Extreme fatigue. Could it be GD?

[Toastedsesame]

I'm 26 weeks. Been struggling with fatigue so much in the past 3/4 weeks. I sleep plenty, eat and drink well, I also take spatone 2x a day as my iron levels were low (but not too low) I feel way worse than I did in the first trimester. When I walk up stairs I feel faint and my eyes go blurry and after any little bit of activity I have to lay down to get my energy back. I feel AWFUL.

I have a 3yo who does add to the fatigue of course.

One thing I have noticed however, is if I drink a big glass of fruit juice in the morning with breakfast I feel a lot better and have more energy, if I drink no sugar squash I feel crap. Wondering if its low blood sugar (which I get anyway, even without being pg!)

Could it be GD? I wondered about asking for a test, a lot of people say they didn't have any symptoms before being told they have it however.

Just bumping

No advice as I had no symptoms at all before being diagnosed with GD, but i don’t think there’s any harm in speaking to your midwife and see if she thinks it’s worth adding a glucose test to your next set of bloods.

A lot of trusts aren’t currently doing the oral GTT where you have blood taken, drink a glucose drink, wait 2 hours, then have repeat bloods done. This is due to COVID.

My trust weren’t, so I was just asked to fast overnight and then had a blood test in the morning. My levels were high.

5 weeks down the line and I’m now on metformin and insulin. I do notice now that sometimes the tiredness hits me like a brick wall out of nowhere and I have to nap. But it doesn’t always seem to coincide with my levels being low.

Thank you @Moominmiss remember you from TTC chats. Its my 28w midwife appointment on 11th August, shall I wait til then, or get a docs apt?

@Toastedsesame so is your midwife doing your bloods at your 28 week appointment?

I don’t know how it works in your trust but here I have my midwives mobile number so if I have any questions between appointments I can text her. So if it was me I’d probably message her and mention that I’d quite like for a glucose test to be done and explain why.

My midwife however is pretty crap and would more than likely dismissed me saying tiredness is normal etc etc and it’s probably iron levels. I was only being tested as my dad is type 2 diabetic. Had it not been for that they wouldn’t have tested me and it’s quite likely my GD wouldn’t have been picked up. She barely believed the result as it was. When I saw her last time a week ago she couldn’t believe it was that bad that I’m now injecting insulin. She almost made me feel like I’d made it up!

You may have a far more understanding midwife than me though!

I mean if you get nowhere with asking to be tested you could always get yourself a finger prick testing kit and test your own levels after fasting and after eating.

You’ll soon see if yours are in range.

In my trust fasting levels need to be 5.3 or below. Then I have to test 1 hour after each meal, my level should be 7.8 or below. Or if I can’t do 1 hour post meal then I have to do a 2 hour post meal test and in that case my level should be 6.4 or below.

If you do start testing yourself and find your levels are outside of those ranges then I’d insist they do a proper glucose test so you can have an official diagnosis.

@Moominmiss Thank you! To be honest my midwives have been crap. Its a different person every time and the few times I've had concerns I've left them voicemails and never heard anything back. They never answer the phone.

I worry my bump is large too. I'm only 26 weeks but I feel huge, have constant pressure and braxton hicks.

I might get a finger prick test in the meantime to put myself at ease.

I felt huge too a few weeks ago (I’m 33 weeks now), but actually now I feel like my bump is on the small side. Like it hasn’t grown all that much.

I have a growth scan next week so will be interesting to see what that shows.

As for braxton hicks I’ve been having loads! Like every day I have them, sometimes all day long. Some days they have a really regular pattern.

You might be able to put your mind at rest by getting a testing kit. Either that or at least it might end up giving you the ammunition you need to demand proper testing and diagnosis!

@Moominmiss Thats kind of reassuring.

The braxton hicks are crazy this time round, I've been having them since about 19 weeks! I get them more if I go for a long walk or do any kind of exercise.

Feeling faint/ breathless & tired can be a sign of low iron so you may need more iron than the spa tone dosage you are currently on - maybe see if you can get a GP appointment to discuss or see if they can do your 28 week bloods a bit early so you can see what’s going on with your iron levels? You may need to go on iron tablets instead or they may advise a higher dose of spatone but I wouldn’t take more until you’ve had advice.