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Gestational diabetes support thread

859 replies

NoRoomForALittleOne · 29/01/2015 18:12

I thought I'd start a support thread for those of us being tested, just diagnosed or being treated for GDM.

So collapse on a sofa, grab a low carb snack and come and chat about blood tests, finger pricks, diet changes, medication and birth plans...

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minipie · 06/03/2015 13:37

just to reiterate the importance of washing hands and/or testing again if you get an odd result:

I testing this morning, fasting, no food for at least 11 hours. Got a 6.4 Shock hadnt washed hands admittedly but had only just had a shower. Washed hands, tried again, got a 4.8.

these days I always wash hands and try again if I get a bad result!

Midwife has told me I can go down to testing twice a day - fasting and one post meal - which is great except I'm now so tempted to eat bad stuff at the other meals...

longestlurkerever · 08/03/2015 18:51

Hello all. Hope you all had a good weekend. I managed to survive a weekend away and a wedding with no high readings. Was a bit rubbish having no chips or pudding though!

Another question from me. I woke up last night to go to the loo and was really cold and shivery. Teeth chattering and everything. Just cold or something to do with blood sugar?

Original poster
NoRoomForALittleOne · 08/03/2015 20:31

Without testing your blood sugar level there is no way of knowing. Some people do dip their blood sugar in the night but for you to be shivery it would be really quite low. I don't think that it would be easy to come back from such a low level without eating something.

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longestlurkerever · 09/03/2015 09:57

Thanks. If it happens again I will do a test.

Bah, a high reading again after dinner last night. Had brown pasta with seafood and tomatoes. Maybe too much pasta but thought it would be OK if brown, or are tinned tomatoes bad? Tbh I am not fathoming much of a pattern with my readings. Most where I have thought I have been pushing it on the carb front have been fine (less than 6) but occasionally I seem to go way over (yesterday it was 9.8). Have had nuts or seeds as a snack between every meal so it's not that. I was knackered yesterday though and fell asleep on the sofa between dinner and test. Dunno if that affects it.

TinyTear · 09/03/2015 10:09

ooo 9.8 is high...

were the tomatoes very sugary? I am amazed at how much blooming sugar is on things - i now read the labels carefully...

i was bad yesterday and had ice cream in the afternoon, but my readings, including today's fasting one were ok, but i am on max dose metformin and 8 units bedtime insulin too..

longestlurkerever · 09/03/2015 10:27

I don't know. It was just a normal tin of tomatoes (napolina), not sauce or anything, and the seafood was just frozen squid, not from a jar. I did have a bit of a naughty lunch (thai food) and didn't test after it, but that was hours earlier.

TinyTear · 09/03/2015 10:43

the lunch shouldn't affect the dinner reading. my nurse told me it was the fasting reading that gets affected by your diet and exercise as a whole

longestlurkerever · 09/03/2015 10:49

Weird. My fasting readings have so far all been fine. Will log it and see what doctor says next week.

minipie · 09/03/2015 11:00

That is a bit odd lurker, unless it was an absolutely ginormous bowl of pasta I wouldn't expect it to have that effect. I had a bowl of pasta bake (normal penne pasta) with cheese and tomato a week or two back and it was fine - around 7ish I think.

If you were particularly knackered and had the cold/shivery thing in the night maybe you are fighting off a bug of some sort and that's affecting things? Just guessing...

LIG1979 · 09/03/2015 12:12

Lurker I often get cold and shivery if I don't eat enough. But no idea about the middle of the night....the only thing I can think of is that your body temperature drops to its' lowest at around 5am and that could have an effect. Pasta, I have found a high protein pasta from Tesco healthy living that tastes pretty good and keeps my levels down.

mini good news on the drop in testing. I am suffering from sore fingers today after being a bit dozy with pricking my finger and keep needing to redo it.

working I think that is part of the trouble....I am quite new to controlling my blood sugar but with the PCOS and the diet I followed I found that you could eat quite well if you cooked from scratch and new what you were cooking but it was processed food and eating out which was much more difficult. Often at home you can make switches to make it lower GI or lower carb which is more difficult out and about. That said, I have turned into a bit of a harvester fan as it is really good for taking my toddler too and they have the option of sweet potato fries which are yummy and satisfies by chip cravings.

