Gestational Diabetes General Chatter #1

hey again

Well ive been back to the diabetic educator and the doctors at the hospital have recommended that i go on insulin. I 'm pretty dirty about it all actually. My educator is a lovely woman who thinks that the doctors are full of it, but i wish that they had given me more than a week on the diet to regulate my blood sugar levels. the highest reading i had was a 7.5 and this was before i even saw the dietician for a little advice. But anyway the worst is over and now im on a little insulin twice a day, eating healthy and actually losing a bit of weight. The problem is though that it is going to feel like forever until the end of my pregnancy. still 17 weeks to go :-(
Does anyone have any ideas for supper? i'm not a night time eater usually and am really struggling to find something that i want to eat that late at night.
My older child (4) has been really funny about it all. He grabbed a teddy the other day and a calculator and gave it a test ( 25 according to him, poor ted!)
Hope everyone has a lovely christmas and figures out what we should eat on the day...and hope nobody gives us chocolates!

Jen

For supper I usually had either:
an orange, small can of pineapple pieces, low GI ice cream (Bulla brand), glass of milk, muesli bar, peanuts or cashew nuts.

That is odd that they put you on insulin if you were having success controlling it with diet. Hope you have a good Christmas (roast meals are good as long as you go easy on the potatoes)

well as far as my hospital is concerned they like you to be under 6.5 after meals and i was usually around 7. the thing that upset me was that they put me on insulin without even speaking to the dietician about better meal choices. anyway 'tis done now so hopefully the insulin amount will stay low for a while.
thanks for the supper choices, i'll have to give that ice cream a try.

Jen

Wow, your hospital is strict! There is no way that I would have been able to get under 6.5, even with insulin.

Hope it isn't causing you too much stress. I had readings around 7-7.5 after meals and 5-5.5 mornings, my bub was born very healthy with no ill effects from the diabetes and was 8 pound so he wasn't massive.

Jen the people treating have probably done you a big favour by putting you on insulin now. Even though 7 is not a big number you are only 23 weeks and havent even hit true insulin resistance yet. If you were say 30 weeks and getting a 7 they would most likely have responded differently. What they are in fact doing is heading off a certain upwards trend before it becomes a problem.
Pregnancy related insulin resistance just goes up and up and up between now and aprroximately 36 -38weeks and if they hadnt put you on insulin now that 7 would have been in the teens before too long. Diet alone will NOT successfully treat GD when it occurs this early in the pregnancy. I would be thanking your team for their forward thinking in reducing the long term risks to you and your baby....you will definitely feel better in yourself if you can avoid letting the sugars get any higher. pregnancy makes you feel tired and crappy as it is without high sugar levels making you feel even crappier.

Melbel, I you have got me wondering now. What is a normal reading? I have had my baby, but have tested my BSL a few times after meals and usually get around 7's. So in my next preg I would start out having levels around there - would they put me on insulin from the start?

7 is a borderline level in "normal" people. I cant answer whether you would end up on insulin but I would say that they would want to be watching you very carefully. You actually have insulin sensitivity from about 6 - 16 weeks or so (individuals variations IYGWIM) so you may find you have really good sugars at this time. For type one diabetics like myself this is actually a danger time as we take all our insulin artificially and as the sugar levels drop we can have nasty hypos for those few weeks. For the most part it then reverses at about 20 weeks or so and you get insulin resistance which is mostly when GD becomes a problem.

So I would say they would ask you to keep a close watch on your levels and as sson as they start to go loopy they will act accordingly.

Does that make sense - full of chrissy baileys!!!

Thanks Melanie. It is good to know that there is a period of insulin sensitivity as last time I had bad morning sickness until 17 weeks and I wouldn't be able to eat the proper diet. I am hoping if I can shift a bit of weight before TTC that I might avoid getting it again (don't burst my bubble LOL).

Have a good Christmas

Found this little website - its got recipes!

Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes - dLife.com

Be careful with the Dlife site...they have some good stuff but still havent got their head around the GI bit yet and don't have GI ratings for their food....... their nutrition guidelines are a smidge outdated. if you want really yummy food grab the diabetic living magazine...it comes out every second month and about 60% of the magazine is devoted to recipes.....it covers GI, carb load and all the other stuff so is really good value - and it is australian!! The latest edition has just come out so you should be able to grab it from most newsagents or coles or safeway. It has some yummy ice creams on the front cover!!

Hi.

I'm new to this. I don't even know if I'm in the right place.
I'm only like just over 10weeks, and my blood sugar levels are highh.
Anyone else had this before?
I didn't have GD in my first pregnancy or anything.

Maybe I had diabetes before I got pregnant? I have no idea. I don't have any of the symptoms or anything. I just don't get it.

I had to wait till monday to make an appointment with the nurse about it. I don't know anything else. I feel so in the dark and lost.

I'm really worried, and really down. I'm disappointed in my body.
=(

Tennykins: With my last pregnancy I had high blood sugar readings at 7 weeks and they thought I may have actual diabetes.. All my BSL readings after the birth were normal.. I am going for my GTT in the new year and hoping for a negative

Be careful with the Dlife site...they have some good stuff but still havent got their head around the GI bit yet and don't have GI ratings for their food....... their nutrition guidelines are a smidge outdated. if you want really yummy food grab the diabetic living magazine...it comes out every second month and about 60% of the magazine is devoted to recipes.....it covers GI, carb load and all the other stuff so is really good value - and it is australian!! The latest edition has just come out so you should be able to grab it from most newsagents or coles or safeway. It has some yummy ice creams on the front cover!!

Yes, I bought this mag the other day. There are some fantastic recipes!

Well it looks like I have to contact my diabetes educator - I have just started the glucose tests this week and got two high readings! Im fine during the day, its the test 2 hrs after dinner.

My dietician recommended I get the Annette Syms cookbooks/mags - "Simply Too Good To Be True".
Found them at the newsagents for about 12 bucks. The recipes are unreal.
Can't wait to start making them.....

oww I have those books I didn't realise it was low GI/low sugar recipes. I bought the Christmas eddition of the diabetic living mag it was great!

Caz what did the educator say about your high night readings? I sometimes get high night readings too but it's me to blame because I tend to squeeze in dessert (yogurt, low fat icecream, fruit) straight after rather than waiting the 2 hrs, testing then having it I also find that meat seems to take a bit longer to digest.

I have a question did/do you all have to have weekly CTG's towards the end of your pregnancy due to the diabetes? I have been booked in for my first this new years eve and have to have one a week so far till the end, the dr isn't concerned or anything and just says it's a routine procedure with GD, anyone else having them?

Tenny I know how you feel when do you see your diabetes educator? don't worry we're all in the same boat and totally understand it is really dissapointing I know

I got some infomation today from the doctors surgery that I go to, and made an appointment with the nurse there for Thursday.

I kinda feel a little better about it, but I know it'll take a while to get used to it.
I'm thinking the worst already. =(