Diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes, guidance needed

[JungleRun21]

I was told I needed to do a Glucose Tolerance Test when I had my booking in appointment which I did just over a week go at 27 weeks pregnant.
I had an email come through telling me I have Gestational Diabetes and that I need to collect a pack from the hospital and start monitoring my blood glucose readings.
Apparently there is a video to watch but thats all I have been advised.
I had a brief call from the hospital to say there was a pack to collect and to basically change my diet and crack on. No face to face appointments and no additional support has been offered.
I have Hyperemesis and have been struggling with food since day 1. I mentioned this on the phone and was told just to try, that was it.

Im feeling really disheartened about it all. Im struggling to eat anything that isnt heavy on carbs so I dont know how Im going to manage. My diet is quite beige since being pregnant.
I dont eat nuts/seeds due to allergies.

Has anyone been in the same situation?
How did you manage?
What did you eat?
Didnyou have to be put on medication and if so, how was this?
Did it affect your birth choice?

Hi, I had it in my last 3 pregnancies. I did have to change my diet and eat less carbs and fruit. I could eat yogurts, meat and veg. I had to test my blood when I woke up, 2 hrs after breakfast and then before a meal and 2 hours afterwards. I also had to document each result to show the diabetes nurse at my hospital appointments which were fortnightly. I was put on Metformin once a day and managed to not go on insulin but I had to be strict with my diet and also be active to burn off what I ate.

Hi, I had GD in my previous pregnancy and honestly it sucked.
i think it’s awful that they have offered you no help.
When I was diagnosed I had an appt at the hospital to show me how to use the finger prick machine and how to do my readings.
i then had another appt to explain how the diet would work which helped massively because before that I was actually doing it all wrong.

a lot of the time I felt awful, like I had no energy.
I found that the gestation diabetes website helped me a lot. I have linked it for you!
https://www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk/chilli-con-carne/

the recipes were really good on there and kept my readings low!

honestly a lot of meat/eggs is a really good choice. I also found paring my food with broccoli helped to soak up some carbs and would reduce my readings.
salads are a good choice too especially with warmer weather on your side.

fish is also good! I was told to watch out for carrots as they actually contain sugar but having them in moderation worked for me.

i struggled with bread and cereal. Could never find the right balance with cereal, it was always hit and miss. A full English was a good choice. Bread I found the warboutons brown small loaf was good for toast and sarnies (I would have lettuce, a sprinkle of cheese and a slice of ham on it) or you can do tuna if you like it.

I managed to keep mine diet controlled so no medication.
i was offered an induction at 39+5.
i was also offered c-section but I said I wanted to try vaginally and they were happy with that and my baby was born vaginally at 8lb 4oz
xx

Had this with my third. The blood monitoring is really easy once you get used to it.
Get your steps in too, will help, I did up my exercise.
For me, low carbing meant:
Cutting out bread, potato, pizza and cake
I had the very occasional treat but mainly thrived on:
Omelettes with lots of veg
Bacon and egg
Meat or fish and salad
Yoghurt with cinnamon
I was lucky and that was enough, did not need any other interventions.
My child was breastfed but did need a couple of formula top-ups just in that first week as their blood sugar levels fluctuated. There were no other complications. Their birth weight was fine. Sleepier than my other two that first week but more than made up for that later.

I ate a lot of ryvita with cheese, houmous by the bucket load, quorn sausages and egg balls, salads, and loads of dhal.

I also expressed colostrum to take to the hospital when I went into labour to help stabilise my son's blood sugars if need be but it wasn't needed in the end.

Thank you to those who have replied so far.
@kiki2516 i havent been offered any appointments at all. Basically monitor for a week. Submit the readings via email and wait for a response. If very high they will arrange a telephone call to discuss and if I need medication they will sot an appointment then. I was expecting a dietician referral or even just a meeting with a diabetic nurse but nothing.
The rest of the monitoring will be done via an app apparently and there wont be any review meetings.
This is why I feel so in the dark over it all.

I think the diet change is worrying me the most because of how much ive struggled to eat so far.
Im half living off of ice lollies and carbs because anything else just makes me feel rotten.
Most of this I cannot have going forward.
I am generally quite a fussy eater, always have been unfortunatley and pregnancy and hyperemesis has made this worse!

Is there a way I need to calculate what to eat to balance out carbs etc?

I've got it, it's a bit of a faff with having to be careful with meals and timing/ finger pricking but I've not found it too bad.

Join the gd UK Facebook group, though i do find some people on their ott, fibger sticking constantly, spike testing, crying after a high reading etc. But there can be good advice. Main one I've taken from it is pairing food and never double carbing. So I have a wrap most days for lunch, just make sure its stacked with protein and has fat in it. For dinner i can have rice / pasta etc, I just make sure the ratio is more protein/fats than carbs. Snacks i have low carb fruit like berries or kewis, dip carrot or Cucumber into hummas, or dip apple slices into peanut butter. im also fine with the protein puddings from aldi.

