Any advice? been diagnosed with diabetes,17 weeks, worried...

[brightonbleach]

anyone else had anything similar? I've been diagnosed suddenly with severe diabetes, and not gestational but lifelong diabetes that they think must have come on suddenly in this past year (have had tests before that as it runs in my family), they think I am type 1 (auto-immune disease based) (and I am hypothyroid as well so already being closely monitored in pregnancy!) now will have to go to hospital every week for tests and scans apparently - am very worried that the baby will have problem/birth defects and all the rest of it that is possible from a diabetic 'host', feel guilty (i had no signs/symptoms, so as DH says, how could I know? still...) and we're scared. I have to inject every day as well now which is a shock. thought I had been eating really well, turns out the fresh orange juice I'd been glugging was one of the worst things I could do! My hubby has been brilliant, I just thought I'd come on here and see if anyone else had anything reassuring to add/their own or friend/family experience of this sort of thing? Just as I was really enjoying being preggers, telling people and willing a bump to grow, now am scared there will be something wrong with the little 'un - we will also probably have to be induced/c-section early as well as they worry about the size and stillbirths with diabetics. Eekk! Hope its not all doom and gloom and turns out fine... thanks for any support y'all, hope everyone is doing well out there

bump

Really sorry dont know anything about this but didnt want you to think no one cared ,the good thing ,if there is one ,is that you are going to get lots of check ups which should hopefully reasure you as your pregnancy goes on

We are getting pretty good at managing diabetes and pregnancy now, I have had experience of lots of positive outcomes where I work. We have a diabetes specialist midwife who works with the appropriate consultant and they make a plan for pregnancy and labour so that everyone involved knows what to do with insulin etc. I believe the key is good control of blood glucose levels, problems tend to arise when these are not controlled I understand. They will probably suggest early induction and serial growth scans but don't dispair. I was even reading about a diabetic woman who had a home delivery recently, although I am not advocating that for you I am simply pointing out that good outcomes can be achieved. I know it must be a headf**k though at this vulnerable time of your life.

Don't know if I can be of any help, but I'll try.

I spent the last two weeks of my pregnancy as a diet controlled diabetic (not sure I really had diabetes or not, but in any case it was only gestational diabetes so I knew it would go away I know that's not the case for you). I too felt and feel desperately guilty about it, but honestly particularly in your case there is nothing you could have done to stop yourself getting it and you couldn't have known about it in advance.

I also have had a difficult obstetric history for a host of other reasons, so I know a little bit about getting through a difficult pregnancy. It is very hard. Hard to tell people and deal with their expectations versus your own fears, hard to live from week to week, but it can be done and most people are really helpful and understanding. Inevitably with a highly monitored pregnancy, you live from scan to scan, appointment to appointment. It can take over your life, so we found it quite helpful to schedule little treats for ourselves quite regularly that we could look forward to, so that we broke out of the "pregnancy timetable" a little bit and it didn't rule our lives totally.

You probably won't get the pregnancy and birth you might have chosen, BUT you can still have a good pregnancy and you very much can have a good outcome, so please keep that upppermost in your mind whenever you can.

I know there is at least one woman with type one diabetes who posts on here. Sorry I can't remember her name, but will try to trawl back through old posts and find out - then you can put out a post with her name in the title and hopefully find her.

I'm an insulin dependant diabetic. It is not the end of the world.

Watch your carbs, check your blood regularly, take your insulin. Keep in constant contact with your care team until you get comfortable with it.

Oh, and enjoy the fact that you will be scanned constantly so you'll get to see your LO practically on a weekly basis.

I am going to be having a C-section at about 38.5 weeks, due to the baby being a bit big. No one is freaking that it is big, it is just big.

Try to relax. Millions of diabetic women have healthy babies every day.

thanks everyone very reassuring to hear your 'voices'.

reikizen I am feeling more positive already as had appointment with my diabetes nurse who is also part of the maternity team today, she was pleased with how my levels are looking already (have been on insulin a week) & I got plenty of advice which is good.

mrsgboring thanks - yeah, its 'day by day' isn't it, trying not to get too scared by 'possiblities' that, after all, will probably never happen. and yes, a very tight and full pregnancy timetable!! hope all is well for you now

Tee2072 cheers - am in constant contact at their insistance with the team, it is reasurring to read the results and what I've eaten etc down the phone so I know am doing ok. I'm sure loads of diabetic woman have healthy babies all round the world all day every day - which is wonderful to know - I was just worried as I wasn't diagnosed till 16 weeks gone so was worried something had gone wrong with the baby when it was uncontrolled before diagnosis... but hopefully the scans will all show a bouncing bundle of energy and health, the nuchal scan was all good so am thinking positive

thanks all, feeling like I can get a handle on this now and not freak out!

best wishes, thanks for helping.

Hi

I'm type 1 diabetic and have had it for 26 years and am now pregnant with no. 2. No. 1 is now 2.

How come they took so long to pick it up? I thought that urine tests were a standard part of every pregnancy appointment and the ketones would have shown up pretty early on? If the hospital couldn't pick it up then there's no way you could have.

Diabetes is unpredictable. You can do your best to manage it and things can go wrong or you can forget about it and they don't. So don't worry about what you haven't done when you were in ignorance and just hope for the best. As you may have worked out by now we all have very little control over what happens at the end of the day irrelevant of having diabetes.

If you want information about pregnancy or diabetes in general try getting in touch with these people www.iddtinternational.org/

Good luck and CAT me if you want to talk about anything.

Hi,
I'm another type 1 diabetic, diagnosed aged 30 four years ago now.

My first piece of advice is don't panic. As everyone has said so far this is not the terribel diagnosis you fear. Diabetes is a PITA but it is a PITA that can be controlled quite easily by you with the help of your injections and your glucose monitor.

Secondly, diabetes can be the cause of many problems in pregnancy, BUT NOTE, only CAN BE. It is not a case of diabetes = deformites, big babies etc. I had DS1 in 2007, with no problems whatsoever, he weighed 7lbs at birth and has been strikingly healthy since then. I managed to bf without any probs.

Thirdly, injections are scary at first but in a couple of weeks you'll be blaise about the whole thing. Have you got a pen thing? These are the easiest to manage; in fact I would say it is practically impossible to muck up. So don't worry about that either.

Fourthy, but most importantly: healthcare profs not specialising in diabetes can be surprisingly ignorant. Many will fill you full of scare stories and be on your back the whole time about your glucose level. Don't get me wrong, control is important. But, and it is a big big BUT, you must bare two things in mind alway:

1. High levels are dangerous to you and your baby when they continue for prolonged periods (ie 2-3 days). If you have a high say after breakfast, then you inject a bit more insulin and by lunch time you are fine, this is not a cause for concern. The trick is to check often. I do (I'm pg with no. 2) hourly after meals for 3 hours. Also I check in the middle of the night when I get up for a wee. This way you can catch and stop highs developing for a long time.

1. You can only control your glucose levels to a certain extent. Some things are beyond your control. Some days you will have unexpalined highs or lows. This is not your fault. Our bodies make insulin if and when we need it. When we inject, we are basiclly playing a game of averages (usually this works for me). If something happens to your body, eg. a stressful event, an illness, your needs will change and the only way you will know is when your levels are too high.

I repeat this is not your fault. Don't let anyone make you feel as though it is.

I am not on CAT but feel free to email me if you want.

catitainahatita at gmail dot com

I understand you are freaking. I was 4 years ago. But its not that bad, honest!

How many weeks along are you?

Oops, ok 17 weeks. You're ahead of me by a mere fortnight!

And, apologies "bear" not "bare"....