Gestational diabetes - Advice & Reassurance Pls

[AR23]

Hi,

I am 29 weeks today and a few days ago at my 28 week midwife appointment I found out I have gestational diabetes (my sugar levels were 8.4 and the midwife said the cut off level is 7.8).

So firstly I'm really upset and sad, it came as a bit of a shock as I've just turned 31, I'm slim, exercise regularly and eat quite healthily.

I'm still waiting on receiving my letter for the next steps, which I think are attending a gestational diabetes clinic where I'll be given more information etc.

I'm just looking for advice and some reassurance until then I guess. Called the midwife and she wasn't able to help much as she wasn't a specialist on the area. But from what I know so far, I should avoid white bread, pasta, white rice....desserts, biscuits ad sugary things, and fruits that are quite citric.

Are bananas ok? And porridge?

I had the glucose test done at week 27, got the results at week 28, and today I'm week 29....so it's already been 2 weeks I've had it without me knowing, in which time, I've had the occasional chocolates, cakes etc, so I'm a bit worried. The midwife said it can lead to large babies being born....and effectively high sugar level is like poison.....so I'm really scared now.

@LifeIsAnArt hiya, my target readings are below 5.3 before breakfast, and below 7.8 one hour after LAST bite :)

@AR23
Mine is after first bite. Guess they are all different
They are happy for me to stay diet controlled at the moment, I'm 20 weeks so I've got a while to go. I think if I go over 3 times in a week they will look to put me meds.

They drilled into me not to feel disheartened if I have to go on meds, it's just one of those things.
@titnomatani please don't feel sad, all you can do is your best and sometimes your body has other ideas and it's completely out of your control.

So the last few days I have seen a spike in my sugar levels, I'm still eating what I was the last few weeks and iv been fine, but all of a sudden the foods seem to be increasing my sugar levels. I'm on metformin once an day and have my 28 week growth scans tomorrow, following an app to see the diabetes midwife/doctor.

Did anyone else notice this happening to them? What advice can you give me? I'm starting to get stressed now and I feel like that might be affecting my readings also ☹️

@Salina2 Hey hun, when did you start the metformin? I was only given my testing kit at 29 + 3, the consultant put me on meformin at 30 weeks exactly. We only had data/testing results from the last 3 days and all the post meals were quite below 7.8 but my morning ones pre-breakfast were ranging from 5.2-5.7 so she put me on the tablets to be on the "safe" side. Someone earlier mentioned it takes about a week for the tablets to kick in....so I'm just hoping for that. I also have my growth scan tomorrow....I wasn't given one at 28 weeks because they only told me about GD then and my first appointments weren't until week 29/30 :(

@Salina2 I'm sorry to hear that, but be kind to yourself - from what I've read I think it is unfortunately quite common that our pregnant bodies tolerate sugar less after 28 weeks (and again after 32 weeks), because the placenta's hormone production gets ramped up at these points (someone please correct me if this is wrong). So it's not anything you've been doing or not doing. If you have a diabetic clinic appointment I would mention it then, and they might increase your dose of Metformin I guess? How did you find taking Metformin btw?

@Salina2 I also noticed that my own levels spiked, partly as a result (I assume) of lack of sleep (my DC has been sick and up a lot in last few nights) and me feeling run down and now fighting off his virus. Apparently both being unwell with bugs and lack of sleep have an impact on sugar tolerance.

@AR23 @nopun so I was diagnosed early, I had my GTT at 16 weeks due to family history of diabetes, I was started on metformin at 22 weeks and didn't really need them for the first few weeks but have been taking them regularly once every morning with breakfast for the last few weeks, they have been working well until this last week. I think they may need to increase my dose which I guess is something I'm not happy about but have to do what's right for baby. Also I do find lack of sleep spikes my sugar levels, iv been suffering with quite bad back pains which means I'm not sleeping properly at night.

I have my app tomorrow so I will mention everything to them and see what I have to do. I'm just hoping I don't have to go on insulin. I'm also struggling to figure out what to eat for certain meals and snacks, I would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you both for replying.

@nopun how have your results been recently? @AR23 good to know your sugar levels are controlled, i feel so guilty when I get a High reading, I feel like I'm harming my baby ☹️

@Salina2 aww bless you, well my morning readings pre-breakfast every single day have been higher than the cut off limit, which i find scary. But there's nothing I can do about that :(

So for snacks I have kiwi with greek yoghurt (with sometimes 1-2 tsp peanut butter), or blueberries with greek yoghurt / cucumber sticks with philadelphia cheese / granny smith apples sliced and peanut butter on each slice. Good luck with your scan. Just remember we're all in it together

Struggling today.
Why is it so difficult to get enough blood for the morning tests. I have an issue with needles and this constant pricking is starting to hurt.
I pushed it a little with my diet yesterday, this mornings fasting reading was 5.2.
Frustrating but a good dose of reality.

