Symptoms

Gest Gestosen are many different pregnancy-associated diseases, which therefore also carry many different symptoms. A distinction is made between early gestoses and late gestoses. Among the early gestures that occur in the first trimester of pregnancy is morning sickness with moderate vomiting (Emesis gravidarum) or with an insatiable pregnancy vomiting (Hyperemesis gravidarum).

This can occur throughout the day or even at night. Vomiting can lead to dehydration (desiccation) and severe weight loss, palpitations and low blood pressure. Electrolyte disorders and their consequences as well as fever, drowsiness and a deterioration of the general condition can also occur.

The morning sickness is caused by the increased beta-HCG level, which rises steadily until the 12th week of pregnancy and then decreases again, so in most cases the symptoms are expected to subside after the 12th week. The increased salivation (ptyalism, hypersalivation) is also an early symptom. It can occur alone or in combination with nausea and vomiting and can make the nausea even more unpleasant.

Late gestoses that can occur in the last trimester of pregnancy include preclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. In preclampsia, patients often suffer from dizziness, headaches, visual disturbances, flickering eyes, nausea, vomiting, water retention (edema) and drowsiness. The water retention is usually noticed by the pregnant woman by a relatively sudden weight gain (>1Kg per week).

These symptoms are caused by high blood pressure (>140/90 mmHg) and protein loss through urine (proteinuria). In eclampsia, in addition to the above-mentioned symptoms of preclampsia, seizures with or without loss of consciousness occur. Before such a seizure, the patient may experience severe headaches (often in the forehead area), flickering eyes, double vision, general malaise, neurological deficits, nausea and vomiting.

Eclampsia poses a threat to mother and child due to possible complications (kidney failure, lack of placenta function (placental insufficiency), brain swelling (brain edema), retinal damage, thrombosis and bleeding). In HELLP syndrome, which also belongs to the high blood pressure disorders in late pregnancy (but can also occur without increased blood pressure and protein loss) and is virtually a severe form of preclampsia, patients suffer from severe pain in the right upper abdomen as well as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea in addition to the symptoms of preclampsia mentioned above. The pain is caused by overstretching of the liver capsule.

The symptoms can appear within a very short time (1h), although some patients show a sudden increase in blood pressure in advance. In HELLP syndrome, the complications are more frequent, more varied and more serious than in simple preclampsia. Normally, the symptoms of the late gestation disappear again within a few days after birth at the latest, although an eclamptic seizure is still possible in the postpartum period.