I have had a bit of a weird one. My levels have been really low recently and I was unsure why. After doing a bit of research, I think it is because I have been taking lots of fibogel for constipation. For lunch yesterday I had soup, bread, chocolate brownie (low carb one) and an apple and it came out at 5.2 and for dinner I had pizza out (which has caused high readings before) and so I stuck to a lighter pizza with a salad and didn't steal dd's garlic bread when she didn't want it and the reading was 4.8. Was a bit annoyed I didn't eat more carbs when I obviously could have had more and got away with it.

LIG1979 · 10/03/2015 20:49

Hello....I am having a bit of a panic. my blood sugar is still low even though I have been eating crap all day had 4.8 after breakfast, 4.7 after lunch and then this afternoon I went out and ate a huge slice of carrot cake, finished dd's tea, had fajitas and wraps and a magnum ice cream and it went up to 5.5. Been reading about levels falling if the placenta starts to fail. does anyone know anything about this? I will phone up first thing tomorrow but a little worried. The little guy is still moving about quite happily and I don't feel unwell. I am 34+4.

Original poster
NoRoomForALittleOne · 10/03/2015 20:55

Levels also tend to fall when you are two to three weeks away from giving birth apparently...

Give your diabetes nurse a ring. I'm sure that it could be lots of things. Just as there are so many reasons why you can get differing readings after the same food.

OP posts:
minipie · 10/03/2015 21:01

LIG funnily enough I have been reading about the same thing as my levels have also dropped in the past few days despite naughtier eating (but I'm 36+3). However the stories I found seemed to be mostly women on insulin (so worse GD) and the readings were dropping much more dramatically. Also today my readings have been more normal so reckon it was just a funny couple of days...

Midwife told me at last appt that baby movements are the best indicator of placental health/stillbirth risk so if he's still moving well that's good.

LIG1979 · 10/03/2015 21:01

Thanks no room. Hopefully it is a little longer than that till I give birth as I have just over 2 weeks left at work. dd arrived at 38 weeks and i was hoping for the same again. Hopefully, the diabetic nurse will be able to put my mind at rest.

LIG1979 · 10/03/2015 21:04

Maybe it is a blip.....maybe I should also enjoy it whilst they are low and eat more sugary foods? My carrot cake earlier was delicious Grin especially the icing!

Original poster
NoRoomForALittleOne · 10/03/2015 21:42

I'd be very tempted to eat a doughnut Grin

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WorkingBling · 10/03/2015 22:26

LIG I would call in the morning, but it probably is fine. It's so stressful though isn't it?

Lurker - I wonder if your readings are impacted by your snacks? My understandin is that you need some carbs as snacks so the nuts aren't enough alone. Perhaps add a few pieces of dried fruit, a small yoghurt or an apple?

I have had surprisingly ok readings recently. I'm eating well and have the metformin but still. It feels weird. Looking forward to dd arrival on Friday though. Am knackered.

longestlurkerever · 11/03/2015 07:55

I didn't know that about the placenta and low readings. Another thing to worry about! Hope your mw is reassuring lig.

Thanks working. I might try a bigger snack but I think.it might.be that I fell asleep on the sofa and my metabolism slowed right down. Dozed a bit yesterday too despite really trying not to and got a 7.5. Just so tired though and dd keeps waking early.

Exciting re Friday!!

