Gestational diabetes?? Not sure what to do!

[Penny12355]

So I had a GTT on thursday.. at 10 past 9 in the morning.. was told to fast from 12 the night before.. I did but what I had for my dinner was really bad that evening.. at around half 6 I had a chinese.. chicken balls chips and gravy, then at around 7pm had a bit of chocolate cake with honeycomb icecream.. so had the first blood test at 9.10am.. and had 3 blood tests and when I got told my results they said the first blood test came back abnormal but the other two were fine! So now because of this I have to get scanned every 2 weeks which is about 40 mins away from where I live, and also have the baby in that hospital to and do the wee finger prick thing 7 times a day! What if I effected the first blood test by eating that chinese and cake? And maybe I dont even have diabetes ! I was told I had a perfect bmi

Well if you're doing the finger prick it will give a better picture in the long term

Would me eating chinese and cake the night before effect the test?

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, given monitor and told to go to the hospital for check-ups every week. Had a 2-year-old too at that time. The first result was high, I was given tablets, but did not feel great on them, so completely changed my diet to 'diabetics' and my blood sugar normalised. Ask at the hospital and they will give you all the info. Try the diet, it really worked for me. Sadly, you wouldn't be able to eat Chinese chicken balls and honeycomb ice cream on this diet Good luck!

If you are worried then you could speak to your midwife, but what you ate the day before shouldn’t affect the results. Your body should be able to metabolise the glucose in the food you eat (whatever it is) and bring your blood sugar down to normal levels, if it can’t then it’s important to follow that up. Also you can have a normal BMI and still get gestational diabetes, it isn’t just something that affects people who are overweight.

The extra checks are a faff I know, but diabetes can have really severe consequences for you and your baby, so it’s important that these are done.

No but I ate this the night before I had the test would it effect the test

What's a faff?

They specifically say to fast for 12 hours before the test so that what you have eaten before those 12 hours begin doesn't count, so no that meal wouldn't have made any difference to the test. I had Gestational diabetes and yes the finger pricking and extra scans were a pain but worth it to keep my baby healthy.

Would me eating chinese and cake the night before effect the test?

It would have pushed your blood sugar up, but if your insulin production/function was normal it would not have had an impact on the test by the following morning.
Regular finger prick tests will show you what you’re dealing with.

No but I ate this the night before I had the test would it effect the test As long as you fasted after midnight like they told you, it won't have affected the test.

A faff is something that's a bother, and takes lots of extra time and energy.

A colleagues baby was stillborn at 35 weeks due to her gestational diabetes. I'm not saying that to be horrid, but it can be fatal for your baby. They monitor you for good reason, not your personal inconvenience.

If your body processes sugar and food properly. What you ate the night before will not have an impact on your blood results.

BMI and Diabetes don't always go hand in hand. These kind of statements piss me off.

How have your blood glucose levels been since Thursday?

I had several GTT's throughout my pregnancy because of high BMI. Sometimes I'd eaten healthily the day before and sometimes I hadn't. That never impacted my results. As PP's have said your body should have been able to lower your blood sugar in time for the test and it didn't. Hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well. Try and think of the extra scans as a bonus, you'll get to see your baby loads of times before you meet them.

My sugar levels have been good!

Hi Penny12355,
Sometimes getting the news you have GD can be hard to accept. I was upset when I was diagnosed at 28 weeks and felt it was my fault but contrary to what you may think having a high BMI doesn't automatically mean you will get GD - there are a number of risk factors but these don't mean if you don't have BMI that's high you don't have it. It's a condition caused by the hormones in the body which make it insulin resistant.

If you fasted for 12 hours before the GTT then the test has been administered correctly and your results will not have been impacted by the food you ate.

You will be seen by the diabetic team who will advise you on acceptable test targets for fasting and post-meal bloods (different NHS trusts may have different targets) so when you say your sugar levels have been good if you mean then they have been within target then that is great however it doesn't mean that you don't have GD.
With the testing of blood sugars you can provide the diabetic midwife/consultant with an accurate picture of how well your body is processing sugars - it's a progressive condition which means it gets harder to control your sugars as your pregnancy progresses so you will need to monitor to keep an eye on this.

