Anyone on labetalol?

[Baby1988]

Hi

My blood pressure has been high now for about 3 weeks.. So midwife/consultant keeping weekly checks on me at the moment. Not majorly high but running between 145/88 and 148/98. Seen my consultant on Tuesday and he has recommended that I start on labetalol 250mg three times daily. It just seems an awful lot as BNF recommends you start on 100mg twice daily and gradually increase dose.

I do trust the doctor but just wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation? I thought its maybe because I'm later on in my pregnancy .. I'm just not sure

Thankyou

X

 

[purplespecs]

It's strange how different Trusts have different policies - I was monitored 3 times weekly from about 33 weeks due to high blood pressure (around and slightly higher than yours). I was never once offered any medication for it but they monitored me for about 3 weeks before deciding to induce me at 36+6w with blood pressure of 150/109. Once I was in hospital they started giving me 200mg of labetalol twice in the day and once in the middle of the night. They kept me in for 5 days as my blood pressure was still so high but let me go home with instructions to take 200mg twice daily. Slowly over a period of 8 weeks I was weaned off them, dropping to 100mg 2x daily, 50mg 2x daily, 50mg 1x daily.

250mg three times a day does sound quite a lot, but then again I wasn't taking much less than that post-delivery. I guess you would need to take more pre-delivery than post? Have you spoken to your midwife about the dosage?

 

[coolchip10]

Yes I switched to this before I got pregnant. I take 300mg twice daily. My bp is well controlled with this.

 

[sevenofnine]

I was on 100mg twice daily during the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy for a blood pressure of 160/100. I was eventually induced at 40+3 as a pre-caution.

Everything went very smoothly!

You could ask your doctor if you feel that it's high, but sometimes the lower dose doesn't work for some people.

 

[hardatworkmom]

My doctor put me on 200mg twice daily 2 months ago, my blood pressure has begun to creep up again so she told me to double the dose So now I am on 400mg twice daily and my blood pressure still sometimes goes slightly high. I don't like how tired they make me, it's like clockwork, 2-3 hours after I take it I feel very strange so I lay down and fall asleep for about a hour. Now I just found out yesterday that I have to take the 3 hours glucose test because I failed the 1 hour test. This is my 4th pregnancy and haven't ever had any problems and now all of this Thank god I only have 3 more months to see my bundle of joy!!

 

[Baby1988]

It is really strange that trusts manage patients completely different 😕...

Thankyou everyone for sharing your experiences ..

I have the midwife on Thursday so ill discuss it with her then .. Ill see how I get on with that mammoth dose until then.. I must admit I have bn pretty tired and a bit shaky !! Ill keep an eye n phone for advice if I need to !

X

 

[Betheney]

at 29 weeks i was put on 200mg twice a day and it worked perfect for 3 weeks then my BP went up again and i was then on 400mg FOUR times a day as well as 30mg of nafedipine twice a day and all those drugs were having no impact on my BP so they gave up and induced me.

 

[Medzi]

It was just added on for me about 4 days ago... I was on 90mg Adalat twice daily and now have added 200mg twice daily of Labetalol in addition. It seems to have helped so I am hoping it doesn't creep back up. On just the Adalat I was seeing around 155/100 but now it is more around 140/85-90 or so.

 

[Medzi]

It has also made me feel tired and shaky as well! Also had tingly head a few times..

 

[sjtttc]

I being treated for high bp. Pregnancy induced hypertension. Diagnosed at 27 weeks and started off with 250g methyldopa twice a day, then since then, it has been increased twice so now take it 4 times a day. I do get side effects from it which are headaches and drowsiness and dry mouth but just holding out for now. Ive been told they won't let me go past due date and may even be induced before then if it plays up. X

 

[pebbie1]

I've been on it since my bp went up at 28 weeks. I've had 3x 200mg a day. That went fine until 35 weeks when it started to go up again so I also got Adalat to take once a day, but its not really bringing my bp down anymore so I'm being induced this Friday. X

 

[Betheney]

yes labetalol definitly gives you the shakes, but that passes quickly (i think within a few days. I know some women get put on small doses and are fine for the rest of the pregnancy, some get put on maximum doses (like me) and it has no impact. But the meds only stopped working once my hypertension progressed to preclampsia, once that happened there was no controlling it.

 

[Baby1988]

The labetalol didn't agree with me at all I was so ill .. Couldn't stand up for longer than 5 mins without thinking I was gonna pass out .. Terrible shakiness & nausea/upset stomach .. I s'pose it doesn't agree with everyone!! Been on methyldopa 250mg 3xdaily for a week now.. And feel great.. so.. Hopefully bp has come down .. Ill find out on Wednesday xx