I've decided to decline the GD test...tell me I'm not crazy?!

This GD test has been looming over my head for months now, it's caused me so much stress and worry. Te thought of being labeled with GD, and a 'high risk' tag is both laughable and terrifying to me :( I was finally going to pluck up my courage and go and have it today...and then I though, 'why?'. I found a thread started by Mel (Arimeh's Eden) which made me feel like maybe declining the GD test wasn't the worst thing I could do. And now, I already feel better, lighter. I have none of the risk factors aside from being overweight. I'm so young, my diet is pretty okay (not amazing by any standards, but acceptable), and I'm ramping up my exercise from lots of walking to incorporate swimming and hydrotherapy classes with my physio. So I feel pretty okay with my decision. I'm not crazy, right? I don't really know what the point of this post is really :redface: To ramble, to clear my thoughts. Ofcorse I'm still worried all of this may come back and bite me on the bum...but the stress and worry over the test, and the stress and worry I'd have IF I did have GD, made this decision what it is. Has anyone else declined the GD testing?

ETA, by overweight, I mean technically overweight; 165cm tall and weighed 74kg pre preg...so really I'd say I'm chubby but BMI calls be overweight lol.

Another ETA...I'm also too late to have it I think, time just got away from me!

I didn't decline hun, but that's because I was 40 and a high risk for GD. Luckily I didn't have it, but a close friend my age did. GL hun, it's just one of those things that they want to check I guess.

I would be more worried about the risks to bub when its born if you did have undiagnosed GD? IYKWIM. I too am overweight and was more overweight last pregnancy and I didnt have GD, not even close.

I thought about it a lot when I was up for it, and I decided to have it because it would have been worse if I did have it and it was undiagnosed.
BUT it is your personal choice, if you don't want it then you don't have to have it...

Something to remember though is that it is completely random so even if your diet is great, you exercise etc you can still get it (I am not trying to scare you into it! LOL it;s just not like normal diabetes)

Thanks for your input guys :)

MrsB, yeah I know GD is a random thing...just look at Cathy Freeman, who would have thought an atheist would get it huh? But GD is often treated with diet and exercise anyway, so I guess for me, maintaining those two things is a good thing to do.

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I would be more worried about the risks to bub when its born if you did have undiagnosed GD? IYKWIM. I too am overweight and was more overweight last pregnancy and I didnt have GD, not even close.

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Yeah, that.

I was the same with my pregnancies. #1 - quite overweight and stacked on a chunk more weight - no GD, pretty much perfect results. #2 - Still overweight but smaller and more active - excercise & sport. - Bad results. GD. Luckily I had mine controlled with diet and excercise. :)
Even though some people aren't that lucky and with diet and exercise their levels just rise no matter what they do.

It's hard to tell sometimes.

Everything is so stressful. I can totally imagine how you felt lighter after your decision though.
I'm a stresshead and all that too. :hug:

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Thanks for your input guys :)

MrsB, yeah I know GD is a random thing...just look at Cathy Freeman, who would have thought an atheist would get it huh? But GD is often treated with diet and exercise anyway, so I guess for me, maintaining those two things is a good thing to do.

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An athiest? Ha ha, gotta love auto-correct!
I had the test with my first preg, mostly because I wasn't familiar with 'the system'. I chose not have to have it with my second preg. as I did not fit any of the 'at risk' criteria.

ETA you're not crazy hun.

Cathy Freeman an atheist!! Who knew!! : p

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

DAMN YOU, AUTOCORRECT!!!

I don't think you are crazy :)

I think a good midwife would be able to tell from your symptoms if you have it or not, and if you are concerned you can take your own blood sugar levels for a few days. My midwife had a finger pr!ck machine, although we never felt the need to check mine. I was and am, happy with my decision not to have it :)

You're definitely not crazy. I have declined it this pregnancy. I just don't see what the benefit is of it. I believe I would 'know' if I had it, I would feel it within myself, and like you say diet and excercise has a lot to do with it. So if I suspected I had it I would address those issues first and go from there.
From what I have read of your posts you seem to be very in tune with your body. Go with your gut feeling, if you don't need the test don't have it.