If you follow the GD diet that you will be told about - my hospital invited me to a session with a dietician and diabetic midwife (there are also plenty of helpful resources online) you should be able to continue to keep your sugars within range. It's a lot of trial and error and some of the things they said would be ok to eat were not ok for me. Everyone is different.

Unfortunately whilst the diet controlled my sugars during the day my fasting sugars first thing in the morning were too high (nothing to do with what I was eating and actually very hard to control) so I am now on medication for this.

Yes you will have to have more scans and more appointments but with GD comes the risk of a larger baby (my first growth scan showed my baby was big but this has reduced since I got my diagnosis and began managing the condition) and also many other serious complications - many of which you can read about online - but that necessitate closer monitoring of you and baby in pregnancy to make sure you are both safe!

If you have been told that you have GD - even if you don't agree - you need to follow the guidance you have been given to avoid any risk to you and baby!

One “bad” meal the night before won’t have given you the high reading. I had GD too and have a normal to low BMI.

It sounds like your GD is not that severe which means you should be able to control it with diet and also means more options regarding birth. The exact options will depend on how well you control it and your own hospital’s policy.

Basically the diet you need to follow is very low GI so no sugar, bread and other baked goods, white rice, mash, baked potato, pasta, cereal. It’s like a paleo diet. Increasing your fat and protein intake helps. Regular non carby snacks help as it avoids spikes in sugar. I ate every couple of hours and had a lot of nuts and avocado. It varies from person to person, if you experiment a bit you’ll find out what gives you a high reading and what doesn’t.

For me it was worth being strict with the diet as that way they didn’t put me on medication and I didn’t have to have drip etc at birth.

What you ate the night before won't make any difference. They'll have picked up a problem with your blood sugars. It's GOOD to get it diagnosed - my GD wasn't picked up until 32 weeks (I have none of the risk factors other than probable PCOS so wasn't routinely tested) - as it poses a risk to your and the baby's health.
The blood prick tests aren't so bad once you get into a routine and I found the extra scans reassuring, as were the staff at the obstetric diabetes clinic. I couldn't control mine through diet alone so had to use Metformin, which was fine, I had none of the side effects.

I was advised to have an induction at 38 weeks (the placenta deteriorates earlier than in a non-GD pregnancy) which is what I chose to go ahead with. Just make sure you are well informed about what's likely to happen and you'll be fine. I arranged to meet some women who'd been induced before I went in and got info from them. I decided to have an epidural as the contractions controlled by drip are v strong. Baby born at 38+2.

Our blood sugars were monitored for 24 hours after birth but we were both fine very quickly. Baby was initially hypoglycaemic so had a tiny amount of formula then to stabilise them. My blood sugars were fine by the following morning.

Be aware that GD can affect your milk supply and/or delay it, so worth reading up on supplementing safely/combi-feeding as well as breastfeeding (I had low supply and used formula alongside breastfeeding for first year but breastfed to 3.5 years).

Thank u guys I have been eating better! And sure GD shouldnt make you feel faint and break out in a cold sweat etc? I've been feeling like this the past week and I've ate good

BMI doesn't necessarily make a difference. I've never been overweight in my life and had a BMI of 22 at the first trimester and yet I still developed GD!

Once you get into the routine of doing the finger prick test you'll probably be able to match up how you're feeling with your blood sugar levels.

GD didn’t make me feel faint or ill no - that sounds like something separate which you should mention to your midwives. Maybe if you went too long without eating it might cause that?

I know I've been kept in hospital over night from fainting yesterday and feeling so faint but my tests came back okay! So do not understand why I feel so shit

I am shocked you think it's a faff. GD is a condition that needs careful monitoring, testing and extra scans to protect more the baby than you.
If you follow the advice of the hcps then all will be well. If you dont follow their instructions fully then you may end up with a section or a vaginal birth going wrong, delays during birth trying to get a bigger baby out, a poorly baby after birth or sadly a still birth.

Protecting your unborn baby should never be a faff. Educate yourself.

When did I say it was a faff?

It was me who said it was a faff 🙋🏼‍♀️