A question about gestational diabetes - please help!

[Wherehasitgone]

I had sugar in my urine a few weeks ago after I ate an iced bun so my midwife sent me for a 2 week monitoring trial that started today. My first after breakfast reading was 3.7 so I guess I felt quite convinced I didn’t have GD! However for lunch I didn’t have anything substantial as I was rushing around and only ate a coffee muffin. When I tested my levels an hour after it was a whooping 8.8! I almost fell off my chair. Do you think it’s pretty likely I have it? How can one muffin give such a high reading?! I had two pieces of white toast for breakfast and it was really low! I read that washing your hands right before can give a higher result which I did do. Im probably clutching at straws!

Just feeling a bit desperate as my baby is tiny (below third centile) so they are concerned it could be GD affecting my placenta.

How far along are you? Yes its possible that you have GD but you need a big picture rather that one off readings. On the other hand 8.8 is not all that high. Don't get me wrong it high and indicative of GD potentially but it's not scarily high.

For what it's worth I've just been diagnosed with GD at 26 weeks and am considered 'borderline'. I had a 1 off reading of 11.1mmol and average readings between 5 and 7. My baby is being monitored with extra scans and I've been given dietary advice to control the GD in the first instance.

I diet controlled mine, once had it checked at the hospital and it shot up, turned out it was the hand sanitizer I'd used as I'd gone in!

I almost always had at least trace amounts of glucose in my urine but didn’t have GD, passed all the blood tests.

Baby was born healthy and well, 45th percentile for weight

I’m coming up to 31 weeks @JustOneMoreStep. I think I will only be diagnosed once I hit 3 high readings. They told me not to change my diet at all but the fear of it is making me not want to eat at all. I guess it’s better to know than to just stick my head in the sand. Is your baby measuring big?

@platerspinner good to know! I’m going to try without washing my hands right before!

8.8 an hour after a muffin isn't that bad.

I had GD in my two pregnancies. Diagnosed late in the first pregnancy following a high urine test. My understanding was that blood glucose must be very high to spill over into urine. But I am not a medical person so I might not be right about that.

Mine was confirmed with a glucose tolerance test. Have you had that or is the trial instead of a GTT?

I managed with diet. I did find that some foods were ‘dangerous’ even though in theory the carbs were within limits. I could not find a portion of any cereal that was big enough to call ‘breakfast’ but didn’t trigger high glucose levels. Even porridge. So I found that 2 boiled eggs and a slice of toast worked for me.

Good luck. And ask your midwife for more info. And maybe whether a GTT would be helpful?

Please don’t stop eating enouhh because you’re afraid of high readings 😔 I felt like that and the midwife was very clear that if I needed medication that was ok and it wasn’t my fault and it was important to eat enough.

Take care xx

I have diagnosed GD and am diet controlled.
I would expect an 8.8 after a muffin as the high fat will be acting as a vague balancer.

I eat yoghurt fruit and nuts for breakfast and an omelette or salad or some sort for lunch.
Granny Smith and peanut butter as a snack.

Also if you take a walk after eat it will regulate / reduce your blood sugar.

Join the Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/GestationalDiabetesUKMums/?ref=share.
Really supportive and helpful (I never bothered paying for the membership as I didn't fancy any of the recipes -thanks to HG!)

I think you need to keep testing as it's so easy to get the odd strange reading.
Make sure you get enough blood on the strip to fill the little test section, as otherwise it could give a false low reading.
Wash your hands with just water before testing as soaps can give false high readings.

If you do have it sign up to the gestational diabetes UK Facebook group and look on the website. It's a great source of help and support.

What's your question? Yes you could definitely have GD with readings over 8. Don't panic, it's not as scary as it first seems. Are you being sent for a glucose tolerance test?
What happens next depends a little on how far along you are.
Take a look at the Gestational Diabetes UK website - it had a great page for newly diagnosed women. The Facebook group is also really good and supportive

@Wherehasitgone at my 20week scan my baby was measuring on the 50th centile so there were no concerns about size at that stage. I will have additional growth scans to monitor her going forward and they've said they might consider an early delivery if she does get big but, honestly its all been very factual and straightforward with the medical pros all very much 'meh it can happen, not to worry' sort of attitude.

Gosh just had a reading of 12.8! That was after some soup, a bag of quavers and a biscuit. Think that pretty much confirms it.