Gestational Diabetes General Chatter #2

**Tanya** · December 29th, 2007, 09:17 PM

Welcome to the BellyBelly Gestational Diabetes Genral Chatter thread
If you have any questions or experiences with Gestational Diabetes that you'd like to share or discuss, please feel free to do so in this thread.

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**Caz1971** · December 30th, 2007, 06:37 PM

Well just had another high reading - 8.9 after dinner! That's 3 high readings this week, so now I have to call the diabetes educator.

Does anyone think I may have to start using insulin injections?

This diet is so hard, I'm constantly hungry and crying.

**Jewel** · December 31st, 2007, 09:30 AM

I feel constantly hungry and I'm crying and really down most of the time.
I see the nurse lady about this all on Thursday.

I feel like I'm the one who is telling my partner that he has to do this with me, cause I can't do it on my own. I feel so alone. He needs to lose weight and get healthy so why not do it with me.
I'm thinking the worst and I can't help it.
He's already losing patience with me and I've got a long way to go.
Yeah, I know I've been really down and negative, but come on whenever he's having his moments I try my very best to help him through it. I don't give up on him, like I feel he's starting to with me.

I don't know much about any of this, I guess that's why I'm so down.

**Caz1971** · December 31st, 2007, 12:13 PM

Tennykins - my hubby is doing it with me too as he needs to loose weight too.
This morning, after breakfast - all i ate was porridge and the sugar went to 6.8!

Just think Tennykins, when this is all over... Im always starving too and will talk to the hospital when I see them next.

Its NYE and Im gonna have my steak and eat it too!

Caz

**joralyd** · December 31st, 2007, 01:47 PM

when I started the diet I had trouble eating the 3 serves of dairy, 3 serves of low gi carbs, protien etc I think I had the oposite problem because I'm not a big carb eater. I did find some realy nice sour dough loaf that I would eat as a snack with olive oil margerine, I substituted 1 carb with my meal for a yogurt or something like that so I didn't have to eat so much with each meal. I also found I couldn't eat porridge unless it was made with whole oats(eewww too chewy) I was able to have meusli if I picked out some of the dried fruits, couldn't add sugar but it seemed to be sweet enough with some of the sultanas etc, I looked for some Just Right or something like that but I'm more of a toast gal so I have a few different types of breads to choose from and then I'll have things like low fat cream cheese, (naughty but I'll have fresh ham) I've noticed the bread has to be full of nuts and seeds so it doesn't spike up my sugar and I prefer 1 slice instead of 2 so I have a glass of milk with a tspoon of milo in it.
I know everyones different but I hope I can pass on some hope to you girls

I really feel for you I know it's so hard specially watching people scoff down all this yummy stuff while we have to count and check every little mouthful

Ohh there is a crushed fruit in fruit juice jelly called "crushables" they're soo yummy! and there's another one thats chopped fruit in juice jelly just check out the sugar content on the packs..
ohh also Miniz Icecream Smoothies by Streets they're great for after lunch.
I tend to get higher readings after dinner rather than lunch or breaky I guess my metabolism is slower then so I try to have my "sweets" at supper after my 2hr reading.
Ohh another thing I count my 2hrs starting from the time I FINISH a meal not at the start you guys probably know that by now anyway but I didn't when I first started so thought I better mention it.
Nuts are good too... I'll try think of some other things bbl

**joralyd** · December 31st, 2007, 02:01 PM

My bub was sized at 2.6kg at 34 weeks and was born 3.6kg.

Oh thanks for that I asked my ob about what weight I can expect bubby to be just for curiousity (since Im having a C anyway) and he said if baby grows at an average rate he/she should be around 7.5 to 8lb, both my other 2 were 6lb babies but I didn't have GD. I don't feel very big and I haven't put on any weight for nearly 10 weeks so I'll be intrested to see how much baby weighs.

**Artechim** · December 31st, 2007, 09:06 PM

How are you ladies going? I remember it was almost a relief to start on insulin because I couldn't eat any carbs without a high BSL and I was so hungry and upset all the time.

Caz - was your porridge from rolled oats or an instant? My diabetes educator said to stay away from instant packets if that is any help. If you are eating low GI and getting 8.9 you will probably be put on insulin. It sucks but it isn't as bad as you are imagining.

**Caz1971** · January 1st, 2008, 04:15 PM

How are you ladies going? I remember it was almost a relief to start on insulin because I couldn't eat any carbs without a high BSL and I was so hungry and upset all the time.

Caz - was your porridge from rolled oats or an instant? My diabetes educator said to stay away from instant packets if that is any help. If you are eating low GI and getting 8.9 you will probably be put on insulin. It sucks but it isn't as bad as you are imagining.

Rolled oats - traditional, Uncle Toby stuff. Insulin - oh bugger. Tom. gonna try and contact the diabetes educator again.

