7.5 post 2 hrs after meal

[Insulinresistancepreggers]

Is 7.5 okayish ?
I’m pregnant 6 weeks
And I take 500 mg metformin after every meal 3 a day
And insulin at bedtime

 

[Cocosilk]

Is 7.5 okayish ?
I’m pregnant 6 weeks
And I take 500 mg metformin after every meal 3 a day
And insulin at bedtime

What did you eat when you got 7.5?

In Australia they want us under 6.7 mmol two hours post meals. I don't take Metformin. I have to take 22 units of insulin before bed to try to get my morning fasting level under 5.1 mmol. It's still sometimes in the low 5s even with the insulin. Through the day though, the only way I can stay at 6.7 two hours after meals is to eat rather low carb. Probably once a week or so I get it wrong and have had 7s and even an 8.0 at the 2 hour mark when I had a, for example, a small cup of cooked pasta rather than a half cup of cooked pasta with the mince and tomato pasta sauce we made, so then it's back to the meats, eggs, fish, dairy and vegetables...

As far as whether 7.5 is okay or not, I think in the past, that was probably considered acceptable until they pulled the targets down. But there is reason that was done. I don't think 7.5 is doing severe damage to anyone but if you were getting that after every meal, and you are only early in the pregnancy, you might just want to pull back on the carb aspect and increase fat and protein to get it a little lower. If probably would affect baby if it was like that for the entire pregnancy. I only got diagnosed at 28 weeks so I've only been eating low carb since then. It would have been a challenge to do that for the whole pregnancy when I was so used to eating whatever I craved.

How long have you got to go? Are you just 6 weeks pregnant?

I'm on the home run - 10 days till baby arrives!

 

[Insulinresistancepreggers]

Lucky u just 10 days there ! Yeah my doctor has asked to keep them under 6.7 post meals as well
They r usually 6.6 when I’m eating cautiously. But I’m 6 weeks now with cravings kicking in and being hungry all the time . I like to indulge . I keep them healthy though even though when indulging . I think I’ll cut back on portion . When I indulge it’s 7.5 when very cautious 6.6 and fasting at 5.3-5.6 -5.8 ..
I do 12 units insulin at bedtime and that’s why my fasting is down to 5.8 otherwise it was 6.4
I’m worried if insulin and eating low carb will make my baby low weight .. because I so want a chunky baby

 

[Insulinresistancepreggers]

I think I will indulge only 1-2 times a week max . And at other times keep tight control .. thank you !

 

[Cocosilk]

Lucky u just 10 days there ! Yeah my doctor has asked to keep them under 6.7 post meals as well
They r usually 6.6 when I’m eating cautiously. But I’m 6 weeks now with cravings kicking in and being hungry all the time . I like to indulge . I keep them healthy though even though when indulging . I think I’ll cut back on portion . When I indulge it’s 7.5 when very cautious 6.6 and fasting at 5.3-5.6 -5.8 ..
I do 12 units insulin at bedtime and that’s why my fasting is down to 5.8 otherwise it was 6.4
I’m worried if insulin and eating low carb will make my baby low weight .. because I so want a chunky baby

Is this your first baby? You might find you'll get a chunkier than average baby anyway if you have gestational diabetes. Even if you manage to control it mostly, baby has a good chance of being affected. Mine was weighing about 2 weeks ahead of his age at the 33 week scan. I don't think he's that much bigger at the moment. I'm just past 36 weeks but he'll be coming out early at the end of 37 weeks just be to on the safe side. But I wouldn't worry about baby being low weight unless you get preeclampsia - I had that at the end of my first pregnancy, and gestational diabetes does increase your risk of that and it's no fun, I can tell you!

I was indulging for sure throughout this pregnancy without realising I had this level of insulin resistance. Even though the weight of my last baby compared to my first should have given us a clue. Baby #1 was 3.09kg at 42 weeks. Baby #2 was 3.90kg at 41 weeks. I didn't have a glucose tolerance test last pregnancy because my OB let me off the hook and it might have been a mistake to do that because I may have already had symptoms of gestational diabetes. Although bubs wasn't over 4kg but he was close.

It is hard to indulge on anything with any sweetness and get away with it once you have this diabetes though, eh?

