Gestational diabetes high reading

[lavalamp08]

Evening all
I was diagnosed with GD on Wednesday this week, obviously I've been upset about it (feel like a fat pig etc) but today I've had 8.3 reading after my evening meal, I'm gutted. I feel like I've been watching what I'm eating and was hoping to stay under the 'levels'
Does anyone have any tips or foods to try
Thank you

Totally... but you need to be aware of spikes and crashes. So depending on what you ate your sugar level could have went much higher and then dropped suddenly. Some people recommend testing more often if they're trying a new food etc. Equally there's a thought that whatever it climbs to doesn't matter as long as it comes down etc

For morning fasting levels look into a bedtime snack with some carbs... it can help

A quick question if you could help, we go to my father in laws every Sunday afternoon and his 'treat' we have cream crackers and cheese spread. Can I still have these? I only have 3
Thanks x

Buy some Nairns super seeded oatcakes and take those with you instead of the crackers. Use plenty of cream cheese.

I had GD and could never get away with cous cous! For me fasting rather than post-meal numbers were the problem and I wasn't able to control them with diet and exercise alone, so after a few weeks oh metformin too I ended up being put on a low dose of insulin before bed, which kept them down. It wasn't fun injecting myself but hurt less than the finger prick tbh. You've been given great advice on this thread about diet, but it's possible to do everything "right" diet wise and that still not to work because of the influence of hormones, in which case there are medications available to help. The risks associated with GD are just that - risks. You'll be helped to keep your blood sugar readings down, even if it takes insulin, and this will keep you and baby healthy.

The only plus side of GD is that following the diet really stops you gaining too much weight in pregnancy!

I managed my GD through diet by ignoring the NHS advice! Their suggested diet sent my readings way too high - like up to 12! Anything with gluten in sent my readings skyrocketing, but I could have ice cream with no problems. So the advice to have whole wheat bread for example was disastrous for me. I managed to control it with diet until right towards the end when I had to have a shot of insulin over night. I was determined not to go on the metformin as although it is deemed safe during pregnancy, I couldn’t find any long term studies confirming this. All the best for the rest of your pregnancy.

The 4.4 1 hour after food reading seems a little low to me. I normally feel ill around that point.

What medication have they given you if any? Insulin? Metformin? Having a few rogue readings that are slightly higher than the levels they've asked for won't do any harm. If you're not on any medication and your levels are creeping up they'll put you on metformin. Mine was recently increased as my levels were going up to 12.

The 4.4 reading was after lunch and I had scrambled eggs, ham slices with dairylea in them. I didn't feel ill then however I did feel ill after my tea when I had Greek yoghurt and raspberries

I feel a bit better about things today. I feel like at the minute it's trial and error, try a meal if it's a decent reading it's a keeper if not then back to the drawing board

The Facebook group has accepted me now so there's plenty to play with. One thing that's concerning is I'm seeing a lot of posts 'I didn't listen to nhs advice' makes me feel a bit like what do I do for the best?

Do remember that you do need to eat some carbs as your baby needs them. Maybe next time have a slice of wholemeal toast with your scrambled eggs.

I thought I was meant to avoid carbs? Or low carbs?? God it's a minefield, hey ho, 12 weeks to go

Is this rule the best to stick to ..... half my plate - green veg (broccoli, lettuce, greens, spinach / carrots, onions then a quarter of the plate - sweet tatti, brown rice, whole grain bread, then the final quarter - chicken, fish, pork, beef, eggs, cheese, yoghurt

Does that sound about right?
Thanks
Xx

It's more, don't eat too many carbs, so don't eat a whole pizza, but a slice of two with salad should be ok. Types of carbs can affect you differently, so white short grain rice will cause blood sugar spikes, whereas brown long grained rice won't make it spike (so much).

Protein and fat can help the carbs having too much effect on your blood sugars, so eggs on toast is an excellent choice.

Veg is good and shouldn't affect your blood sugars much.

Fruit can be eaten, but not too much and best with a meal, so it won't spike your sugars.

Diabetic products are best avoided as they are normally full of chemicals and I think will give you the runs.

You should look into expressing colostrum before baby arrives... you can then use the in the first few dates to hello their sugars stabilise

I know this thread is a few weeks old but I just wanted to add a note re: all the comments along the lines of 'ditch NHS/ hospital dietician advice and just go with what the gestational diabetes website says'. That site and their fb group have great meal tips etc but I got concerned and left the latter after reading one of the admin people advise a woman that what her consultant had told her was wrong and that she should follow their advice instead (it was about when exactly to do fasting blood test in morning). I agree a lot of nhs diet advice is not useful but it has been important for me to trust the healthcare providers looking after me in my hospital rather than entirely taking on instead the views/advice of non-medical people on the internet (however well intended their advice is). Gest diabetes can be complicated and can vary a lot by individual and even during one pregnancy - a few web pages aren't necessarily going to give you the exact info needed in your particular case). I also found it really stressful on the gd fb page, reading all these different opinions etc. And stress can push up blood sugar levels! - I've seen this in my own case.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on so much. Good luck op, this is my second pregnancy with gd and the first few weeks are always the worst as you try to figure it out. I am now on low dose metformin this time round, and I find it only helps - it's evidence based and proven to be safe as well so in my book it's simply something that makes this v stressful condition less stressful and easier to manage. They're only good things in my book.