**kirsten74** · January 2nd, 2008, 08:31 PM

Hi, I have just found this website and thought that I would share some of my experiences with gd. I was diagnosed at 28 weeks with my 2nd child with gd. My Ob gave me 2 weeks to control it with diet. I couldn't and ended up on insulin. Luckily it was only for 6 weeks as I had quite a few hypos and trouble getting levels right. I had an elective cs at 37 weeks and had a healthy 3.8kg baby who didn't have any problems after delivery.
With this baby however, my Ob sent me for the glucose test at 15 weeks, and to my disgust it came back as positive. Again I was given 2 weeks to control it with diet but knew after 1 weeks that it wasn't going to happen. I was referred to an Endocinologist who was fantastic an put me on insulin again. After giving me a starting level he pretty much has let me set my own doses depending on what I am eating and how much exercise I am doing.
I am now 30 weeks and my monthly glucose tests have all shown that the sugar is under control. I have gotten used to ihe injections. No syringes, just these cool little pens where you dial up the dose and push the button. Not much to it. Like some of the others who have posted I tend to have quite low readings in the morning and so don't nee to take any shots before breakfast, but have to takeone before lunch, dinner and bed. It means that I don't have to be so strict with my diet and was even allowed to have christmas pudding on Christmas Day (just had to have a bit more insulin).
So for anyone worried about taking the shots, it really isn't that bad and it does take some of the worry and hassle out of watching what goes into your mouth. That said, if you can control it with diet, do it, just don't get yourself worked up if you do end up on it.
If anyone has any questions, please ask. A tip also. Hot chips are the devils work and are guaranteed to mess with your sugar big time!

**Caz1971** · January 2nd, 2008, 08:51 PM

Kirsten, so when you say hypo's does that mean that yr sugar reading was low? This morning for brekky I had two weetbixes. By the time I got to work I was so dizzy. I did the test and it went down to 3.9, Im usually 5 in the mornings....No wonder I felt so sick.

Caz

**kirsten74** · January 2nd, 2008, 09:08 PM

Yep, a couple of times I have felt really dizzy, and my mouth goes numb (weird I know). When I've tested it has been about 3 and at one point was 2.7. I was so weak and couldn't move. I had to get my husband to feed me the emergency jelly beans we keep in case of hypos. I checked with my Endocrinologist and he said that the sugar would have come up on its own, but it would have left me feeling really tired, sore and wiped out for a day or so.

**Jewel** · January 3rd, 2008, 04:12 PM

So today I saw the diabetes lady, she was really nice.
I felt so much better about it. Also, since my DP went along too, he's more willing to do it too, so that's a bonus! I hope he keeps it up cause it'll be a better outcome for us all in the long run. =D
I got the tester machine thingo too, so that's a bit of fun for us at first. Lol.
I just can't wait till my levels come down. Fingers crossed!!!

How is everyone else doing?

**Artechim** · January 3rd, 2008, 08:41 PM

Kristen, I was the opposite to you, I had the most trouble in the mornings - by the end I needed over 40 units of insulin just to have 2 weetbix for breakfast.

My Dr was also quite happy for me to adjust my dose. If I had borderline results for the same meal twice in a row I upped the dose by 2-4 units.

Hope you are all doing well, must be a bit of a pain trying to organise appointments with all the stat days.

**Jewel** · January 4th, 2008, 11:18 AM

I'm just wondering, what exactly is a good result?

Is it anything around or under 7?

xx

**kirsten74** · January 4th, 2008, 12:14 PM

What you are aiming for is < 5.5 fasting in the morning and <6.8 2 hours after a meal. Doctors will accept 3 readings over this per week, but any more than this and they start to get concerned.

**Caz1971** · January 4th, 2008, 01:33 PM

Kirsten, Im seeing the diabetes educator/midwife on monday. Ive had a few high readings in a week.
Will they just go over my diet or get me to do the insulin injections?

**melbel** · January 4th, 2008, 04:41 PM

Caz, They will go over your history from all angles especially when you are getting the high readings, what you were eating at the itme etc. essentially in diabetes managament no matter what the type, it all comes down to looking at patterns and the more info you can provide the educator the better able she will be to prescribe the best course of treatment. If you can try and record times of things like what you eat and when and if you do anything unusual activity wise like extra exercise or less exercise...all that sort of stuff will help her immensely. Also the educator can not prescribe insulin....if she feels this is an appropriate course of action she will have to refer you to the endo for all that. Look for if you seem to be high ata prticular time of day like ater brekky every day then look at what you eat for brekky could that be contributing? that type of thing IYGIM.
from the point of view of type 1 Diabetes in prgnancy breakfast levels are the hardest to get down towards the end most type 1's ditch carbs almost totally for brekky in favour of a protein based meal and we are already on insulin to help adjust the levels. So dont feel bad everyone if you struggle with brekky levels...they are a biatch at the best of times. What a lot of us do at these times is maybe have a small omlette on wholegrain toast rather than cereal - cereal and pregnancy and diabetes so do not go together for most people.

**Jewel** · January 4th, 2008, 07:40 PM

What you are aiming for is < 5.5 fasting in the morning and <6.8 2 hours after a meal. Doctors will accept 3 readings over this per week, but any more than this and they start to get concerned.

Thank you. Lol.
I was excited that my reading was much lower this morning then the fasting BT I had. It's still not less then 6.8 though.
Damn.

xx