Pre-eclampsia or Eclampsia may have nothing to do with lacking blood pressure medication and everything to do with lacking proper nutrition. In pregnant women, blood volume needs to increase by over 40% to ensure efficient circulation to the developing fetus and mother.
Eating a LOW PROTEIN diet or a HIGH CARBOHYDRATE diet can activate the stress response, causing estrogen to rise. High estrogen and low protein can cause the blood to clot and/or thicken. Furthermore, estrogen destroys the liver's ability to produce albumin, which is a key factor in allowing the liver to rid the body of toxins. When the body does not produce enough albumin, it creates hypothyroid issues, and with hypothyroid issues, comes a loss of sodium in the body.
The loss of sodium and lack of albumin allows for TISSUE EDEMA (or swelling/bloating). Estrogen pulls out water from the blood, and pushes it into the cells, which gives you puffiness and increases HYPERTENSION (high blood pressure) due to the decrease in blood volume and the increase in viscosity (or thickness) of the blood.
In addition, if the mother is not eating enough of the right kind of carbohydrates (i.e., too many grains/processed carbs/above-ground vegetables and not enough tropical fruits and root vegetables) the body will start to break down protein to produce the glucose that it is lacking (another stress), which exacerbates the low level of protein in the mother.
Overall, improper eating can create low protein and high estrogen in the body, which may lead to hypertension and pre-eclampsia or eclampsia issues during and after pregnancy.
As always, it's best to address the cause, rather than the symptom of a deeper dysfunction.
