Gestational Diabetes General Chatter #3

[Kristale]

Hi all I was diagnosed with GD late at 30wks and am really struggling as I have such a sweet tooth and all my cravings are for sweet things. I am being good but my levels are not at all consistent they will be high when I've been good and low when Iv had something bad it is so hard. I see my ob next week so I wonder what he will say about my levels. I only have 5 weeks to go so hopefully no insulin for me when there isnt long to go and bubs was all normal sizes at last scan 2 weeks ago.
Any tips anyone has would be appreciated.

[Artechim]

Kristale, do you find there is any pattern to the time of day you eat naughty things and how it affects your levels? I know that I needed a load of insulin to eat two peices of wholegrain bread in the morning but could eat a muffin and milkshake at lunch and be fine.

Good luck for the next five weeks, hope it goes quickly for you.

[melbel]

kristale....you really need to write down all your levels and see if there is a pattern to them from day to day. As Artechim said a lot of people have higher sugars first thing in the morning and respond worse to food at that time. This is because your liver and kidneys dump all your excess insulin and other hormones and crap between about 4 and 6 am every day and starts fresh so an awful lot of people find they struggle at this time of day to matabolise even small amounts of carb. A trick is to have a low GI and low carb, high protein brekky and have your other carbs later in the day. Some people find they have a similar response at about the same time in the afternoon again low GI and high protein at these times seems to help. It is called the Dawn or Dusk phenomenon. When you have been "bad" as you put it did the food contain fat as well as sugar. Because fat will slow the digestion down and even though a food may seem bad it may not raise the sugar levels as quickly as you thought because of the fat content.

Do you follow the GI diet? This is probably the best way to accurately predict what effect a food will have on the blood sugar. There are a heap of books and refrences on the net about it...google glycaemic index if you want more info.

[Kristale]

Thanks girls yeah I am following a low GI diet but still getting used it. My levels are fine in the mornig it is generally evenings where I have the trouble so I obviously have to adjust what I eat then. Just finding it hard to be so careful about what I eat not something Ive ever had to do thats all but I will get it by the end I'm sure.
Thanks again

[Jewel]

Congrats on your results, Kirsten!
That's awesome news.
Kirsten, how far along were you when you were diagnosed with GD/diabetes?
I've got my fingers crossed that after I have this bubba my levels are great like yours, knowing my luck they'll probably much the same as now. Lol.


melbel - Thanks for posting about that. I didn't know anything about the 4 to 6am stuff. Wow. That's interesting.

Kristale - Hi. Good luck with controlling your cravings. Fingers crossed the next 5weeks fly by!

Does everyone with GD(or normal diabetes) get induced if they go past their due date?
I was told I'm not allowed to go past my EDD. I'm not sure if this is the same for everyone, or just me.
I'm hoping I go a week early like I did with DS.

[kirsten74]

HI Tenny, I was 15 weeks when I was diagnosed with the GD. Made for a very long pregnancy! And as for results after your pregnant, the readings I had which said I had GD, are actually within normal range for Type 2 diabetes. So the chances of everything going back to normal are great! Apparently it does happen, but not often.
Hope everyone is coping OK with the diets. I have found I have been eating low GI since having Ben even though I haven't had to. After having him, I actually weighed 10kgs less than when I first got pregnant with him. THat is what a healthy diet does!
Good luck to everyone.

[cherii]

Congrats on your results, Kirsten!
That's awesome news.
Kirsten, how far along were you when you were diagnosed with GD/diabetes?
I've got my fingers crossed that after I have this bubba my levels are great like yours, knowing my luck they'll probably much the same as now. Lol.


melbel - Thanks for posting about that. I didn't know anything about the 4 to 6am stuff. Wow. That's interesting.

Kristale - Hi. Good luck with controlling your cravings. Fingers crossed the next 5weeks fly by!

Does everyone with GD(or normal diabetes) get induced if they go past their due date?
I was told I'm not allowed to go past my EDD. I'm not sure if this is the same for everyone, or just me.
I'm hoping I go a week early like I did with DS.

I was diagnosed with GD at 24 weeks. I wasn't able to do it diet alone, so I have been controlling it with Insulin Injections since about the 28th week. Because of this, the hospital I am going through have told me they will induce me, but they are inducing me before my due date. I am going in again this week, so it may change again, but they are inducing me about a week and a bit early.

[Stars69]

Hi everyone,

Just found this thread...I was diagnosed with GD last week at 30 weeks and had my first appointment yesterday with the dietician and diabetes educator and started testing my blood.

A little confused because I had a wholemeal sandwich with salad and lean beef and no margerine and when I tested I was 7.4. Two hours before when I tested in the clinic I was 3.4. Is it perhaps I didn't have anything else? After dinner I scored a 5.4 which was good.

I know it will take awhile to get things in hand, just a little confused at the minute!

[principessa76]

Hi Everyone,

Thought I might join in here. Just found out today that I've got GD. I'm really quite surprised and depressed about it right now. My blood pressure has been up a little too so right now I'm just really feeling let down by my body. Normally I'm fit and healthy and now everything seems to be going wrong. I've got an appointment with an endocrinologist on Monday so I guess I'll be getting diet info etc then.

You guys all seem to be coping really well with the GD and hopefully I'll be in the same boat in a week or so. If nothing else its nice to know I'm not alone.

[Jewel]

Heya principessa.
Sorry to hear about your GD.
When you get the news you do feel let down by your body, but it does get better.
Although I still have times/days when I'm let down now by my body. It's just not as bad as it was.

I hope you start feeling better about it all once you've seen the endocrinologist and know more about it all.
It is nice to know you're not alone. I know it's helped me a lot asking my questions here.

xx

[principessa76]

Hi there,

Thanks for the kind thoughts Stars, cherii and Tennykins. I'm feeling a little better about the whole thing now.

Just wondering did you all have to do a special diet before the 2hr GTT? The pathology place told me I had to do a diet but my OB told me not to worry. I'm wondering now if in my efforts to be very healthy over the days before the test that I may have influenced the results a little. The path place told me to fast for 8-12 hrs (so of course I thought 12hrs would be better) and I didn't have any carbs for about 20hrs before the test. Do you think this could have made things worse for me?

TIA

[Kristale]

Hi principessa76

I work in pathology in WA at a women and childrens hospital and we do not get the patients to have a special diet before hand but I have heard of this in the eastern states and not sure why they do it. With the fasting as long as you didnt fast for more then 16hrs then the results would be fine and I'm sure the pathology have a reason behind the special diet and that it should not influence your results.

[cherii]

principessa76 - before I even knew I was pregnant I had a GTT and at that particular one I was given a high carb diet to follow 3 days beforehand and then I had to fast the night before. But when I found I was pregnant and then had another GTT, they didn't get me to do anything at all beforehand from what I recall, except don't eat breakfast before I came in for the test.