To skip my GTT again?

[jamoncrumpets]

I'm 30 weeks pregnant and have a scheduled gluten tolerance test tomorrow (high BMI/high risk pregnancy). This will be my second attempt at taking this test, I have HG and I tried a week ago, threw up the drink, and the test had to be cancelled.

So, tomorrow is the retest. But DH is away at work and I have 3.5yo DS (who has ASD) at home with me all day. I need to fast (huge issue with HG) and then spend at least two hours at the hospital having blood drawn hourly. DS isn't going to like that. At all. Initially I thought I could manage it, but tbh it's looking pretty impossible atm. DS, to others, will present as a naughty child (running off, being loud) and I'm going to be feeling grim at absolute best.

I had a successful GTT already, at 17 weeks. It was normal. I also had a general blood test last week that showed normal sugar levels. I do WANT to do the test, and be monitored properly, but it's just damn hard with all these symptoms AND DS being so full on.

AIBU to skip again? Well, I know it's U but would you do it under those circumstances?

Typos argh... you know what I mean :)

You need some sort of sugar monitoring - GTT isn't the only way, is my point.

Ffs! Should say what's the drink they are giving you?

I think you are being unreasonable. The test can't be given to anyone else even if you called and cancelled. The midwife and dr's are only trying to help considering your BMI puts you at risk.

My BMI was well over 40 my last pregnancy. Not a great time with PIH but no glucose issues at all so being obese is no guarantee of developing it.

I read somewhere about jelly beans as an alternative. Could you ask if that’s a possibility?

Antislut. I have said that I am very grateful for the extra monitoring. I participate in LOTS of extra monitoring - scans, blood tests, consultant appointments, BMI clinics. I never miss these.

But this one test requires fasting and then downing a very sugary drink on an empty stomach. Imagine doing that during the worst hangover you've ever had in your life. Then imagine doing it while chasing a 3 year old around a hospital waiting room. For two hours. Still unable to eat and line your stomach.

Unless you have experienced HG it's difficult to understand just how horrible it is. My sickness has eased off now but I still get nauseous which is bad enough, I can't imagine having to do the test if I was still throwing up all the time.

I had exactly the same problem, couldn't do the gtt as I couldn't keep the glucose down long enough! Midwife did the blood test instead and I didn't have to fast.

Probably too late now, but I would have paid for childcare (assuming you can afford) or begged a friend (best start making contacts among nursery parents). I think it's pretty poor to call off now - it will be too late to rebook the appointment for anyone else - if you weren't going to come, you should have called off as soon as you knew you couldn't make it. I do agree you can't go with DS in tow.

I refused the gtt in two pregnancies because I didn't feel it was required and, like you, the persistent sickness was going to mean it was a no go anyway. I think it's reasonable to say this test isn't for me.

Well, if you say wouldn't follow the diet even if you had it, because you have to eat a high carb/sugar diet, what's the point of the test at all?! Try telling your medical team that.

Purely personally, I wouldn't take the risk, as GD can cause problems not only for the baby but for you. I would either be monitoring and cutting carbs according to the meter reading - which may say no cutting required - or doing the tests as recommended. But it's your body, your baby, your choice.

(I wouldn't sneer at having a high BMI and losing weight during pregnancy either. In fact, I'd find it odd if someone who with HG didn't lose it involuntarily, so your post could come across upsettingly to someone in that position.)

SaucyJane someone with HG will obviously lose weight in pregnancy, through the most hideous means, so citing weight loss as a sort of bonus is even more offensive tbh.

You clearly have no experience of it, or empathy for those that have it.

Saucyjane do you understand HG at all? It's not a case of not wanting to follow a diet it is literally the case of only being able to keep down certain food. Generally this is carbs although not always. I spent the first 4 months living off white bread, crisps and polos, it wasn't because I only wanted to eat these foods it's because literally this is all I could get in my body. And as for weight loss you will be amazed to find out I hardly lost any weight, the body is an amazing thing.

