Critical Care Nurse tutor at Nurses and Midwifery Training College at Pantang, Joycelyn D. Yaokumah has opened up on her battle with preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder that can occur during pregnancy.

As a nurse at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Jocelyn in an interview with Adom News said she lived each day in fear as she saw patients die as a result of the condition.

According to her, she was diagnosed after she gave birth on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 at LEKMA Hospital in Accra and put on medication for six months.

Narrating her ordeal, Joycelyn who was full of gratitude to God said it began as frequent headaches and her mum would advise her to cover her head with a scarf.

Despite heeding to her mum’s advise after she kept telling her it was because she gave birth not long ago, the pain still did not go away.

She therefore decided to seek medical attention but got pregnant again in 2018 and her feet got swollen.

In what was strange to her, people told her it was because the baby will be a girl but since she was not convinced, she went to the hospital again.

After giving birth at the Legon Hospital, her symptoms worsened as she experienced severe headaches and blurry vision.

Upon various tests, it was revealed she had pre-eclampsia and was put on medication for three years from 2018 -2021 when she fully recovered.

Joycelyn explains Pre -eclampsia as a complication of pregnancy that begins from the 5th month of pregnancy to 3 months after childbirth.

She said it is a complication of pregnancy that is characterized by High BP, protein in urine, severe frontal headache with or without pedal edema and blur vision.

She has therefore advised nursing mothers to immediately visit the hospital if they have headache, notice that their feet are swollen or they have blurred vision.

Jocelyn noted that the earlier the condition is diagnosed and managed, the better the outcome.