Confused by GTT results

[RangerMummy1]

Hello, had my GTT yesterday, clinic phoned with the results this morning. Had a slightly raised count on 1st test - result was 6.something & cut off is 5.something (sorry crap memory for numbers, should have written them down when she told me!), then had disgusting glucose drink, waited 2 hours had second test and result was about 5. Obviously I've consulted Mr.Google as to what this actually means (I know I shouldn't, but lady who phoned sounded a little surprised by the results) & it looks like if I am glucose intolerant or have gestational diabetes then result 1 should have been high & result 2 even higher. Did anyone else start with raised result only for it then to drop by the 2nd test? Is this how it works?? I have an appointment on Friday with antenatal diabetic clinic, so guess I learn more then anyway, but just wondering about others' experiences...

I had a GTT when pregnant with DS. Assuming you fasted all night, your blood sugar levels should be low in the morning. After the drink and the two hour wait, your level should be higher than before the test but within the realm of ‘normal’.

Do you have any idea why your blood level was so high in the first test?

Sounds to me like they might need you to do it again...

Yeah I wondered if I'd need to do it again. I fasted from before 10pm, as advised. But we had had a late dinner & the last thing I ate the night before was a brownie, so I'm wondering if the combination could be what caused my high result? Seems odd.

No drinks that might have caused it overnight or first thing?

Very odd... unless they’ve messed up with the blood sample!

Nope nothing to eat or drink (other than water)!
Most confusing. I hope they didn't mess up the samples!

I don't think this is biologically plausible, so I would guess that they have switched the blood bottles. Definitely ask to be retested.

My friend and I both had the same result - higher initial test and then a drop for the second. All results within the realm of normal. Midwife and GP both said absolutely fine. Did you re-test in the end?

Sorry ladies didn't mean to ignore this for so long. Had an appt with diabetics last week who asked me to test my blood sugars 4 times a day & keep a food diary for a week. then had a growth scan yesterday and another appt with diabetics. Scan all normal & only slightly high sugars I had during the week were easily explained by my food choices at the time!! Despite there being no real indicators of gestational diabetes, and the diabetics team even wondering themselves if my blood samples could have been mixed up, they decided that it would be best to carry on with monitoring throughout the rest of my pregnancy. At 1st I thought fine, whatever. But thinking now that I'm going to phone them back today to see if I can get a retest, cause otherwise it means a lot of extra antenatal appts. and extra stress. Feeling mega fed up with the whole thing.

It sounds like you're borderline, but GD gets progressively worse so it's good that you are monitoring and aware of what it is that you're eating that's making your levels go higher than acceptable levels.

When you take the glucose drink on an empty stomach it raises your blood glucose which triggers a healthy pancreas to release insulin to encourage it into the cells. This returns your blood glucose to normal.

If you measure the glucose level every 20-30 mins during a glucose tolerance test you see a rise and return to baseline, which often sinks below your fasting level before settling out. I suspect your blood glucose peak was a little earlier than expected on your test day. In itself that's not a problem.

Mine was 4.3 at baseline, up to 5.3 on a fingerprick at 1 hour and 4.1 at 2 hours. So if you just had the 0 and 2h readings very similar, if lower.

Your raised fasting glucose /impaired fasting glucose can be a sign of not managing blood glucose metabolism normally but it doesn't sound like full blown diabetes if you're still reacting normally to a glucose challenge.

To improve things, you can cut down on sugary things/simple starches (once pregnancy over with then lchf can work really well for insulin sensitivity) increase gentle exercise etc and try to watch your weight gain as that can make it worse.

Overshooting to a lower blood glucose is associated with "sugar crashes" and the snacking/hunger that is classic of a high sugar intake.

I had exactly this with my GTT. My fasting result was 5.6 then one hour after glucose was 5.4 and then 2hrs after 5.1

In my area the first 'fail' was enough to diagnose me with GD. I diet controlled until DD arrived at 38 weeks. The highest readings I ever got were in the mornings and were 5.3 and 5.4. Two occasions in 10 weeks. The highest reading after eating I ever got was 7.8 (and I have to be honest and say that I'd caved and had a VERY sweet dessert).

So basically a high reading at any part of the GTT in my trust gets you a diagnosis!

Aw thanks for all the feed back. Should have said that I didn't alter my diet at all during the week of finger prick tests. In fact we had our first night away in nearly 3 1/2 years, during which I enjoyed a lovely BIG, rich meal, dessert and all!! The highest fasting read I had during the week was 4.9. And the slightly raised readings followed meals where I'd had a lot of starchy food of an evening, then either enjoyed doing bugger all for a little while, or at most pottered around the house. Sugary foods didn't seem to make any difference in my case. As for gentle exercise, I have a very physical active job so don't feel I generally lack on that front, but I might try to do a bit more in the evenings where I can. Sounds like this is not as straight forward as I thought/hoped, maybe the inconvenience of testing is for the best!