I really need help!

[bexycat]

Hi All,

Newbie, just diagnosed with GD at 30 weeks pregnant (should have been at 28 weeks but the lab messed up grr) and I am struggling. My diet was always good before hand and my BMI pre pregs was 23. This has floored me as I was not expecting it!

Anyway, diet control didn't work a simple small meal of lamb, lentils and veg sent BG to 8.9 and wholegrain toast is a big no no BG 12. So I was put on Metformin a week ago... which don't seem to work until I take all carbs out of my diet and then my levels are ok. So I was doing this but being hungry....

Then I had an appt yesterday and they said I have 4+ ketones in my urine which means I need to eat more carbs so now I am back to square one... *** to eat? Tried shredded wheat this morning and got a 12, just made lentil and carrot soup and waiting to test - too scared!

And the advice here seems to be carb dodging... but this doesn't help the ketones issue.

Finding this all rather hard not to mention worrying about my baby :-(

 

[glucosegirl]

I am type 1 but wanted to reply.
The ketones in your urine may be starvation ketones, in which case you are right and you need more carbs, but they may also be insulin deficient ketones which are caused by the lack of insulin in your body and high blood sugar. These are far more dangerous. You need to find out which ones they are.

 

[MaryJ]

Hi bexycat.

Welcome to the forum.

ketones when low carbing is pretty common, it's a sign that fat is being used for energy. From my understanding ketones are only an issue when in conjunction with high blood glucose.

Where I'm no use to you and where you are prob most concerned is re the baby.

Mary x

 

[bexycat]

Thanks for the responses, the nurse says it is starvation ketones as ketoacidosis (sp?) is impossible as I am not type 1 - I think this is probably right as my bloods are in control when carb dodging but I guess I am not eating enough for my growing baby.

I managed to get a 7.2 after a single slice of toast this morning so quite pleased about that and have been adding pasta to my dinner and walking it off - got a 5.7 after dinner so was very pleased!

God this sucks! :***:

 

[hanadr]

bexycat
there's no evidence anwhere i can find that we NEED ANY carb in our diet.
Ketones could be showing just because you've cut back hard on carbs. That's what happens to people who begin the Atkins diet.
Do ask you GD careteam to check your insulin levels.
Hana

 

[jopar]

Hana

Diabetes in pregnancy is a different ball game!

In fact and I know this by experience, in pregnancy you can go into DKA at a lot lower blood glucose level, in my case if my blood glucose hit 8mmol/l I started to DKA and was admitted into hospital, put on a sliding scale until ketone's were cleared, and then I wasn't allowed home until I had passed 48 hours without any trace of ketone's showing...

That is why the midwife is concerned that due to a lack of carbs, starvations ketone's are present, and they can't be 100% sure whether or not they are starvation ketone's or DKA brewing! So the OP needs to up her Carbs to more normal levels to rule this out..

Bexycat

Not sure what amount of carbs you were having, but up it a bit more but what I would do, is have a small regular amount of carb intake and play around, not sure what Bread you use, but if it's white try an wholegrain bread often this helps with spikes, another bread worth trying, tad expensive is Burgen bread, which is soya based if I remember rightly a lot of people find this solves a lot of spiking problems..

Diabetes during pregnancy is pretty difficult what ever type of diabetic you are, as your blood glucose responds different in each trimester, and can change at a drop of a hat.. The latter being more problematic for the T1 due to injecting insulin, as it can get very difficult to match dose and/or timing to maintain levels and avoid hypo's..

So I'm afraid it's a case of using your meter, testing and finding out what works best when in the day, as it may be that in the morning you can't eat many carbs at all, but later on in the day you can...