Gestational Diabetes General Chatter #5

[smudgy]

smudgy, did you have anything with your stir fry? rice or noodles?
I completely understand your frustration. Unfortunately everyone is different and certain foods that work for one person don't work for another. I can eat pita wraps until the cows come home, but can't eat any kind of bread. It could possibly be the eggs or cheese. It's a matter of elimination really. I do ok with eggs, but not so good if I have cheese.
As for your fasting levels, unfortunately there isn't much you can do about those as it is hormonal. They were the first ones to go up for me and I was put on insulin before bed to control them. Did you have a snack before bed? I don't usually, but sometimes I have a glass of milk and my morning levels are still on the high side. The first week or so is a lot of trial and error to see what works for you. I was also told to try and go for a walk or do some excercise one hour after every meal for 20 minutes and that helped my levels alot and kept me off insulin for a few extra weeks.
Keep us posted with how you go and fire away any questions you have.

Hi Megan
No, no noodles or rice with the stir-fry. It's frustrating
I've walked for 20 minutes today and plan to for the rest of the week. Hopefully that'll help. And I don't snack before bed either. But tonight I had 1/4 cup of oats with warm milk. We'll see how I go tomorrow morning. Will keep updated!

p/s: I'm planning to have one thin sausage with a piece of toast and baked beans with lots of mixed veggies for breakfast tomorrow. How much baked beans can I have? Half a cup?

[Megan]

When I have baked beans I have a 3rd of a can on one slice of toast. That's probably about half a cup, but I haven't measured it before!
I can have thin sausages (one) but never the yummy thick flavoured ones!! Good luck with tomorrow.
With the excercise if you can, try and up it to 40-60 minutes in total for the day. I broke it up into 15-20 minute bursts, but it worked! Something I haven't been doing in the hot weather I have to admit.

[smudgy]

Thanks Megan!

Did my reading this morning before breakfast, it turned out 7.7! Oh dear me..

[myson]

megan. started on 4 units so far. bit better today but still more erratic than when i was doing without. DE says give it a few more days... we'll see..

Smudgy. beans are GREAT for GD. baked beans, green string beans, 3 bean mix. also i was told 20 mins a day is not enough. go for 15 after each meal if you can. also lots of multigrains are actually made with white flour... maybe try wholemeal or rye???

also if your level is good at night then higher in the morning then that is to do with your liver (i think) overcompensating and releasing sugar back to your bloodstream as the level drops during the night. Try snacking on yoghurt or a handful of almonds right before bed and see if that helps your morning reading.

watch your labels when you shop. i have found some things that say "light" are because of a reduced fat content BUT the sugar content (or carbs) is higher than the "non-light" alternative. but if i am telling you stuff you already know then just tell me to jump in the lake

Good luck with it matey and congrats on the pregnancy!!!!

[smudgy]

myson - wholemeal or rye. got it. thanks!

So after that 7.7 horror reading before breakfast, I had - 1 thin sausage + 1/4c baked beans + a mouthful of mixed veggies.
BSL after 2 hours = 6.2

Then for lunch with much disappointment, depressed and feeling so low, I had only 2 pieces of KFC chicken.
BSL after 2 hours = 4.9 but oh-so-hungry

Immediately snacked on 1/4 apple + 50g yoghurt + stole 2 chips from hubby's KFC dinner
Then for dinner its beansprouts + mushrooms + capsicum + onions + garlic + ginger stir-fry + 1/4 soy milk
BSL after 2 hours = 6.1 but still rather hungry

Before bed munched on a handul of chickpeas + 3/4 of a carrot
BSL the nxt day (today) before breakfast = 5.2 first time reached the targeted mark of <5.5 after fasting level! yippee!

So I had breakfast of 1 thin sausage + 1/2 slice white bread + 1/2 capsicum + mushrooms + 1/4c of soy milk.
BSL to be announced in 2 hours time

I think yesterday's reading went okay except for the high before breakfast. But I do feel a bit hungry. Like before bed last night I was a bit hungry so I went to sleep instead of raiding the kitchen. And oh I've lost almost 2kgs since my diagnose. That's less than a week ago! Surely it's not healthy, eh? I dunno. Should I be worried?

[belfie]

Smudgy - it sounds like you're having a tough time! I was a first time GD also (my dad has type II). My obs always said to me to remember that essentially it's a tug of war between your pancreas and your placenta. Sometimes no matter HOW well you eat, you'll end up on insulin, so don't starve yourself in the process, cos it sounds like you're going hungry which isn't good for either of you! Low BSL's because there's no food in you is not a long-term solution!

To make sure I was still eating enough for me and bubs I found this link quite useful for menu ideas and to make sure I was eating about the right amount: Gestational diabetes... Diabetes Australia - NSW there's a link half way down the page, " Healthy Eating for Gestational Diabetes Fact Sheet (PDF)".

I did end up on insulin and it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. Also, they did tell me that I didn't have to freak out because of a few high levels in the first week or so when you're trying to get things sorted. incidentally one thing that guaranteed set my BSL's off was baked beans, even though everyone else found them good! Also, sometimes you can eat the same thing but get totally different readings - it's not your fault, it's just the hormones mucking with your insulin resistance.

Sounds like you're doing a great job, hang in there it WILL get better
Oh and re weight loss - I found I stopped gaining weight at all but didn't actually lose. My obs said he'd start being worried if I lost 5-10kg... but depending on your current weight your obs may or may not care. I'd suggest giving your DE a call if you can to talk through what's happening. And yes, what megan said is definitely true - make sure you have snacks, is really important!

GL,
Belfie

[Leigh26]

Hi Girls,

Got my results back yesterday arv for my post baby GTT and they were normal

I was sooooooo relieved!!! I was nervous to ring for the results & nearly made myself sick worrying about them.