Newly diagnosed gestational diabetes. HELP!

[Pandabuggle]

Got the call yesterday to say my results were back after GTT on Monday and I've been in today to see the gestational diabetes midwife and collect my testing kit. Went through how to use it etc, I'm fine with that. She also gave me a multi page document regarding dietary change and healthy eating for this condition.

What I'm struggling with, is everything in it contradicts everything listed on the website she diverted me to yesterday with regards to good and bad foods so now I'm really confused and have no idea what I should now be eating!

Supposed to be going food shopping in a couple of hours and I still have no clue what I'm supposed to get.

Anyone else in a similar situation or going through GD have any advice? Any help you can offer will be massively appreciated.

Also, side question. When do you change the needle in your finger pricker? Is it after every use?

Many thanks in advance

Get onto the GDUK Facebook group and website and go with their advice. Honestly it's much better than most of the NHS advice for keeping levels within limits.

Change the lancet with every finger prick. Good luck - you've got this.

I was diagnosed with GDM during the third trimester of my second pregnancy.

I was overweight before my pregnancy and over ate during.

I snacked less, cut down on carbs, looked out for hidden sugars and moved more.

www.diabetes.org.uk/resources-s3/2017-08/0302A-gestational-diabetes-guide-0915.pdf

Make sure to change your lancet each time, and make sure to have clean dry hands for testing. Once you've pricked your finger give it a couple of seconds before milking it for droplet.

If in doubt contact your midwife or diabetes specialist nurses.

Don't follow the NHS advice, their diet is too high in carbs and it is too hard to keep your levels low. Use the advice on Gestational Diabetes UK instead. I ate full fat yoghurt with nuts and berries for breakfast and had lots of vegetables and protein for my other meals with small portions of carbs. If you want something sweet pair it with fat, e.g. apple and peanut butter or dark chocolate and brazil nuts. You'll get used to it, it is annoying but at least you know it is time limited. I was pregnant over Christmas which was a bit crap, but I just kept a few Christmas treats to enjoy in February. The day after I came home from the hospital with DS2 my friend left a bag of pasta and a jar of pesto on my doorstep because she knew how much I had missed it!

Hey @Pandabuggle , about 10 threads down is a thread started by @thunderonlyhappenswhenits about a brand new GD diagnosis, maybe interesting for you?

Another vote for using Gestational Diabetes UK Facebook group and website.

NHS advice utterly useless. If I'd gone with their carb advice, I wouldn't have been able to control my GD through diet. GD website as mentioned above I found absolutely invaluable when I was pregnant and I've now gone back to it after being told that my blood levels are in the pre diabetic range. I've currently got the Bounty bars from the GD website in the fridge and they are properly lovely!

Check carb levels on packets- some things are surprisingly high in carbs and it means you can choose a lower carb option. As an example, a single slice of Scottish plain bread is over 22g of carb while a slice of Nimble bread is around 8g.

'Never eat an unpaired carb'

And remember that it's sometimes not possible to avoid medication, even if you follow all the rules. Morning levels are notoriously hard to control and seem to be a matter of luck to some extent. Medication doesn't mean that you've failed in some way.

I cut down the carbs substantially and was able to manage it with diet throughout keeping most readings within the desired range. Just remember that it is carbohydrates not just sugar that you need to be mindful of. Pairing carbs worked well as well, so making sure you had plenty of protein or fats rather than very carb-heavy meals.

Oh, and leave time between eating things - so if you've had dinner, don't have your dessert or latte or whatever at the same time. Wait a while (depending on your testing protocols) then have it as your 'treat' so that you're not massively spiking your blood sugars.

We also used to go for a little walk or do some gentle exercise if my levels were a bit higher after a meal. Found that helped too (Only if you are able to of course).

Thank you everyone. It's going to take some getting used to for sure! My morning reading was 5.4 so just over my target annoyingly. So far my other readings have been in the normal range.

Does anyone have something they really enjoy then test sugar an hour later just to see how body reacts? I'm tempted to have like a small shotglass of for example frijj then test, just to see the result. Rather than doing what I usually would and having the whole bottle in 1 go.

Lettuce, carrot sticks with teaspoon whole peanut butter, beetroot, ham and bit of Philadelphia on wholemeal wrap for lunch today, going to see how that goes with testing and make records of what I'm having so I can see what's working and what's not.

The hospital said to contact them if you have 3 high readings in a row or over a couple of days. If this happens are they just going to say "start taking the Metformin" it's going to take some getting used to and I'd hope they would allow time for your body to adjust to diet change.

I negotiated with them to a certain extent in the beginning because my readings were sent directly by the machine and I had a phonecall about any high readings. If I'd eaten something that I knew was a bit risky in terms of blood sugars when I was first experimenting with what I could eat, they took that on board regarding one off high sugar levels. It also takes a while to work out what you yourself can tolerate - I'm relatively OK with basmati rice and pasta in small amounts but even small amounts of bread or potatoes sent my sugars sky high.

However, if you can't pin point what the likely cause was or you've got consistent high readings, they really would have to look at medication.