Avoid cake/sugar etc, avoid having things like toast etc as a snack, but generally if you aren't able to eat a somewhat normal albeit slightly adapted diet (e.g changing ratios, portion size etc) as your numbers are too high, or you can't tolerate it because of your sickness, just accept the medication. I see too many people on the fb group who have basically gone full keto living off eggs because they can't control their numbers just to avoid medication and I really don't think its worth it

I think it’s a bit shocking they haven’t offered you real support for it especially when you don’t know what you’re doing.
I remember being told to ring if I had 3 or more high readings.

the diet change did worry me but I found still having the foods I liked just altered a bit helped me.

if ice lollies are helping you, you could make your own (I know it’s a faff but it’s a good option to keep readings low) anything with no added sugar like juice or even Diet Coke/Coke Zero/no sugar lemonade you could make into ice pops.

with the carbs it’s more about spacing them out through out the day/smaller portions which might help you with your sickness, less but more. less carbs but more smaller meals throughout the day.

you can snack in between again if it’s healthy, cucumber sticks/carrot sticks might be a good choice with your sickness, plenty of water.

i can’t remember if I was told around 40g of carbs per meal a day, so maybe try that and see if it works, if readings are too high or too low then you can adjust.

its all just figuring out what works best for you, but honestly if you really do struggle take the medication. I know if you are medicated with the diabetes you get induced sooner especially if you end up on insulin.

I'm sorry to say but I think you need to push them to give you more support.
Call again and tell them you need an appointment because you are already struggling to eat. If they don't come through, write a letter to PALS explaining that you're struggling to eat at all and you need individualised support.
Depending on where you are, can you change to a different trust/hospital/midwife?
If you have the means, look at getting private help too, with a nutritionist or maybe a doula who can advocate for you within the system.

I got diagnosed with GD, you are meant to be offered extra scans and a follow up with a consultant to discuss as baby is at risk of being big. I had a dietician appointment a few dags later, had to get more lanclets etc from my GP as i was only given a few.

Tbh i havent changed my diet much if at all. Apart from the odd reading which may be .1 over what they want (and some consultants push for medication if you have 3 over in a week). Most of mine are within the range they want. Today is 2 weeks since my last "high" reading which was 7.9 and they want 7.8mm.

Id continue as you eat now and see how the readings are. If they are too high then try change. I honestly think my 2 hr one at the hospitak which was 9.3mm was a fluke. I'm not the healthiest of eaters either and mine has being ok. If you are worried id call them up, you should be given a number to call. If you have 3 high ones in a week you're meant to call them. It could be theyve forgotten to send some things to you.

There should be a midwife team dedicated to GD at your maternity hospital, can you request an appointment with them? Or, ask your midwife if she can get you some more specialist advice?

I had it 6 years ago and was invited in to a group appointment where they showed you how to do the blood tests etc. You should also have more scans to see that baby is growing in line with expectations and be talked through your options for the birth.

I managed to control it just with diet, but I did a keto diet (without realising that was what I was doing). Lots of meat, cheese, yoghurt, veggies. There are some low carb breads and pastas that you can get - they're not the same as the real stuff, but will get you through a sandwich or spaghetti bol.

It's a bit rubbish that there's not more support really, you have such a short period of time to get your head around it and manage this before your baby is born and you (hopefully) go back to normal!

Ive sat down and had a proper look through the diabetic pack that I picked up from the hospital.
There were some photocopied sheets about diabetes, a diary to complete, a letter to give to my GP to order more test strips and lancets and a few standard NHS leaflets discussing what gestational diabetes is and how it affects pregnancy.
There was also the glucometer, test strips and a few lancets.

The info in there is all very vague. Nothing about food pairing, the ratio of carbs and sugars etc.
No contact details for anyone either which I find really odd.

I figured id just start testing and see what happens without really changing much which will at least let me know how far off my readings are.
My fasting levels were high despite when I did the GTT they were normal.

I have a midwife appointment this week and I will chat to her about it all and see what she has to say.
Ill ask about the extra scans too as so far nothing has been mentioned or booked for this.
Ill also discuss my hyperemesis and a dietician referral.

Thank you everyone for your replies so far and advice. It is really appreciated.
Ive had a read through online for additional suppprt which has been helpful so far.

@JungleRun21 sorry by mentioning ratios and food pairing, I don't mean it in a way of following exact % or measuring grams of carbs/fats etc, nothing that stressful & faffy, just generally if you were to have pasta for dinner for example, reduce the portion size of pasta, add more protein, like a full chicken breast, add fat like cream in the sauce or cheese on top, and maybe a side salad with a high fat dressing if you can be arsed.

The nhs advice can be quite naff, the dietitian i saw did mention food pairings and portions a bit but I got most of my advice from the fb page. I've only had 2 high readings one from an apple crumble (inevitable) and another when i went McDonald's and had a burger and fries, I would have been OK with one or the other but not both, I went McDonald's again more recently and had a burger and mozerlla sticks instead and was fine.

However, everyone's tolerance is different, what works for me might not work for you, if i had to make more significant changes to my diet I would have struggled as ive had food aversions through pregnancy and would have just asked for meds to help keep it under control.

This is really good to know, thank you for sharing.
I think in my head ive just heard that I need to change my diet and so to me, I cant eat anything like I did before.
I wont lie in saying I could easily live off of a mcdonalds cheeseburger when pregnant and trying to find healthy alternatives is crushing!
Im going to just try to manage portions and snack less and see how that goes initially.
The last thing I want to do is end up eating so little and making myself unwell. Id rather suck up taking medicatuon than that.
Its been a tough enough pregnancy as it is without rhe drama of having a restricted diet too.