You could try making Keto bread rolls (which are almond and egg white mostly https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/the-keto-bread ) but don't have 4 at once like I did because the psyllium husks (I think) made me so bloated . Beyond full. But they are pretty satisfying instead of actual bread.

I indulge now by having a smoothy with 1/3 to 1/2 of a small banana, and a handful of frozen raspberries and a few blueberries with cream and milk. It's sweet enough for me to feel like it's a real treat now that I haven't eaten any naughty sweets for a few weeks. And the little bit of fructose isn't great but if you have it early enough in the day, you might have a chance to burn it off.

The other thing I do sometimes after I've eaten something naughty is check my reading at the 1 hour mark. If it gets up to 9 or 10 mmol then go for a walk or walk up and down stairs if you have any. You might be able to burn it off fast enough to bring it back to a better level by the 2 hour mark. If I'm in the high 9s at the 1 hour and sit on my bum in front of my laptop (like I'm doing now ), then I'll still be in the 8s at the 2 hour mark. Even vacuuming the floor in late pregnancy was enough to burn it off.

 

[Insulinresistancepreggers]

Yeah my first .Oh my !! U r right , I should hope for a healthy baby . I don’t know what to expect since this is my first .. I hope I don’t get preeclampsia..
If I do control my levels this early in pregnancy I would still get gestational diabetes? Because my doctor said I could maybe keep it off if I’m careful from the start ..
I haven’t really indulged in anything overly sweet .. but when I do have a craving I take lil bite off dark stevia chocolate . I’m satisfied for a while with that.
True ! It is hard .. I sometimes wish it dint have to be this way . But I guess it’s fine atleast there will be no issue of all the weight gain with this mindful eating

Thank you , will try the bread . My family friends all keep telling me to eat lots of fruits for a healthy baby ... this gets me confused too how do they when all they have is sugar . I take 2-3 servings daily though . 1 guava in the morning . 1/2 cup blueberries and strawberries as a snack and a tiny orange somewhere in the evening ..
I’m too scared to check at 1 hour mark. Never!! I go in to a panic attack if I have anything higher than 8 ..

Thank you for the tips . That might be it .. I’m always lazing around on the couch after eating .. I’ll try and take lil walk to bring them down lower .

Thank you so much .. u make me feel better and that I’m not alone
Good luck for your delivery and I hope u have a easy breezy one and a healthy lil one

 

[Cocosilk]

Yeah my first .Oh my !! U r right , I should hope for a healthy baby . I don’t know what to expect since this is my first .. I hope I don’t get preeclampsia..
If I do control my levels this early in pregnancy I would still get gestational diabetes? Because my doctor said I could maybe keep it off if I’m careful from the start ..

Hey, I'm curious now. Do you remember what your results were for the glucose tolerance test when they diagnosed you? Did that happen before you fell pregnant and did they call it "insulin resistance" or "pre-diabetes", or were you diagnosed with "gestational diabetes" very early in pregnancy?

When I did the glucose tolerance test a couple of months ago at 28 weeks pregnant, my results were:

Fasting: 5.1 mmol (and for this they want under 5.1 otherwise they diagnose Gestational Diabetes)
1 hr: 9.7 mmol (should be under 10, so mine was close but still okay)
2 hr: 7.4 mmol (should be under 8.5)

So for me, it was just the fasting level being on the borderline that got me the diagnosis.

For the first 2 - 3 weeks after diagnosis, I tried with diet alone to lower my levels. Low carb was certainly effective for the daytime readings after meals but I still had some spikes when I overdid the carb portions of my meals.
But my morning fasting levels were stubbornly sitting between 5.3 and 5.6 mmol for most of the time apart from a couple of days when I woke up with 4.9 and 4.8 after having a very low carb dinner (meat and veges mostly) and finishing dinner around 8pm then not eating till 7 or 8 am the next morning (I guess a 12 hour overnight fasting period). But if I snacked later, especially on carbs, I think I was always over 5.1 again. So rather than Metformin, I was put straight on 6 units of insulin before bed which was raised every few days until it reached the current 22 units. And really, I still only get the odd morning where my fasting level is under 5.0, otherwise it's still between 5.1 and 5.3 mmol. Not terrible though.

I also use Ketostix to see if I am burning any stored fat in ketosis overnight. Most mornings I wake up with trace ketones and on the odd mornings (probably after very low carb lunches and dinners the day before) I have ketones up to 4 mmol (half way up the purple scale). My OB told me that's fine and just to ignore the ketones and not to worry that it's going to be dangerous (ketoacidosis).

