wrongly diagnosed with gestational diabetes?

[newmummie]

Hi everyone, I'm 29 weeks pregnant and only just diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I had my gtt test this is how we found out, I was told they knew because of my fasting sugars they were raised, I've only been tracking my sugars since yesterday morning, and not once have they been out of range, all perfectly normal, I thought maybe this was because I've made changes to my diet, but tonight we got a takeaway and got what I would usually get I tested 30 mins after just to see (I'm aware this is early) and it was 6.6 my sister and father who have their own blood sugar machine tested themselves as we all ate the same thing and they were both in the high 7's, I'm so confused tbh! Also my fasting sugars that I've taken are between 4.1-4.3 so I'm not sure when the nurse done it, it was 'raised' could I have wrongly been diagnosed? Or am I being completely ridiculous? Have I spoke too soon

I'm not sure about your fasting levels, but after a meal, especially one high in carbs, you need to check an hour afterwards. After only 30 minutes your levels may not have spiked.

I highly recommend joining the gestation diabetes Facebook page. They have fantastic advice on there. I had it in both of my pregnancies, and although my levels throughout were all normal just controlled by diet, I still had it and failed my GTT. I would follow the advice given by your midwife, as although many women go undiagnosed and have a good outcome, it's not always the case, and not worth ignoring.

Also, you got diagnosed yesterday, and although your fasting level was ok this morning, it all depends on what you eat in the evening as that can affect your morning reading.

Many things affect your fasting reading. If you have a bad sleep, are unwell, or dehydrated, this can cause high fasting levels as your body begins to use fat stores, which can increase your blood glucose levels.

Hi OP I had this too. I was called in by accident (didn't fulfil any of the criteria) for the testing and then told I had GD. I was so sure, like you, that it was a mistake because my sugars didn't seem to spike...at first. As my pregnancy progressed so did the diabetes I'm afraid. I ended up having to completely cut out all carbs AND take metformin. I'd believe the doctors and keep checking. You'll probably find your sugars spiking more as the weeks progress.

30 minutes is likely too soon to test after a meal, especially something like a takeaway which can be high in fat, leading to a delay in glucose absorption. A couple of days really isn’t much in the way of testing to draw any conclusions (other than hopefully your dietary changes are working well to keep your levels in range right now). Also, insulin requirements, and therefore insulin production, in pregnancy increase fairly dramatically from 28 weeks, while in GD the insulin production flat lines, leading to potentially higher readings as you go through the remaining weeks of your pregnancy.

This page has some good info about testing, and a demo record, where the person has tested fasting, and then both one and 2 hrs post meals.
https://www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk/blood-sugar-levels/

Gestational diabetes tends to get worse the longer you're pregnant. So even if it's fine now (and one day really isn't enough to tell you that), it still needs monitoring.

I went from barely "failing" the test (literally 0.1 over the limit) to being on metformin by the end of my pregnancy because my fasting blood sugars were bad, nevermind the ones after meals.

People it's not 'failing'!
I measured big so was sent to the hospital for this test. Nurse took blood sugars for baseline and dropped the strip it was so high (11). So didn't bother with the test, sent me straight to the diabetic clinic. I had NO symptoms other than measuring a bit big (and I'm almost 6ft, my husband's previous children were well over 8lbs at birth to a much smaller woman, so expected my babies to be in the large side). I was put on insulin straight away.
As it turned out it wasn't resolved when I gave birth and I'm Type 1.

I had reduced movements towards the end of my second pregnancy so had a scan at 36 weeks. Bump was measuring spot on average but scan showed a big baby and some excess fluid so I was referred for the GTT. I had no risk factors whatsoever (slim, under 35, no family history, white) and my results were normal fasting results and 0.1 over the limit on the post-sugar test. To complicate matters further the dr said that the tests weren’t really reliable past 32 weeks so they didn’t know if I had it or not!

Anyway I obviously wasn’t taking any risks with my baby so I followed the diet on the really helpful Fb page and monitored my blood sugar. All my readings were normal (but could have been because I was following the diet). I ended up losing 3kg in my last month of pregnancy and had loads of energy. Had a great water birth and baby weighed 9lbs at 40 weeks as predicted.

I still don’t know if I had GD or not but tbh just eating a more healthy diet for the limited remaining time you are pregnant is a small price to pay when the alternative is maybe putting your baby at risk. I’ve actually recently gone back to low carb diet and feel amazing on it.

Thanks everyone, I'm still being super careful since the diagnosis but still failing to see out of range numbers. all of my numbers since testing have been between 4.1 and 7.6, my baby is measuring spot on and to be honest I've no bump still, and I'm weighing less now than when I first fell pregnant, still going to keep an eye on it and not be gullible. Thanks all xx