Anyone with Gestational diabetes offer some insight?

[AnxietyForever]

I've been monitoring my blood sugar levels since Tuesday as the consultant want to rule out diabetes, BUT my results are confusing, anyone offer an insight??

I think you need to provide more detail about the confusion? I had GD with my pregnancy, and as daunting as I initially found the whole thing, it actually turned out to be a pretty good thing. Baby was healthy, I had a very hassle free pregnancy, and that's probably the healthiest I've ever been!

Thank you for replying, so today's example- my fasting pre breakfast result was 4.4, 1hr after breakfast in was 7.1, 1hr after lunch it was 8.2, and this evening 1 hr after tea it's 6.4. The 8.2 result is what's confusing me, it was only a sandwich and it was such a high result.
What do you think?

Carbs raise your blood sugar, so sandwiches are not GD friendly.

Also had GDM.
Fasting - fine
Lunch-high
Dinner-high
I was always told to aim under 7. A sandwich is loss of carbs and all carbs are sugar, are you seeing them again soon? They'll usually get you to see dietician.

1hr after tea last night my levels were at 9.1 too after being in the normal range all day. I think my question is, even though I have normal levels after certain meals- do the odd couple of high readings mean I'm likely to have diabetes?
I don't see my midwife again until Tuesday.

Okay, so what I learnt was that not all foods the diabetes Midwife told me was okay, worked for me. So they told me I could eat basmati rice, whole meal bread etc, but actually those things raised my sugars. So something in that sandwich, most likely the bread is what's raising it. You'll learn very quickly what works and what doesn't. Has your doctor asked you to keep a food diary for the first two weeks that you monitor? I was asked to do this and it helped me identify what foods were raising my blood sugars and which were safe. If you enjoy bread (and live in the UK), I found that LIDL protein rolls were fine for me. Literally the only bread I could eat. Everything else, wholemeal or not, didn't go down well. Also, as I mentioned basmati rice didn't work for me. So I switched to short grain brown rice.

I'd definitely recommend that you keep a food diary for a few weeks as it'll help you to have a reference of what's working for you and what isn't.

I think it's a little late to see the dietician as I'm 37+5, I'm just worried about being induced if I'm honest.

The odd high sugar levels most likely still means you have GD. Unfortunately.

Ahh it's so confusing. I don't know why I forget to ask these questions at the time!

I had GD and found that any bread created a spike.

I had to eat very low GI to keep within the limits - so no sugar at all (obviously), no bread, no white rice, no mash or baked potato. Not too much fruit. A small portion of new potatoes, pasta or brown basmati rice was ok. Pearl barley was ok, especially cooked in stock. Adding more fat and protein to the meal helped avoid spikes as it lowers the GI of the overall meal.

Also it can depend how big your gaps between meals are. Eg if you have lunch 7 hours after your breakfast it's more likely to produce a spike than if it's 4.5 hours after your breakfast. Snacks between meals can help but they must be low GI (eg nuts, avocado, cheese).

Actually since you are so late on in pg your results are less worrying - there's a theory that most women have high blood sugar in the last few weeks. However I'd still advise you to eat very strict low GI so you can show the drs you have the sugars under control and avoid them inducing etc.

Sorry I am no help with the numbers its been over 3yrs.

But....

Anyone any experience with GD in their second pregnancy? I had it in my first pregnancy and now I am wondering will I be tested earlier etc?

Thank you for the advice.
I was actually tested when I was around 24 weeks and it was a negative.
It does really sound impossible to cut out so many carbs especially when you rely on them so much in the day

So they told me I could eat basmati rice, whole meal bread etc, but actually those things raised my sugars.

M Mosely in his Blood sugar diet book mentions that these foods (normally thought of as healthy options) can raise blood sugar levels.
He mentioned some other grains as alternatives, I can't quite remember but I think quinoa and rye.

I'm 30+2 and I can't have rice at all and struggle with bread. If you are already 37+5 and your other readings are low then it could either be an anomaly, or have only just developed. It is definitely worth testing over the next couple of days.

They are more likely to go by the baby's abdomen or general measurements to decide if it's affected the baby.

I'd try having a salad with one or half a slice of bread or a small amount of pasta for lunch and have a quick walk after eating. Sounds silly but make sure you wash your hands before testing!

Make sure that you have protein with the carbs. A piece of toast is likely to raise your blood sugars far more than scrambled eggs on toast.

It's not easy to cut the carbs down so heavily but it is possible and remember you only have to do it for a very short time!

If you eat lots of protein and fat (eg meat and cheese) and veg you won't be hungry and you'll have good blood sugars

Here's some ideas:

Boil a batch of hard boiled eggs to have as snacks or to add to a meal, they last several days unpeeled
Yoghurt (plain not sweetened) or eggs for breakfast
Nuts as snacks, I ate sooo many unsalted peanuts
Avocado, a really filling snack
Cheese and salami snacks
Crustless quiche
Cook a batch of pearl barley in a stock cube plus water, then heat up a portion for your carbs each meal (if your OH is having white rice or mash then you have pearl barley).
New potatoes are ok if not too many. Cook a batch for in the fridge, cold new potatoes and mayo is a good snack
Roast a chicken or some chicken thighs, cold cooked chicken is a good protein source
Al dente pasta has lower GI than well cooked, so reduce cooking time 1 min

It's an expensive way to eat but it's only for a couple of weeks

Sugars including fructose from fruit.
Agave syrup
Honey
Pasta
Bread
Cakes
Biscuits
Crackers
Rice
Noodles
Sweets
Chocolate
Jams and marmalades
Porridge
Cereals
Potatoes

All are high in carbohydrates.

I can't imagine a diet where I'd have to limit myself so completely.

No advice, but all my best wishes OP.

It might seem daunting but it's really not that tricky once you know what to eat. Protein is good, most veg are good (limit root veg and sweetcorn), full fat dairy is good. Eat mainly these things and you'll be fine. You can also mitigate the effects of carbs by eating them together with protein and fat e.g. granny Smith apple with cheese, dark chocolate with nuts both make good snacks. Today I had:
B: Full fat Greek yoghurt with blueberries, almonds and sunflower seeds
S: a few mini sausages
L: 2 ryvita with full fat cream cheese and smoked salmon, lots of cucumber and celery sticks, taramasalata
S: cake from a recipe on gestational diabetes UK website
D: chicken, roasted vegetables, 2 new potatoes

I wouldn’t worry too much, I got diagnosed at 27 weeks and had to take insulin 4 times a day with the doses getting higher every other day or so. Was induced at 37 weeks and dd was 8lbs! The smell of insulin takes me right back now, on a plus side I lost loads of weight and when I had her was 2st lighter lol! Good luck!

I had to test from week 35-36 and called in my results on Wednesday. I was really surprised to be given the all-clear as I had some high readings. But I was told that the placenta is working so hard by this stage in pregnancy that they expect some high readings and as long as there is no pattern of high readings you are likely to be clear. so I celebrated by eating 10 Jaffa cakes.

Some great food suggestions there guys thankyou, I will try these out in the next few days and hopefully my results will be steady.

Also 20 mins of light exercise after eating, a short walk or something like that will help to lower your levels.