because blood pressure and symptoms may persist or appear then.

Contact your maternity unit urgently for a severe or persistent headache, changes in vision, severe pain beneath the ribs, sudden breathlessness, chest pain, confusion, fainting, heavy bleeding, or noticeably reduced fetal movement. Do not wait for the next appointment if these occur; they can signal complications that need prompt assessment.

Ask which findings show that the condition is worsening, how often you need blood-pressure and fetal checks, what medicine side effects to report, and what would make induction or caesarean birth safer.