Gestational Diabetes General Chatter #5

[kgb]

I am freaking out, for lunch today I had a cheese and salad roll and avocado on a multigrain roll with mushroom soup from our work cafeteria and a diet coke. I got a reading of 8.2!!! This has been my lunch for the past couple of month, little did I know I know I had GD, my poor baby!

It must have been the grain roll, this reading is almost the same reading I got after having the sugary drink at the Glucose test.

What has been the worst reading and which food is the worst (I know the white stuff is meant to be the worst)? Does diet coke affect insulin? (I know there is no sugar).

Sorry to be a pain.

KGB

[Becci]

KGB - cheese would account for some of the carbs as well as the roll. Not sure how big your roll was though. I'm unsure as to the carbs in an avocado either. I don't drink diet coke so can't help you there. Was there any dressing on the salad?
Hold on I might be getting ahead of myself here. Have to been educated on carbs and how much you can have? I know some of the girls weren't told that stuff and it's really important.

Personally I found grainy bread ok, especially the 9 grain one with wholemeal. I could have it with either baked beans or a couple of eggs at lunch and had great readings. Mind you I was home for most of my lunches at that stage so I could make those things.

Oh and you're not being a pain! We all had these questions when we were first diagnosed too!

[belfie]

hey KGB,

You're not a pain at all! Re the food, I had a look at the Diabetes Australia site which has a sample diet for GD, and I would have thought what you had was ok...? When I got to the DE and told her what i'd looked at, she said "oh well that's what i would have given you anyway!".

The other thing I've found is that the same food can give different readings... based on hormones/baby growth etc... so please don't stress that you would have been that high every time you had it. Plus the GD may only have developed more recently. With Diet Coke, I've had that occasionally and it doesn't seem to change my readings.

Foods that I seem to get away with are noodles, basmati rice, some seedy bread (but I'm wheat-free as well, so that's a different issue).

Hope your levels are going well & keep posting your Q's
Belfie

[1MOREPLZ]

Hi

just thought i would join this thread...

just got home from hospital visit with diabetes endocrinologist...
I am 33 weeks pregnant tomorrow, and have GD.. GREAT
this is my third bub (no previous GD) this will be my third ceasar also.
My readings have been up/down, so i am now on insulin twice daily.. before dinner and before breakkie 4 units each time.

Dr scared the crap outta me.. i know if not controlled properly bub can be BIG, but to tell me that he can have breathing probs when born, or just in rare cases simply die in utero..scared me BIG time...
Anyways thats me...

[melbel]

KGB,

What you had for lunch seems like an okay meal. The only suggestions I have is that if you had mayo or dressing on the sald that may have contained sugar or the other thing is that for some people (not all...food things tend to be very individual to each person) you may just be one of those people who don't do well with breads.
Diet and any type of Diabetes is soooo individual. For example some people like a glass of milk before bed and for others it shoots their sugar levels up big time....some people cant handle anything carby at break fast time and others can...you will find it is trialand error for a little bit to find your groove. As for avocado it shouldnt be an issue and diet coke is defintely fine ti will have no effect on insulin or BSLs.

Katones...... i know what the doctro said seems scary (and really he shoulda kept his bigmouth shut and delivered the inofrmation in a less sensationalist way!) but in reality the chances of any of those things happening is only a small fraction above what it is for the normal population anyways. If you can control your sugars reasonable well the risks are tiny, they are there but theyare tiny. Years ago before we had blood glucose monitoring and decent purified insulins there was definitely a bigger risk of all that but today with modern monitoring it shouldnt be an issue.

I recommend to anyone who want to learn more about diet to find a copy of "The New Glucose Revolution" by professor Jennie brand Miller. It contains all the latest stuff about the glycaemic index of food and how to use it to control your sugar levels better. it is easy toread and comes with companon boks with recipes and shopping guides for all the food you can get at the supermarkets and take aways etc..
Also grab a copy of the magazine Diabetic Living....it comes out every two months and has stacks of awesome recipes in it that evryone in the family can enjoy!

Also someone mentioned about medium carb not low carb...just wanted to clarify this so people dont get confused. There are two things to consider with diet one is how much carb and theother is what type of carb to eat.
You shuld try and eat low GI carbs at all meals and try and avoid high GI carbs at all costs. a little bit of medium GI carbs is okay but try to aim for as much of the low GI carb as possible. With regard to how much that depends on how much you normally eat...if you normally do not eat a lot of carby food then there is no point trying to start now but on the other hand if most of your food intake is carbohydrate you may want to cut it back a bit The aim is eat a moderate amount of mostly low GI carbohydrate in your diet...does that make sense? Hope this helps out the newbies a little bit! tell me to butt out if I am sticking my nose in!

[1MOREPLZ]

well since my first jab yesturday and eating alot better yesturday.. this morning my BSL was great and i am determined that they are going to stay that way...

One thing though.. i am only on 4units before breakkie and 4 before dinner, but after having my jab i feel quite nautious..

[belfie]

Katones - well done on the good levels, and that's a pain re feeling sick. I probably had the opposite, I'd been feeling quite ill in the evenings but found once I started insulin I wasn't as bad (have not idea if it was related or not!).

this morning my BSL was great and i am determined that they are going to stay that way...

The only thing they keep telling me is that you may eat PERFECTLY and still get some higher levels due to bubs having a growth spurt or hormones changing... so please don't worry if they go high and you've eaten well - it's not your fault. Re doc saying the scary stuff, geez they're annoying aren't they. My doc mentioned them in passing, but basically said they are SO rare, don't worry about it but these are the reasons we manage the GD rather than just ignoring it, because historically people had these problems.

melbel - thanks for the info! I hadn't heard of the mag... wonder if it comes out before I'm due? hehe. I agree the books are great, I've got some of 'em too.

kgb - how are you going? Are you seeing your DE & endo today? Good luck I hope they give you lots of good info

Lovely ladies with babies - I hope your little bundles are all going well.

My BSL's have been quite erratic this week. Two high ones... probably should have called the DE, but then the next day was great... so I didn't get around to it. Then last night my machine wouldn't work! Have to call the help line this morning and see what's going on! It has registered the calibration strip, but isn't registering any of the testing strips I put in it! Otherwise, still loving mat leave, started washing all my baby clothes yesterday... such fun hanging them all out!!!! The biggest challenge is washing & drying the blue stuff unseen - as none of our friends/family know we're having a boy... so I'm trying to sneak it in between visitors. (And I've bought some blue things cos they were all on awesome specials!).

Hope you all have a great Friday.
Belfie.

P.S. well I just rang the helpline and it turns out my glucometer isn't working properly so I have to get it swapped for a new one! Would have been a wait till Mon/Tues, or I can pop out & pick it up - as they're in Doncaster which isn't far from me at all! Anyone else had theirs stop working ever? Mine is an Optium Exceed.

[1MOREPLZ]

Hey Belfie...

glad i now have people to talk to about my GD.

We are having a boy aswell but everyone knows... i have started washing all of bubs stuff aswell, but yesturday it got abit cl9oudy here so i hung it all on the clothes rack inside.

Anyways best be off talk soon