But I did measure my glucose levels obsessively for the first couple of weeks, before meals, at the 1 and 2 hour marks to really understand what my meals were doing to me. To give you an idea, about 3 days after I was diagnosed, I was still going for the same foods I'd been eating. I had a bowl of first 2, then went back for another 2 Vita Brits (so 4 Vita Brits) with honey and milk. I probably had more than a teaspoon of honey, possibly 2, so that's a killer right there. At the one hour mark, my spike was 9.0 mmol. I freaked out! At the 2 hour mark, it was still 8.0 mmol (so well over the 6.7) . I wasn't game to eat that again but today, after almost 2 months, I caved when I fed some Vita Brits to my kids and decided to have only 2 Vita Brits this time and with a smaller amount of honey. I didn't measure before or at the 1 hr mark but at the 2 hour mark I was 6.3 mmol. So within acceptable levels. So I guess if you respect portion size, you can still have a few carbs here and there.

Not long after the Vita Brits I had today, about 20 mins after I measured the 6.3, I made my smoothie of milk, cream, 1/2 a small banana and a handful of raspberries and blueberries. I also munched on a few walnuts in that 2 hour period before measuring the 2 hour post meal glucose - it was 5.3 mmol. I'm happy that I can get that after having what effectively is as enjoyable as a milkshake to me at the moment.

Anyway, the reason I am taking my diagnosis so seriously is because something like 50% of women who have Gestational Diabetes go on to develop T2 diabetes. And I'm not as young as you . At 44 yo, I might only have 5 - 10 years rather than the 15 - 20 years that they state it can take for full blown diabetes to develop in those women who turn out to be susceptible. I'm assuming the level of insulin resistance I must have to have already developed gestational diabetes warrants a serious look at my diet from now on if I don't want to end up down that path.

If you want to learn more about insulin resistance, have you watched many of the talks on Youtube by the Diet Doctor crew?

Also a good one is this man: Ivor Cummins

It's a bit of a bummer having to deprive yourself of most of the sweet things in life, but if you just reduce your portion sizes, I think you buy yourself many more years where you can still enjoy the naughty things every now and then. If you indulge heavily for years while you are young, then I think when you are older, if you do end up with diabetes, it will be an all or nothing scenario with dietary change or you just end up on lots of medication and it never really fixes you, you still go on to get the diabetic complications.

Anyway, don't panic about preeclampsia. There are so many things that can go wrong in pregnancy and if you focus on all of them, you'll be a nervous wreck. Just know the signs so that if something becomes fishy, you will know to report it and not ignore it.
I only ended up with preeclampsia I think because I was on a home birth program and I was waiting for natural birth to begin. My blood pressure had gone from my normal of 100/60 mid pregnancy, to 130/80 towards the end. At about 36 weeks my right foot swelled up and I was getting shocking heartburn and the odd headache. Those were the signs of preeclampsia but were all written off as still normal pregnancy symptoms. So I was let go (partly my own fault not wanting to be induced - also because the doctors never really mentioned preeclampsia as a specific risk in my situation) so I thought I could just go on waiting for baby to come naturally. At 42 weeks on the dot, my BP was 150/90 and there was protein in my urine = preeclampsia. In reality, a rise in blood pressure of 30 points on the top and 15 on the bottom is already a warning sometimes (not always) but in presence of my swollen foot and heartburn, I think they should have been more suspicious and encouraged me to get baby out by the due date at 40 weeks. Easy to say in hindsight I guess. But if you already have a bit of a complication with blood sugars, they should watch you more closely for other things anyway. And I'm sure you'll be fine! Good luck resisting your cravings

 

[Cocosilk]

You'll have to "click to expand" my last message - I did something wrong and it became part of the quote...

 

[Cocosilk]

Wait, I'll try and repost it:

Hey, I'm curious now. Do you remember what your results were for the glucose tolerance test when they diagnosed you? Did that happen before you fell pregnant and did they call it "insulin resistance" or "pre-diabetes", or were you diagnosed with "gestational diabetes" very early in pregnancy?

