Magnesium sulfate preeclampsia?

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I just took the NLN achievement test for maternal and child health nursing. We have not gotten into the problems with pregnancy (next year), including preeclampsia of which there were a bunch that had to do wtih Mag sulfate and preeclampsia.

can anyone explain this med and effects on mom and baby to me? I am looking it up now but hoping that someone with experience can tell me more..

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I found it is the preffered treatment here in the US but not in Europe as of the mid 90's.

Many of the questions surrounded affects on seizures and muacle tone, which I see it is a smooth muscle relaxer, and if in the brain a vasodilator.

Here is a good article I found- wish I had read it before today's test.

Thankfully the test does not matter on our grade!!

http://www2.umdnj.edu/pathweb/papathlectadapt2003/mgso4eclampsia.pdf

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.

In easy terms (which is how I go about things)...it relaxes most of the body. It relaxes the central nervous system and works on striated muscles.

Since it can pass to the baby it pretty much can do the same things to the baby that it does to mom. It's possible for baby to have no issues but it's possible for them to have a low apgar, breathing problems but these are things that usually pass.

The antagonist is calcium whether it be chloride or gluconate.

I was on it. It sucked. How's that for techinical ;). I couldn't eat when first placed on it because of the risk of choking. There were times I was having a hard time breathing. I could barely move my body and too much moving just wiped me out. I had to be kept at near or just at toxic levels for it to work and my labs were drawn every 6 hours to make sure I didn't go to far over the line.

I was on it for preterm labor (baby born within 18 hours of it being turned off).

I don't do technical...just not me. So there's the layman basic version of it.

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Thank you!! You just answered ALL the questions I had about it on the test!!

Sorry you had to go through that- sounds like it sucks way worse than terbutaline. Hope you and the baby were fine!!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
Thank you!! You just answered ALL the questions I had about it on the test!!

Sorry you had to go through that- sounds like it sucks way worse than terbutaline. Hope you and the baby were fine!!

Oh it's so much worse then anything else I took for PTL and I pretty much did them all. I actually had it with 2 kids but with the second we weren't 100% sure the baby was coming but it was looking like it. So I was only on it for 48 hours to get steroids in for lung maturity just in case and he ended up staying put for a little longer...though still preterm. The first time I was on it for 2½ weeks and that time was just awful. The delivery after the mag was hard because I was still having side effects from the mag but we both made it and despite him being 34 weeks his only issue was hyperbilirubinemia.

Mag is rough but it's really a great medication at the same time.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

it made me hot and sleepy.

i just took the nln achievement test for maternal and child health nursing. we have not gotten into the problems with pregnancy (next year), including preeclampsia of which there were a bunch that had to do wtih mag sulfate and preeclampsia.

can anyone explain this med and effects on mom and baby to me? i am looking it up now but hoping that someone with experience can tell me more..

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
it made me hot and sleepy.

oh yeah...forgot about the heat. i had that both times and the weird thing is that both times the heat started in my lady partsl area and spread. people would come in my room wrapped in blankets and shivering while i was laying there with my feet hanging out of the blankets because i was so warm. i forgot about that one.

sleepy...yes.

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So it seems that mag sulfate is used with pre-eclampsia labor for 3 reasons:

Lower the BP,

Prevent Seizure

Prevent Pre-term labor.

I was just trying to figure out why this drug would be used over another to treat pregnancy induced hypertension...but it seems i have found the answer..:) thanks

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
So it seems that mag sulfate is used with pre-eclampsia labor for 3 reasons:

Lower the BP,

Prevent Seizure

Prevent Pre-term labor.

I was just trying to figure out why this drug would be used over another to treat pregnancy induced hypertension...but it seems i have found the answer..:) thanks

I need to respond to your response because it is key that you know that mag sulfate is used specifically for pre-e in order to reduce the risk of seizures. It does all these wonderful things but at the end of the day the correct answer for it's use for pre-e and such is....reducing seizures. The reduce BP is a benefitial side effect but not the main reason for use.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

magnesium.doc - has the signs and symptoms of both hypo and hyper magnesemia

the antidote for hypermagnesemia is to give calcium guconate 1ml/minute

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yeah..i have been seeing that now that i have been doing more L and D nclex questions...infact, one question that i did stated that other, typical BP meds would be used to treat the BP and the mag sulfate is for the seizures...if i had to take a guess (of course if i could stop being lazy and just go get my drug book, haha), I would think that alot of other seizure drugs, (definitely the benzos), are contraindicated for pregnant women. Thanks for the reply!

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