There are always going to be people who believe you should have it and people who believe you don't need to. If you haven't already I would highly recommend reading some of Dr. Sarah J. Buckley's stuff, she has some great info about this!

Glad you're not stressing about it darl, FWIW with DS I was classed as obese and put on heaps of weight , ate a really bad diet and didn't have it, this pregnancy I weighed even more, ate really healthy, did a lot more exercise and lost over 10kg in the first 16wks and still got diagnosed with GD, its really luck of the draw. The main things they're concerned about with having GD anyway is placental & cord flow, the babies size & blood glucose level's after birth anyway, so as long as you can stick to a low GI diet and not eat too many bad things everything should be ok (BTW, chocolate is classed as low GI too lol so it's ok to have daily in small amounts lol)

I think testing your own blood sugar is a good idea.

I guess at the end of the day you need to be comfortable with your decision and live with whatever the consequences.

I'm not on top of all your reasons PZ but I imagine it's because a positive result would impact on your birthing choices because you'd be labelled high risk. I think labelling someone high risk just because they have GD is sheer lunacy so I can understand that you'd be deterred from taking the test :) I don't see how someone who manages their GD and keeps their blood sugars down is any higher risk than anyone else.

I had it in my second pregnancy and yes, it's totally random who gets it and who doesn't. I think that you will physically have a bit of an idea that you have it as I felt like I'd been hit by a truck until I got on the insulin (I could only manage mine with diet, not with exercise because I was basically in a wheelchair because of SPD).

So ... carry on doing what you're doing and if you feel dodgy then it's never too late to take the test (as far as I know).

i didnt have the test at all for all 3 pg.

My midwife said she didn't think it was needed for me and was simple as that. Also I had the same midwife for all 3 pregnancies and through out the whole pg so she was able to watch over me and look for signs if they were occuring. I was a tiny bit over weight for all pg (like 1-5kg) for my height

My 2 cents worth - nope not crazy. If I were in your situation, I would have declined too. You are the best person to judge your unique risk factors and symtpoms. (Interesting, my hospital won't give me the option of declining....)

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I'm not on top of all your reasons PZ but I imagine it's because a positive result would impact on your birthing choices because you'd be labelled high risk. I think labelling someone high risk just because they have GD is sheer lunacy so I can understand that you'd be deterred from taking the test :) I don't see how someone who manages their GD and keeps their blood sugars down is any higher risk than anyone else.

I had it in my second pregnancy and yes, it's totally random who gets it and who doesn't. I think that you will physically have a bit of an idea that you have it as I felt like I'd been hit by a truck until I got on the insulin (I could only manage mine with diet, not with exercise because I was basically in a wheelchair because of SPD).

So ... carry on doing what you're doing and if you feel dodgy then it's never too late to take the test (as far as I know).

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Yep that was the deciding factor for me, the high risk. I feel like so long as I modify my diet a bit and keep being active, I'm doing something positive. I believe that if I wasn't slightly over my BMI I would not have been offered to even do the test, as I'm 20 and otherwise healthy :) Hmm need to start looking at lower GI foods, might start a new thread for that one...

i agree with the others, i understand your decision, but i would worry if you did have it and it was undiagnosed, the risks you had put yourself and bub under? Kwim? Not to stress you out, obviously the weight of having the test has put you under a lot of stress.

just to put it in perspective as well, my SIL is 2 days older than me (27) and with all of her bubs (she's now pregnant with #3) she has had GD, and she is the healthiest, tiniest person i know. no history of diabetes in her family, she's always been a size 6-8, and she's always been incredibly fit and healthy, always eating well and doing exercise. she's an anomaly....she was considered very low risk and ended up with it....so there you go. just depends.