When I did the glucose tolerance test a couple of months ago at 28 weeks pregnant, my results were:

Fasting: 5.1 mmol (and for this they want under 5.1 otherwise they diagnose Gestational Diabetes)
1 hr: 9.7 mmol (should be under 10, so mine was close but still okay)
2 hr: 7.4 mmol (should be under 8.5)

So for me, it was just the fasting level being on the borderline that got me the diagnosis.

For the first 2 - 3 weeks after diagnosis, I tried with diet alone to lower my levels. Low carb was certainly effective for the daytime readings after meals but I still had some spikes when I overdid the carb portions of my meals.
But my morning fasting levels were stubbornly sitting between 5.3 and 5.6 mmol for most of the time apart from a couple of days when I woke up with 4.9 and 4.8 after having a very low carb dinner (meat and veges mostly) and finishing dinner around 8pm then not eating till 7 or 8 am the next morning (I guess a 12 hour overnight fasting period). But if I snacked later, especially on carbs, I think I was always over 5.1 again. So rather than Metformin, I was put straight on 6 units of insulin before bed which was raised every few days until it reached the current 22 units. And really, I still only get the odd morning where my fasting level is under 5.0, otherwise it's still between 5.1 and 5.3 mmol. Not terrible though.

I also use Ketostix to see if I am burning any stored fat in ketosis overnight. Most mornings I wake up with trace ketones and on the odd mornings (probably after very low carb lunches and dinners the day before) I have ketones up to 4 mmol (half way up the purple scale). My OB told me that's fine and just to ignore the ketones and not to worry that it's going to be dangerous (ketoacidosis).

But I did measure my glucose levels obsessively for the first couple of weeks, before meals, at the 1 and 2 hour marks to really understand what my meals were doing to me. To give you an idea, about 3 days after I was diagnosed, I was still going for the same foods I'd been eating. I had a bowl of first 2, then went back for another 2 Vita Brits (so 4 Vita Brits) with honey and milk. I probably had more than a teaspoon of honey, possibly 2, so that's a killer right there. At the one hour mark, my spike was 9.0 mmol. I freaked out! At the 2 hour mark, it was still 8.0 mmol (so well over the 6.7) . I wasn't game to eat that again but today, after almost 2 months, I caved when I fed some Vita Brits to my kids and decided to have only 2 Vita Brits this time and with a smaller amount of honey. I didn't measure before or at the 1 hr mark but at the 2 hour mark I was 6.3 mmol. So within acceptable levels. So I guess if you respect portion size, you can still have a few carbs here and there.

Not long after the Vita Brits I had today, about 20 mins after I measured the 6.3, I made my smoothie of milk, cream, 1/2 a small banana and a handful of raspberries and blueberries. I also munched on a few walnuts in that 2 hour period before measuring the 2 hour post meal glucose - it was 5.3 mmol. I'm happy that I can get that after having what effectively is as enjoyable as a milkshake to me at the moment.

Anyway, the reason I am taking my diagnosis so seriously is because something like 50% of women who have Gestational Diabetes go on to develop T2 diabetes. And I'm not as young as you . At 44 yo, I might only have 5 - 10 years rather than the 15 - 20 years that they state it can take for full blown diabetes to develop in those women who turn out to be susceptible. I'm assuming the level of insulin resistance I must have to have already developed gestational diabetes warrants a serious look at my diet from now on if I don't want to end up down that path.

If you want to learn more about insulin resistance, have you watched many of the talks on Youtube by the Diet Doctor crew?

Also a good one is this man: Ivor Cummins

It's a bit of a bummer having to deprive yourself of most of the sweet things in life, but if you just reduce your portion sizes, I think you buy yourself many more years where you can still enjoy the naughty things every now and then. If you indulge heavily for years while you are young, then I think when you are older, if you do end up with diabetes, it will be an all or nothing scenario with dietary change or you just end up on lots of medication and it never really fixes you, you still go on to get the diabetic complications.

