Feeling pathetic about glucose tolerance test

[mrsgboring]

Oh damn damn damn and other swearwords, hospital has just rung requiring a glucose tolerance test because my random blood sugar was a bit high. Am so DESPERATELY upset about this. Will it be horrible?

They've said nil by mouth from midnight before, which is enough to horrify me in itself, going out without breakfast. I will probably get a migraine from this. I may also vomit the solution and have to do it again - have been dreadfully sick this pg and food is the only thing that remotely controls it. Depends on the day whether I'll be sick or not but can't predict in advance (I seem to have good and bad)

They told me I had to be nil by mouth from midnight the night before - does this include water?

And I'm really scared of being found to have GD. I will never be able to stick to a GD diet - have major food aversions during pg (wouldn't be too hard normally). Plus I will feel desperately guilty in case I had GD in previous pregnancies (have always been pretty careful not to eat too much sugar before giving a sample because I'm petrified of the GTT and now feel like I might have been cheating)

Actually, I seem to be in bits about this. Someone just give me a slap, or tell me it won't be that bad.

Oh I had to do this and I also had awful sickness. My tip would be to mix it with lime cordial (midwife told me that would be fine)

It's not fun if you're already feeling sick but like I said if you mix it it's tolerable

Oo thanks for that, ConnorTraceptive, will try that.

It's fine - honestly. I had to do two as my first was dodgy, and I am really, really not a morning person until I have had breakfast and tea.

Sips of water are OK, but not pints.

If your blood sugar was high in other pgs, then not eating sugar before a sample would not have made any difference.

Unless your food aversions are to all healthy food, and you can only stomach sugar, you'll be OK even if you do have GD

Thanks cmotdibbler. Unfortunately, on a bad day the foods I can manage are:

chocolate
shortbread
cornflakes with sugar on
errr that's it.

I thought it was a really severe diet with serious limits even on bread and potatoes. Maybe I shouldn't worry about that yet.

You've really put my mind at rest re previous pregnancies (DD was stillborn and they did do an RBS when they found out which I hadn't cheated on, but even so I read somewhere once in some ridiculous place that even if you weren't diagnosed diabetic, you probably were if the baby was SB which has stuck in my mind even though it's dubious)

The thing is with GD, that it really isn't a problem if you know about it - if you can't do the diet weel enough, then you can inject insulin. Obv better to try with the diet though - AFAIK, it's the normal kind of type II diabetic diet which tries to do low GI - but I only know a little as I was advised to try and do low GI as my urine glucose was always high and I looked into it all with the help of a coeliac society dietician as that makes it harder.

I think that is a not only dubious, but terrible statement. Obv women with diabetes which is uncontrolled or poorly controlled do have a higher risk of SB, but it is in no way a given (I just checked Pubmed to see if there was any evidence for that).

I'm really sorry for the loss of your DD. Pg after SB must be terrible - after 3 mcs I was in a bad enough state.

Thank you again cmot, especially for doing a pubmed search for me, which was really kind.

The test isn't bad. I had really bad morning sickness too, but that wasn't a problem. I was offered the glucose in either an orange or lime flavoured drink, and then I just sat down with a book for a couple of hours, beofre they did the second bloods. My tip would be make sure you have somethinng to eat and drink with you so that as soon as it's done you can have a scoff. I didn't do that and by the time I'd managed to struggle to the hospital cafe I was nearly passing out with starvation! Hope all is well - mine was fine by the way.

Thanks Seeline. I gave a fasting blood sample for medical research once and made that mistake - afterwards was blundering into unsuitable shops such as estate agents wondering if they'd sell me some food. I don't go anywhere these days without my fun size Twirl bars

A lot of places will let you drink a bottle of Lucozade as it is easier to stomach than the solution.

Oh God I would die if someone made me drink Lucozade!!!! And that's supposed to be better? Okayyyyyy this is going to be good.

I did it. I am not a morning person and was really not a morning person when pg. I had the GTT test (negative) and was really worried about the whole nil by mouth for 12 hours before hand etc, but made it to the hospital, drank the Lucozade and sat with my feet up reading magazine for a couple of hours. No probs. You'll be fine. .

I did it. It was horrible drinking the sweet stuff on an empty stomach, but it was OK really. I second the tip about taking something to eat. i didn't, and bizarrly didn't go to the hospital cafe but went into town, and fainted over the threshold of an Italian restaurant in Canterbury. There are worse places to faint while pregnant than a restaurant full of solicitous Italian waiters!

Thank you both. Feeling a bit better about it all now. [denial emoticon]