Lisa Fettig

My name is Lisa Fettig. I was diagnosed with FMD in both renal arteries 3 years ago, when I was 34. I am a dietitian in a dialysis clinic. We were checking everyone’s blood pressure at work one day and discovered that mine was quite high (180’s/90’s). It had always been normal in the past. I considered myself to be quite healthy (normal weight, exercise regularly, eat well, etc.). I didn’t have any symptoms. One of the nephrologists that I work with said I probably had FMD. I had never heard of it. She ordered all kinds of tests to rule out other things, which all came back fine. The last thing was to do the renal angiogram, which showed the classic string of beads appearance. Angioplasty was done and my blood pressure came right down to normal.

I thought I was cured, but within a week it started going back up and I started medication. Since I was kind of trying to get pregnant, Labetalol was used. I hated it because of the side effects, but it did keep my BP under reasonable control. I suspect that I have carotid FMD, also, but it has never been diagnosed. I had a carotid ultrasound, which was normal, but I have had some of the symptoms (optic migraines, swooshing noise in ears sometimes, etc.) of carotid FMD for the past 20 years.

Last Februrary, I found out I was pregnant (first child). I saw a high risk OB, who told me I had a 50% chance of preeclampsia. I was scared to death of that or a stroke. By March I had to stop the Labetalol due to low blood pressure. My blood pressure stayed in the 110’s – 130’s the entire pregnancy without any meds, which was great. I walked almost everyday and continued lifting weights and riding a bike a couple times a week throughout the pregnancy. I gained 25 pounds or so.

My nephrologist did some basic labs and a 24 hour urine early in the pregnancy for a baseline, but then she went out on medical leave and I did not see a nephrologist the rest of the pregnancy. Due to my age and BP history, the OB ordered regular ultrasounds (I had 6 total) to make sure the baby was growing appropriately. I also had to go for non-stress tests twice weekly during my last trimester. That was a pain, but worth the sense of security.

In October, 10 days early, I delivered a healthy 7 pound baby girl. There were no major complications during the delivery. Within a week of delivery my BP started going back up and I went back on Labetalol, because I was breastfeeding. When I stopped breastfeeding, I was able to switch to an Ace-inhibitor, which controls my BP very well with few side effects. The baby is now 5 months old and we’re both doing great!