Anyway, don't panic about preeclampsia. There are so many things that can go wrong in pregnancy and if you focus on all of them, you'll be a nervous wreck. Just know the signs so that if something becomes fishy, you will know to report it and not ignore it.
I only ended up with preeclampsia I think because I was on a home birth program and I was waiting for natural birth to begin. My blood pressure had gone from my normal of 100/60 mid pregnancy, to 130/80 towards the end. At about 36 weeks my right foot swelled up and I was getting shocking heartburn and the odd headache. Those were the signs of preeclampsia but were all written off as still normal pregnancy symptoms. So I was let go (partly my own fault not wanting to be induced - also because the doctors never really mentioned preeclampsia as a specific risk in my situation) so I thought I could just go on waiting for baby to come naturally. At 42 weeks on the dot, my BP was 150/90 and there was protein in my urine = preeclampsia. In reality, a rise in blood pressure of 30 points on the top and 15 on the bottom is already a warning sometimes (not always) but in presence of my swollen foot and heartburn, I think they should have been more suspicious and encouraged me to get baby out by the due date at 40 weeks. Easy to say in hindsight I guess. But if you already have a bit of a complication with blood sugars, they should watch you more closely for other things anyway. And I'm sure you'll be fine! Good luck resisting your cravings

 

[Insulinresistancepreggers]

Wait, I'll try and repost it:

Hey, I'm curious now. Do you remember what your results were for the glucose tolerance test when they diagnosed you? Did that happen before you fell pregnant and did they call it "insulin resistance" or "pre-diabetes", or were you diagnosed with "gestational diabetes" very early in pregnancy?

When I did the glucose tolerance test a couple of months ago at 28 weeks pregnant, my results were:

Fasting: 5.1 mmol (and for this they want under 5.1 otherwise they diagnose Gestational Diabetes)
1 hr: 9.7 mmol (should be under 10, so mine was close but still okay)
2 hr: 7.4 mmol (should be under 8.5)

So for me, it was just the fasting level being on the borderline that got me the diagnosis.

For the first 2 - 3 weeks after diagnosis, I tried with diet alone to lower my levels. Low carb was certainly effective for the daytime readings after meals but I still had some spikes when I overdid the carb portions of my meals.
But my morning fasting levels were stubbornly sitting between 5.3 and 5.6 mmol for most of the time apart from a couple of days when I woke up with 4.9 and 4.8 after having a very low carb dinner (meat and veges mostly) and finishing dinner around 8pm then not eating till 7 or 8 am the next morning (I guess a 12 hour overnight fasting period). But if I snacked later, especially on carbs, I think I was always over 5.1 again. So rather than Metformin, I was put straight on 6 units of insulin before bed which was raised every few days until it reached the current 22 units. And really, I still only get the odd morning where my fasting level is under 5.0, otherwise it's still between 5.1 and 5.3 mmol. Not terrible though.

I also use Ketostix to see if I am burning any stored fat in ketosis overnight. Most mornings I wake up with trace ketones and on the odd mornings (probably after very low carb lunches and dinners the day before) I have ketones up to 4 mmol (half way up the purple scale). My OB told me that's fine and just to ignore the ketones and not to worry that it's going to be dangerous (ketoacidosis).

But I did measure my glucose levels obsessively for the first couple of weeks, before meals, at the 1 and 2 hour marks to really understand what my meals were doing to me. To give you an idea, about 3 days after I was diagnosed, I was still going for the same foods I'd been eating. I had a bowl of first 2, then went back for another 2 Vita Brits (so 4 Vita Brits) with honey and milk. I probably had more than a teaspoon of honey, possibly 2, so that's a killer right there. At the one hour mark, my spike was 9.0 mmol. I freaked out! At the 2 hour mark, it was still 8.0 mmol (so well over the 6.7) . I wasn't game to eat that again but today, after almost 2 months, I caved when I fed some Vita Brits to my kids and decided to have only 2 Vita Brits this time and with a smaller amount of honey. I didn't measure before or at the 1 hr mark but at the 2 hour mark I was 6.3 mmol. So within acceptable levels. So I guess if you respect portion size, you can still have a few carbs here and there.

Not long after the Vita Brits I had today, about 20 mins after I measured the 6.3, I made my smoothie of milk, cream, 1/2 a small banana and a handful of raspberries and blueberries. I also munched on a few walnuts in that 2 hour period before measuring the 2 hour post meal glucose - it was 5.3 mmol. I'm happy that I can get that after having what effectively is as enjoyable as a milkshake to me at the moment.

Anyway, the reason I am taking my diagnosis so seriously is because something like 50% of women who have Gestational Diabetes go on to develop T2 diabetes. And I'm not as young as you . At 44 yo, I might only have 5 - 10 years rather than the 15 - 20 years that they state it can take for full blown diabetes to develop in those women who turn out to be susceptible. I'm assuming the level of insulin resistance I must have to have already developed gestational diabetes warrants a serious look at my diet from now on if I don't want to end up down that path.

