30weeks pregnant on insulin and struggling

Katiekat

Newbie
Messages
1
Hi there, I am 30 weeks pregnant with gestational diabetes which strangely enough started as soon as I became pregnant as I had excessive thirst. It was diagnosed at 16 weeks and I was following the nhs diet advised but found I was reacting to a lot of things even if eaten in small quantities accompanied by proteins. I was first put on metformin and this didn't do anything at all, infact some of my levels got higher so now I am on novorapid and another slow release insulin at night. It seems the further I get along the more resistant I am getting and my fasting results in the mornings are climbing despite increasing insulin. I found a facebook group which has been recommended by a couple of ladies called gestational diabetes UK and began to follow their diet advice but despite a great feedback and it working for a lot of women it isn't working for me at all. I will be OK one week with something such as a particular rye bread with soft cheese, then the next week it will send my levels sky high. I am getting tired of eating salad vegetables and meat and fish constantly but my body craving the energy from a carbs and I really do not feel well at all. I cannot tolerate, pasta even brown, bread of any kind, rye breads, rice/brown, potato's. Too much fruit, full fat milks, cereals, porridge even if just sprinkled in plain yogurts, nuts, rice cakes, oatcakes you name it! I can eat fish, meat and eggs, lettuce, cucumber, tomato's, onions, cheese. Oh and Muller light yogurts. Last night I cooked a spaghetti bolonaise for my family from scratch but instead of myself having pasta, I spirallised some courgettes and had that. Even that raised my levels. The tomato's I used are low in sugar. I totally give up!
 

M80

Well-Known Member
Messages
76
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hello :) I am wondering if you can say more about what you mean with "can not tolerate" Is it that you get raised bloodsugar,or do you feel unwell, or both? My experience from pregnancy as a type one, was that my need for insulin increased so much, and if I had not had a great midwife to guide me through this and let me understand this was normal and to be expected, I would also have panicked. Is there not a nurse or midwife who can see you more often with this knowledge?
As you get bigger and the baby grows, the hormones will change your needs. And your weight will also increase your insulin need.I am not a specialist on gestational diabetes,so if it is different to how type one affects in pregnancy then my advice might be wrong.But if you look at the information for type one and diabetes, in fex the book think like a pancreas, you will see that the need for insulin follows a very specific pattern.Sorry I have not got a link but I am sure you can find it if you google.
Also the very strict low carb diets seem to me to make you more insulin resistant.It is better to have a steady (but it can be low at the same time) intake of carbs so your body knows it is not needing to be in a state of "hunger/emergency." I dont know if you have read about theories around insulin sensitivity being increased at times of hunger - I will not go into this in detail, but the point is whatever you do remember it is not bad to have to increase your insulin.As long as it is safe and you keep in dialogue with the nurse/doctor of course. Dont think insulin is bad, it helps growth. As long as you eat varied and healthy that is the important thing, and try to not stress loads.Stress itself will increase your blood sugar ..
 

Gemsydodger

Member
Messages
12
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Hi there, I am 30 weeks pregnant with gestational diabetes which strangely enough started as soon as I became pregnant as I had excessive thirst. It was diagnosed at 16 weeks and I was following the nhs diet advised but found I was reacting to a lot of things even if eaten in small quantities accompanied by proteins. I was first put on metformin and this didn't do anything at all, infact some of my levels got higher so now I am on novorapid and another slow release insulin at night. It seems the further I get along the more resistant I am getting and my fasting results in the mornings are climbing despite increasing insulin. I found a facebook group which has been recommended by a couple of ladies called gestational diabetes UK and began to follow their diet advice but despite a great feedback and it working for a lot of women it isn't working for me at all. I will be OK one week with something such as a particular rye bread with soft cheese, then the next week it will send my levels sky high. I am getting tired of eating salad vegetables and meat and fish constantly but my body craving the energy from a carbs and I really do not feel well at all. I cannot tolerate, pasta even brown, bread of any kind, rye breads, rice/brown, potato's. Too much fruit, full fat milks, cereals, porridge even if just sprinkled in plain yogurts, nuts, rice cakes, oatcakes you name it! I can eat fish, meat and eggs, lettuce, cucumber, tomato's, onions, cheese. Oh and Muller light yogurts. Last night I cooked a spaghetti bolonaise for my family from scratch but instead of myself having pasta, I spirallised some courgettes and had that. Even that raised my levels. The tomato's I used are low in sugar. I totally give up!


Finding your post and realising you should have you little one by now, and should have jolly well enjoyed those two slices of toast after labour! Hope all is well! Feel like I could have written your post, if you appear back will you let me know how you got on?

:) xx
 

Em1981

Active Member
Messages
29
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
I had gestational diabetes with my little boy. I got to the stage where I couldn't have anything without my sugars shooting up.
I was really good and didn't gain a lot of weight, in fact I put on 7lbs in pregnancy but as my baby was 7lb 10, I felt skinny once I had given birth.

I would have some carbs, depriving yourself isn't going to help at this stage, my nurse advised everything in moderation and upped the insulin instead.

Once your baby is here and the placenta is out your sugars should return to normal very quickly.

The main risk is to your little one. My baby was born by emergency c section, (not diabetes related) but he wouldn't feed and was very tired. Within 8 hours he was rushed to NICU as his sugars had crashed and he wasn't strong enough to feed.

He is absolutely fine now but I would urge you to make sure your baby is fed straight away and then every few hours even if they are sleepy.
If you are even a bit worried get the nurses to check his/her sugar.

And good luck. Hopefully it will all be fine x
 
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