Sorry, SaucyJane but did you not read the posts where I said I a) successfully completed one test b) tried to complete another but voided it by vomiting. I am trying. I have tried. If I didn't have DS all day tomorrow I'd do it (and possibly vomit all over again)

I just ate a bowl of plain pasta for tea. Literally all I could manage. Consultant advice is to eat whatever I can manage, whenever I feel like it.

Test won't be valid if you're chasing your toddler around anyway! Book ASAP with childcare and monitor fasting blood sugars at home maybe?

jamoncrumpets some food is better than no food. Sadly many people fail to realise how horrible and difficult it is to be throwing up many times a day for weeks on end. The amount of times I got told to just try and eat more regularly, like I just wasn't trying hard enough and that's why I was dehydrated.

saucy I’ve had hg in both pregnancies - I was physically unable to keep anything down for months. A lucozade type drink would have come straight back up. The last time I was in hospital being rehydrated it took 12 goes to get a line in me. At that point I dont think they would have been able to do a GTT regardless of me being willing.

OP in your shoes I would go to the appointment and talk to them about how you feel it won’t work. If it doesn’t then they will see that and cannot dismiss you as being uncooperative. They can then wrk out another way to exclude GD.

I'm already on the strongest medication I'm allowed to take for HG - ondansetron. And omeprazole. I am doing my very best to control it. Most days I manage. But I can't manage if I fast. I have to top up with carbs regularly to line my stomach.

This is my second (and last!) HG pregnancy so I have as good a grip on it as a person can.

I had hg and gd. I managed the test without vomiting, but I was very anxious about it. I was borderline, but failed. I was so worried about the gd diet, but once I got into it it was OK. I ate a lot of nuts! I felt better for it in the end. I think the blood sugar spikes weren’t helping my hg symptoms. As a bonus I lost weight as well from the improved diet not the hg.

With all due respect OP, surely you aren't the only pregnant woman to be in this situation?

Cancel first thing tomorrow and ask for an alternative.

As an aside, you really shouldn't post in AIBU if you don't want to be told that maybe you ARE being unreasonable

I admit it's not an ideal situation CrunchyMum but sometimes these situations arise and you just have to do your best. I've had some really good advice here about alternative ways of monitoring blood sugar, so I'm glad that I posted.

Sorry but I don't get why that would stop you testing your own sugar at home after a bowl of pasta? You can buy an easy meter like a Bayer contour next from Amazon without even having to leave the house if you're feeling too ill.

If it's under 7.8 an hour after eating, or whatever figure your medical team give you instead, and that happens over a few tests, no problem, you didn't need the GTT.

Diabetes or GD isn't a black and white thing, it's more like a sliding scale. That's why someone can pass the test one week and fail it the next. And you don't have to have sugar in your urine to fail. Sugar normally starts to appear in the urine when your blood glucose is above 10.0 - but the risk of damage to your eyes/nerves/baby starts if you're regularly over about 7.5. It's such an insidious bastard because you can't feel it at all.

I never said I couldn't do that SaucyJane

Having had diet controlled gd, I can't imagine how hard it would be to deal with that and hg. The gtt is pretty grim even without feeling sick anyway.

That said, it's important you are checked. I'd suggest getting hold of a blood glucose monitor and doing finger pricks for a week. You'll need to check your fasting levels when you wake in the morning and then an hour after each meal. Google will tell you what your readings should be.

I totally understand you wanting to skip it with what happened before- however I had two tests as well, one at 16weeks which was fine, then one at 28 weeks which I postponed and almost skipped totally due to no sugar in my urine, clear test earlier in pregnancy and no GD in first pregnancy. Eventually went at 30 weeks, and I had GD. I know your circumstances are different with having HG (I really feel for you, how awful to still have it) but I really don’t think skipping it totally is a good idea- as PP say why not ask if there’s another test they can do to get the data they need? Ignore the midwife being pissy too. You couldn’t help voiding the test!