Gestational diabetes Realistic targets and side effects of medications

[buterflies]

I have been diagnosed with GD and been put on metformin tablets to try and keep my sugar low my target is up to 5.5 before food and 7.8 an hour after food.

I am struggling with it, my sugar level is regularly up to 8 and can go up to 10 every other day.

My diet is much better, I have obviously cut out all chocolate and any sugary drinks etc, yet it doesnt seem to help. I had Bran Flakes with 1% fat milk for breakfast and it went up to 8.7.

I feel really miserable about it at the moment, I feel so tired and am not wanting to eat for fear of making baby ill. Does anyone know if metforming can cause extreme tiredness or maybe its unrelated and could be iron levels?

Am worried they might start me on insulin if I cant get things under control.

Anyone out there going through the same thing?

No experience myself but I did some research on this when I thought I had GD. Branflakes are VERY sugary I think. You should try to aim for a low GI diet. A lot of people recommend eggs for breakfast.

Do a search on here and you can find what people in your situation ate.

Cereal is quite bad for a lot of people, me included, I've been on insulin since week 13 (now 30+5) and I don't go over my targets much now. You need to be careful with the amount of carbs you have because they translate into sugar, so avoid white bread (have wholemeal etc), cereals, things like that. Protein is good.

Did they get you to speak to a dietician? Can be really helpful. I've been overly careful with mine and now caused myself low iron issues as we lost our daughter in December last year at 37 weeks to stillbirth. My consultant thinks I had GD then but it went undiagnosed (different hospital) so I've been very tight in what I eat and not eaten enough food at all. Do try and eat regularly but chose the foods carefully.

Do you weigh stuff? I had GDM in most recent pregnancy with DD3. I started reading labels and weighing things and realised my carb intake was shockingly high! It's not just sweets, dairy and fruit/veg were also hard to incorporate. Did they give you a limit? Mine was 40-50g carbs for main meals and 10-15 for snacks. Even grapes and tomatoes were quite high in carbs! There is a good app called Carbs and Cals which I found helpful. Yoghurts had loads of carbs in, some breads are worse than others. You definitely need to see a dietician if you can. I ate lots of oat things, cheese, chicken, special K weirdly is low GI but make sure you weigh it...,,, small portions of spaghetti with larger serving of bolognese and cheese, avoided fresh juices, had steaks and salad, new potatoes are better than mash, eggy things are good, fish with veg no chips etc etc I could go on and on!! So glad it's over though I'm being careful with my diet now still to keep healthy. Good luck x

Hi - I have GD and am currently diet controlled only (no drugs). I have found that the best breakfast for me is a boiled egg and a slice of wholemeal toast - lots of people find breakfast the most difficult meal to manage, as insulin resistance is higher in the morning.

It took me a few weeks to get a handle on how to eat to manage my glucose levels, and the constant testing made me anxious and put me off eating. I feel much better about it all now, having had some good advice and support from people in the same situation on here.

It's normal to feel tired, especially in the last trimester, so it might be unrelated. Are you taking an iron supplement? I have Floradix in the morning and it seems to be doing the trick. No horrible side effects either!

Hang in there - hopefully things will get easier for you :)

Off to hospital today, they are putting me on insulin. Am struggling with my diet. Will try the egg on toast for breakfast but I need fibre lol. Have seen a dietician but to be honest she didnt help much. I will be asking more questions today. So hard to cut the carbs, I love pasta and bread.

quinoa is a brilliant grain and you could try this for breakfast. boil quinoa in water for 25 mins water should have dispersed, then add some rice milk or normal milk a few raisins and a bit of orange peel or you could use cinamon, heat through and eat like porridge. I have a drop of yoghurt and some apple on mine this morning. The grain isn't carby it is full of protein. You can eat slow release bread can't you? Like a good organic wholemeal or you could try a spelt which is full of vits and mins and slow release? and wholemeal pasta.