LIG1979 · 11/03/2015 09:27

Quick one - I phoned the diabetic nurse and she was not worried. She said that there is often a peak around 32 weeks and that coincides with a hormone surge and a big growth spurt. Often after that it gets easier to manage again. She also said I probably got quite strict about my diet when I found it harder to manage a couple of weeks back and can probably relax a bit now. (I guess I had gone from eating normally when first testing to having to watch my carbs when I ate to keep it below 7.8 - now I feel quite guilty when I eat too many carbs!)

LIG1979 · 11/03/2015 09:30

Lurker - I do find activity levels have a large impact on my levels and so does sleep. Activity lowers the levels and disturbed sleep makes them higher. So not sure on the decision between sleep/activity after a disturbed sleep!

paddlenorapaddle · 12/03/2015 12:05

Morning room for another one just had a phone call following GTT on monday, the nurse that called wouldn't really give me any information over the phone except to say not to drink any sugary drinks which I don't anyway and they've booked me an appointment for monday morning.
i'm 28+2

LIG1979 · 12/03/2015 12:58

Hello paddle that is really unfair of them to say so little although I got a very quick thing on the risks of GD and blood sugar monitoring and then had to ask lots of questions here. It took a month to see a doctor!

I assume that you failed your GTT and they will get you monitoring your blood glucose levels. You will then need to keep it within a range and try and modify your diet to keep the numbers within that range. Sugary and high GI foods will cause your blood sugar to rise and that has to be avoided hence no sugary drinks, sweets etc. But it sounds like different people can eat different things and be ok and so it is a case of trial and error into what causes your levels to rise. I have also found that staying active and not getting ill helps to get my levels down.

Original poster
NoRoomForALittleOne · 12/03/2015 15:10

I've been admitted to labour ward with threatened pre-term labour (although clearly not as far as I'm concerned!). Anyway, I've had the first steroid injection and am about to start sliding scale insulin. Apparently I have to be given the second injection after 12 hours instead of 24 because of the diabetes. Can't say I'm feeling particularly well today Sad

OP posts:
ILiveOnABuildsite · 12/03/2015 15:33

Oh no noroom I hope you and baby are okay. I went in preterm labour two weeks ago when I was 31+4 luckily for me they were able to stop it although it's been threatening to start again ever since. I started a couple of threads about it and got some good advice although I don't know how to link them, (not very helpful am I?). Anyway I wanted to warn you incase no one had mentioned it but the steroids will shoot your blood sugar out of this world, I had 11.4 and 13.2 after both doses and I panicked a bit until someone chased it up and told me it was the steroids. Hopefully you don't go in full labour just yet and it all settles for you. How far along are you now?

longestlurkerever · 12/03/2015 16:15

Fingers crossed for you noroom (and Ilive). I hope things settle down. Is preterm labour a side effect of GDM or unrelated?

paddle welcome. I got my GTT test 2 weeks ago and it was a few days before I saw the GDM midwife, where I was given the blood glucose monitoring kit and the list of foods to avoid. I would say to avoid all added sugar if you can this weekend, and then when you learn more about your results and have your monitoring kit you can start seeing whether fruit and carbs need to be avoided too. It's a bit of a shock being diagnosed but actually I am feeling healthier on the diet and hopeful I can translate it into some healthy lifestyle changes after the birth.

It is likely you will just be told to follow dietary changes at first but if that isn't sufficient to keep your glucose levels under control (and apparently it gets harder as the pregnancy progresses) then they will introduce metformin (tablets) or insulin (injections).

One disappointing thing is that it probably means the birth will need to be monitored and less "natural" than I was hoping for but it's a very small part of parenthood in the grand scheme of things and a small price to pay for a healthy delivery. I have my appointment with the diabetes team on Monday when they're going to scan me to see how the baby is growing and hopefully I will learn more.

I am a bit anxious about my growth scan and have had the odd worrying reading, which has panicked me, but I am generally calmer about it than I was, and feel I am doing my best for my baby by sticking quite strictly to the diet. I had my normal midwife appointment this morning and my bump is measuring right and the hb is good so fingers crossed.

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