@mintbear 5.2 is still ok for fasting level, isn't it?

@Salina2 yes, my levels have spiked too this week, esp the pre-breakfast ones seem much higher in last few days than they did before. It's so frustrating.

@nopun
It's just ok, 5.3 would be over. It's the highest reading I've had for the fasting and I know it's because of what I ate. Just means I have less flexibility than I thought.

Had my growth scan today, baby is doing well and everything looks fine thankfully.

The doctor said to increase my metformin to try and get my sugar levels back down for breakfast as that is when I can't seem to keep it down. She also said if the metformin don't help I might have to go on insulin before breakfast. She has told me to increase my dose to see if this helps first. Don't really want to have to go on insulin.

I have another app Wednesday to review my results so fingers crossed I can get the sugar levels down again.

Hope you are all doing well 🤗

@Salina2
I hope the extra tablets work for you, fab news on the scan and good luck for Wednesday

@Salina2 that’s great news re the scan and baby, good luck with appt, keep us posted. I’m feeling a bit down about my pre breakfast levels... let’s see what the consultant says on Monday.

I feel like we are all beating ourselves up so I think we need to rethink our thoughts and be kinder to ourselves. Being pregnant is hard enough without feeling guilty/bad over (let's be honest) something that is out of our control, we're all trying our best and that's all we can do. Sending out the positive vibes for a happy weekend.

I'm about to have a breakfast for dinner and I'm crossing my fingers that these new anti acid tablets from the doc will do the trick!

@mintbear awww thank you! Sometimes we just need some uplifting! Have a lovely weekend to my dear

@mintbear I agree, sending positive vibes and hugs to everyone. Good luck xxx

Yes completely agree - happy vibes to everyone, and hope that the drugs are doing their thing

Can I ask how you all are dealing with fruit & Vit C? I always used to eat loads of fruit, and now that I'm run down by massive cold and a brewing UTI all I really want to eat are oranges, kiwis, applies, berries etc. I had cut right down on these, and then gave in and had half an orange last night - and today my sugar levels are so high. it's all so frustrating

@nopun I don't eat a lot of fruit as it is high in sugar but I was told having a certain type of orange would be fine, at the moment I'm ok with oranges but I am finding my food tolerance is changing as my pregnancy progresses. Have you tried pairing the orange with something? Are you on metformin meds? Iv has to increase my dose in the morning as my breakfast readings were getting higher even after eating the same foods I was a few weeks ago ☹️

Hi ladies....so I did a pre-breakfast test yesterday, and got a really nice low reading (4.2) - first time ever and couldn't believe it. So I did another test within seconds but used a finger on the other hand and got a really different result (4.9).

This happened last night after dinner too, got something 4.9, tried it on a finger on other hand, then got 6.4?! That's quite a big difference, has this happened to anyone else before?

@AR23 yes have had this before, sometimes even 2 whole points difference! 🙄 I always wash my hands carefully before testing too. Then again I don't try to prick the extra finger if I can help it, normally only if I suspect a reading is abnormal

@nopun I think it kind of depends how high your readings are generally. I'm diet controlled at the moment and for the first couple of weeks after diagnosis was v careful with fruit; this was hard (much harder for me than limiting carbohydrates) as I'm usually an aggressive fruit eater. I then had constipation. After speaking to the midwife and doctor, they suggested just eating fruit every other hour as snack and not hold back too much, that's after my scan which revealed that baby's measuring fine, actually on the smaller side. So I'd say it comes down to how you're managing those levels and what the doctors say in your specific case. Worth asking in my opinion!

@nopun I was told that two small satsumas were fine as a snack. Do be aware that your sugar levels can go wonky when you're ill so it may be that rather than the orange. I had a 24 hour bug last week and all my reading were high despite eating less than normal. The diabetic midwife always checks if I've been ill if I have random spikes.

@AR23 this has happened to me before so I mentioned it to my diabetic midwife, she said the blood sugar levels can be different on different fingers depending on blood flow etc but try to go with first reading and make sure hands are thoroughly washed and clean. Also she said the blood sugar machines are not 100% accurate but it's the best way of checking blood sugars unless you are given a device which is attached to your arm and then you can do more accurate reading. Those machines I believe are given to people with type 1 diabetes and are quite expensive compared to these regular machines. Try not to worry and stick with first reading, I had a bad habit of doing that as well but I try not to now 🙈