Hey, new to the forum!
I’m 34 weeks pregnant and about 2 weeks ago was diagnosed with GD. My fasting levels were fine but 2 hours after glucose test reading was 8.6.
I have been managing it with diet and it’s been going great. Only had a couple of readings in the 8s.
But today I’m confused. Had my baby shower yesterday so thought I’d let my hair down and not worry about what I eat for the afternoon. Cakes, sandwiches, chocolate etc. All my readings were below the 7.8 recommended one hour after eating.
So today I thought I’d try my luck with a chocolate bar. Something I’ve not done since being diagnosed. Reading came back 5.3 after 1 hour.
So that leaves me asking if GD can infact go away during pregnancy? I just don’t understand how I can be completely okay with chocolate and sweets and get good readings.
I’ve never been one for drinking a lot of water but I have being doing so today and yesterday which I’m wondering if not drinking enough could lead to a false diagnosis?
I’m just very confused right now but not dare tell my midwife I’ve been eating cake and chocolate!
Any help appreciated.
I have one question. When you got those couple of readings in the 8s at the one hour mark, did you also test at the 2h mark to see where you got back down to?
I'll tell you about my experience in case it helps.
My GTT results at 28 weeks were:
Fasting: 5.1 mmol (less than 5.1)
1h: 9.7 mmol (less than 10.0)
2h: 7.4 mmol (less than 8.5)
and I have since done a follow up GTT at about 8 weeks postpartum.
Fasting: 4.4 mmol
1h 12.1 mmol (This is high!)
2h 6.5 mmol
and around 4h I measured at home when I got the shakes and I was down in the mid 3s (bit of a hypo).
I scraped in with a diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes because my fasting was right on the 5.1 mmol cut off. Basically 0.1 of a point got me in.
As all pregnant women become increasingly insulin resistant towards the end of pregnancy - nature's design to get more goodness into baby - you might find your blood glucose levels will go up as the pregnancy goes on. Mine did even though I was weaning myself off the sweets and most carbs within a few weeks of diagnosis.
So even if a chocolate bar doesn't seem to do much to you at the moment, you are filling your cells and liver with glucose stores which may come back to bite you later, although at 34 weeks, you don't have too long to go.
My fasting level, despite having to start insulin in small increments, continued to rise to about 5.6 mmol and it was only brought down by 22 units of nightly insulin by about week 35 (and I gave birth at the end of week 37 - no complications for baby or me).
As far as my 1h spikes went, well, I wasn't told to measure those at all. My targets were to get my fasting under 5.1 and to keep my 2h under 6.7 mmol. I did measure at 1h quite often though to try and understand what was happening with different foods.
The worst spikes at 1h that I saw were 9s and 10 mmol after eating 4 x Vita Brits (cereal) with a bit of honey, and a take away meat pie I got in an emergency once. When my spikes were up there, I only dropped into the high 7s and 8s by the 2h mark (which was above my target of 6.7). So I was quite strict and went fairly low carb towards the end of pregnancy not to need insulin with my meals as well.
Anyway, even if you have been mistakenly diagnosed, it's not a bad thing you are here. If you want good health, take a look around. You'll find that if you do have a sweet tooth, there is only so long you can get away with that before something starts to give.
I count myself lucky having this warning now because the way I was eating sweets, cakes, pastries, biscuits, bread, breakfast cereals and all those other carby things, if I hadn't discovered via this diagnosis of gestational diabetes that things were started to malfunction in my body, I probably would have gone on for years eating the naughty treats (in between pretty healthy meals mind you) and I may well have not found out the damage I was doing to my body before I was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes possibly already experiencing diabetic complications, as many newly diagnosed people do. It's much better to find out early so you can do something to prevent it.
I'd say if you want to be able to have a piece of cake into your old age, pull back and have it only every now and then - not like me having a couple of biscuits, pieces of cake, or chocolates a few times a day with my cups of tea. There was always an excuse to put another one in my mouth (don't even ask me about my teeth
).
Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy by the way!
