Possible diabetes - feel so guilty

[sarah00001]

Hi, I had what's called the lukozade challenge test at my hospital (addenbrookes) to test for diabetes at 28 weeks. I'm not sure if other hospitals do this test. My midwife called and said the results showed my blood sugar levels were higher than normal and I have to go in next week for a glucose tolerance test to check for diabetes. I feel very guilty about this, as I've been eating way to much sugar - cakes, chocolate, sweets. I also have been incredibly thirsty in the mornings, but didn't see my GP about it as I thought it was normal in pregnancy. Apparently diabetes can lead to a big baby but so far the measurements have been ok. I feel that I'm to blame for this. I hope that, if it turns out I am diabetic, it's not too late to rectify things.

Sarah

Gestational diabetes is common, don't beat yourself up about it!! But do cut out the sugar and stay well. Good luck.

It is not your fault.

I had the lucozade test but thankfully passed it. I work with the dietitians who see patients diagnosed with GD and they said there isn't a true correlation between what you eat and whether you get GD. Some people are predisposed to it and can avoid all sugary treats for their entire pregnancy (how??) and still end up with GD whereas other people eat far more sugar than they should (ie me) and don't have any problems. It is how your body processes sugar that they are testing. The GTT you're having next week is a far more reliable test of this but please don't beat yourself up about enjoying cake etc earlier in pregnancy-your baby will have taken the goodness from any fruit in it and left you to have the bad stuff.

Good luck for next week x

Thank you so much for reassuring me. The midwife did say my results from the lukozade challenge weren't sky high. The maximum for a normal result is 7 and mine was 9 point something. Its reassuring to know that if the GTT shows I have diabetes it isn't necessarily my fault due to my diet. I'll definitely try and eat more sensibly from now on. I do find it hard to resist sugar, I was always a savoury person before and wasn't that keen on chocolate. I'm really going to try to eat well from now on as don't want my baby to be overweight and I'm really hoping that as she is currently measuring an average size, as long as I'm careful over the remainder of the pregnancy, she'll be ok.

What is the difference between the lucozade test ang GTT, isnt it the same thing?

OP those results you gave were taken after 1 hr or 2 hrs? 9 after 2 hrs is very high. I think you are confusing something.
You should try to alter your diet, even if test will come back as normal- mine did twice came in normal range yet I have diabetes.
It is not that hard to change your diet, replace white bread, rice,potatoes, pasta with brown and wholemeal. Stop snacking sweets. If you would have regular blood monitoring it would help you to see what sweet snacks are doing to your sugars, you would not feel like eating sweets.

The GTT is different apparently, well it is at addenbrookes. It involves not eating or drinking after 10pm the night before, then for the test you have a very sugary drink and they test your blood.

For the lukozade challenge, my blood was tested one hour after. I really am going to change my diet. I probably exaggerated saying I ate way too much sugar, but I still have been eating more than I should. It looks like a low GI diet is best.

Sounds like you had the same as me.
Challenge was a measured amount of lucozade drunk over five minutes then bloods checked exactly one hour later.

GTT involves fasting then bloods taken over a two hour period, again after a measured glug of lucozade.

Interestingly I've just changed trust and area and they want to repeat my glucose levels to have them on their files but I have a menu of items to select for breakfast that need to add up to 75g of carbs (it is very precise eg one level teaspoon of jam) and then a blood test exactly two hours later. It's testing the same thing but is very different.

Your baby is growing well at this point so I'm sure you're already having a relatively healthy diet. Making a few small changes might be all you need

Good luck

GTT is the same, the very sugary drink is the lucozade. You fast from night before and then you drink it.

Weird. Good luck and dont feel guilty, as far as your baby measures OK and you keep your sugars in check you will be fine, but possibly marked as high- risk consultant-led which will alter your birth options.

Don't feel guilty, anyone can get GD, but do your best to make changes now. Even if your test was fairly borderline at 28 weeks, GD tends to get worse in later pregnancy, as the baby gets bigger.

If you do have GD, they will monitor you closely and you'll have to monitor your blood sugar daily. If you can't control it with diet alone you may have to take metformin. You'll also get extra growth scans.

One nice side effect of switching to a low gi diet for me, was that I avoided piling on weight in my last trimester.

My baby was fine in the end, and my post birth gtt was also fine.

The lucozade test was called the mini GTT at the hospital I went to. One of my NCT friends had GD and it was diet managed and caused no issues at all, she just had to have a bit of extra monitoring. So don't worry and don't feel guilty. Plenty of people could eat just as much sugar as you myself included and avoid GD because different peoples' bodies cope differently with sugar in pregnancy.
You will have to make some dietary changes now but I am sure that will all be explained to you by your midwife

Thank you, I really appreciate all your advice on this. The midwife did say that if I do have GD, it may just be a case of controlling my diet and I might not need medication. Like Tinymonkey said, one benefit is keeping the weight down in the last trimester. Even if I don't have GD, then I will still be changing my diet to make sure it's a lot healthier. I know very little about a low GI diet, but I know there's a lot of books on it and hopefully I'll get to meet with a dietician at the hospital too.

Just wanted to offer my support too. I too was diagnosed with GDM recently (my lucozade test thing was fast over night, then predrink level, and 1hr and 2hr post drink levels - My fasting and 1hr were a little elevated but 2hr was OK). My ultrasound has revealed my LO measuring about 1.5w large in general, Biparetial Diameter - 3w large!, and my bump is measuring 32w, whereas I'm only 28w in reality!!

I've been doing home monitoring blood glucose with a finger prick for the past 2weeks now, and thankfully have been getting OK numbers out.

Like you mentioned, I've been aiming at a Low GI type diet and it's working well. You'd be surprised how quick the sugary cravings dissipate and you begin to not even miss the sweet stuff.

My diet has comprised of wholegrain and complex carbs (brown basmati, bulger wheat, Burgen bread, whole-wheat wraps and pittas etc) lots of lean meat (chicken, turkey mince etc), fish (mackerel, salmon etc), some full fat dairy (greek yoghurt, cottage cheese etc - I'm keen not to low fat and low carb - some fat in moderation is good and help slows the whole carb digestion again), eggs in a multitude of guises, and greens (spinach, broccoli, pea shoots etc).

The trick I found is to get creative with a bunch of ingredients you find work well for you and your blood sugars. I even had pizza-y toast things this lunch time as I had a pizza hankering - Burgen toast, tom puree, oregano and black pepper, chilli & lime chicken pieces, and a smattering of extra mature cheddar cheese. Tasted amazing and didn't even come close to spiking me over my threshold values! .

Sending you hugs, and don't feel guilty at all (I was a bit guilty and teary about mine last week, especially as my diet hasn't been great and I am overweight, but have since met loads of women who've said "yeah I had that", and they've been stick thin and virtuous with their diets - so it can get anyone, anywhen - just pot luck. In fact I even found an article suggesting a perfectly good biological reason for women to become insulin resistant in the 3rd tri as it ensures the foetus has an adequate supply of glucose and it's not taken up by the mother, it's just some of us overshoot/go a bit further and it turns into GDM). Anyhoo, hugs to you.