Hi hope you’re ok. I gave birth over two years ago, but I’ve only recently joined this forum, my fasting levels seemed to be a bit lower during pregnancy than they are now but they spiked quite high after I would have breakfast, think I was eating the wrong things. My fasting sugars now are a bit higher but I admit that I haven’t been good with food for a while and usually eat late so maybe that’s why. They’ve said we are a higher risk of having diabetes if we’ve had it in pregnancy so I get a yearly hba1c test which has been ok. So after giving birth, they should monitor you and see if your blood sugars return to normal, LeighHow were your levels during pregnancy compared to now? How long ago did you give birth? (I've just been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and am also wondering if I will end up being pre-diabetic postnatally.) .
I've just been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes but as I am 44yo, I will be interested to see if I turn out to be pre-diabetic postnatally and just didn't know it because I didn't test anything before this pregnancy.
The new cut offs in Australia for Gestational Diabetes are, after the GTT, fasting 5.1mmol, 1hr 10 mmol, and 2 hr 8.5mmol.
My problem was a high fasting level - it was only 5.1mmol on the day of the test - but I had 5.6 mmol this morning.
So far it has only been a week so I haven't been told whether I need to take Metformin or insulin or whether I get longer to tweak my diet and see if it helps. If it turns out to be the placental hormones, dietary changes won't help, but postnatally, if I still have 5.6 fasting levels, does that put me in the realms of pre-diabetes? What are the markers after a GTT for pre-diabetes and at what stage are you encouraged to medicate yourself for it.
Have you come across any medical professionals who support you in changing to a very low carb diet, maybe ketogenic, and also possibly intermittent fasting?
From what I’ve recently read, a level of 5.5 - 7 fasting is prediabetes. I think I am in that category now after having gestational diabetes but I may have been before then and not realised. So 5.6 would put you in that range if that is still the levels. After giving birth, I have just been advised to get a yearly blood test (I’m in the uk). They didn’t do a GTT after the birth but they might do one where you live. My gestational diabetes was diagnosed when the levels would spike high after meals. Hope I’ve been a bit of help lol
Ah that’s good that they do a GTT after 6 weeks. If they do go back to normal, you might be recommended to do a hba1c test every year just to check. Best of luck to you and the baby, LeighThey want us to do a GTT 6 weeks postpartum here in Australia to see if things have returned to normal. I guess that is when I will find out! Even if they go back to normal though, I think I will be more careful and not take for granted that I can just eat how I was eating before . I think it's a good wake-up call for me anyway.
Ah that’s good that they do a GTT after 6 weeks. If they do go back to normal, you might be recommended to do a hba1c test every year just to check. Best of luck to you and the baby, Leigh
Hi hope you’re doing ok. It was a bit strange when I was diagnosed with GD, it was really late in pregnancy about 30 or 32 weeks, can’t quite remember, when a routine urine dip test showed a lot of glucose, so they monitored me straight away with blood sugars etc. I immediately stopped the obvious things like biscuits and chocolate etc and got a bit of other food advice, but as it was really late in pregnancy they gave me a monitor and book straight away to record my food and levels, then they established I needed to try metformin and a little bit of insulin at breakfast time as my levels weren’t coming down quick enough. I don’t think they were overly concerned about the fasting level, more the high levels after meals, which did improve for the last few weeks of pregnancy, I was induced at 38 weeks.Thanks Leigh. I just thought of something else I wanted to ask you. When you had GD, did you manage to control it with diet at all? I read that some women manage to control their day time eating levels just fine but they still have high fasting levels first thing in the morning, which I think is what I am experiencing. I would have higher day time levels too if I continued to eat what I was eating before the diagnosis, but I've reduced my meal portion sizes and try to have only a small amount of "healthy" carbs with each meal. I'm trying not to touch obvious naughty foods, and even the ones that seem like they might be okay - VitaBrits with no added sugar - turned out to give me a spike of 9.0 one hour and 8.0 two hours after eating them, so I'm just eating more vegetable carbs or homemade sourdough rye bread (which my husband makes) and that seems to be okay. I'll find out this week if they want me to take insulin or anything for my morning levels but I'm curious to know, if you seem to have pre-diabetes coming on 2 years after GD, were you able to control your GD day time levels without insulin?
Hi hope you’re doing ok. It was a bit strange when I was diagnosed with GD, it was really late in pregnancy about 30 or 32 weeks, can’t quite remember, when a routine urine dip test showed a lot of glucose, so they monitored me straight away with blood sugars etc. I immediately stopped the obvious things like biscuits and chocolate etc and got a bit of other food advice, but as it was really late in pregnancy they gave me a monitor and book straight away to record my food and levels, then they established I needed to try metformin and a little bit of insulin at breakfast time as my levels weren’t coming down quick enough. I don’t think they were overly concerned about the fasting level, more the high levels after meals, which did improve for the last few weeks of pregnancy, I was induced at 38 weeks.
Hi I’m not really sure about any side affects as I can’t quite remember with it being a while back, I don’t think so.Okay, 32 weeks would be a month later than the test I did at 28 weeks. A lot can happen in a month too I guess, especially in the last trimester, right? I think they are only going to give me a week or so to change it with diet, or maybe I can negotiate a second week, we'll see at my appointment tomorrow afternoon. I've worked out which carbs at what quantities I can "get away with" eating from my usual diet. But my morning fasting levels are a bit stubborn, which may be due to the placental hormones - not much I can do to change that.
Did you get any side effects from the medications??