If you want to learn more about insulin resistance, have you watched many of the talks on Youtube by the Diet Doctor crew?

Also a good one is this man: Ivor Cummins

It's a bit of a bummer having to deprive yourself of most of the sweet things in life, but if you just reduce your portion sizes, I think you buy yourself many more years where you can still enjoy the naughty things every now and then. If you indulge heavily for years while you are young, then I think when you are older, if you do end up with diabetes, it will be an all or nothing scenario with dietary change or you just end up on lots of medication and it never really fixes you, you still go on to get the diabetic complications.

Anyway, don't panic about preeclampsia. There are so many things that can go wrong in pregnancy and if you focus on all of them, you'll be a nervous wreck. Just know the signs so that if something becomes fishy, you will know to report it and not ignore it.
I only ended up with preeclampsia I think because I was on a home birth program and I was waiting for natural birth to begin. My blood pressure had gone from my normal of 100/60 mid pregnancy, to 130/80 towards the end. At about 36 weeks my right foot swelled up and I was getting shocking heartburn and the odd headache. Those were the signs of preeclampsia but were all written off as still normal pregnancy symptoms. So I was let go (partly my own fault not wanting to be induced - also because the doctors never really mentioned preeclampsia as a specific risk in my situation) so I thought I could just go on waiting for baby to come naturally. At 42 weeks on the dot, my BP was 150/90 and there was protein in my urine = preeclampsia. In reality, a rise in blood pressure of 30 points on the top and 15 on the bottom is already a warning sometimes (not always) but in presence of my swollen foot and heartburn, I think they should have been more suspicious and encouraged me to get baby out by the due date at 40 weeks. Easy to say in hindsight I guess. But if you already have a bit of a complication with blood sugars, they should watch you more closely for other things anyway. And I'm sure you'll be fine! Good luck resisting your cravings

 

[Insulinresistancepreggers]

Wait, I'll try and repost it:

Hey, I'm curious now. Do you remember what your results were for the glucose tolerance test when they diagnosed you? Did that happen before you fell pregnant and did they call it "insulin resistance" or "pre-diabetes", or were you diagnosed with "gestational diabetes" very early in pregnancy?

When I did the glucose tolerance test a couple of months ago at 28 weeks pregnant, my results were:

Fasting: 5.1 mmol (and for this they want under 5.1 otherwise they diagnose Gestational Diabetes)
1 hr: 9.7 mmol (should be under 10, so mine was close but still okay)
2 hr: 7.4 mmol (should be under 8.5)

So for me, it was just the fasting level being on the borderline that got me the diagnosis.

For the first 2 - 3 weeks after diagnosis, I tried with diet alone to lower my levels. Low carb was certainly effective for the daytime readings after meals but I still had some spikes when I overdid the carb portions of my meals.
But my morning fasting levels were stubbornly sitting between 5.3 and 5.6 mmol for most of the time apart from a couple of days when I woke up with 4.9 and 4.8 after having a very low carb dinner (meat and veges mostly) and finishing dinner around 8pm then not eating till 7 or 8 am the next morning (I guess a 12 hour overnight fasting period). But if I snacked later, especially on carbs, I think I was always over 5.1 again. So rather than Metformin, I was put straight on 6 units of insulin before bed which was raised every few days until it reached the current 22 units. And really, I still only get the odd morning where my fasting level is under 5.0, otherwise it's still between 5.1 and 5.3 mmol. Not terrible though.

I also use Ketostix to see if I am burning any stored fat in ketosis overnight. Most mornings I wake up with trace ketones and on the odd mornings (probably after very low carb lunches and dinners the day before) I have ketones up to 4 mmol (half way up the purple scale). My OB told me that's fine and just to ignore the ketones and not to worry that it's going to be dangerous (ketoacidosis).

But I did measure my glucose levels obsessively for the first couple of weeks, before meals, at the 1 and 2 hour marks to really understand what my meals were doing to me. To give you an idea, about 3 days after I was diagnosed, I was still going for the same foods I'd been eating. I had a bowl of first 2, then went back for another 2 Vita Brits (so 4 Vita Brits) with honey and milk. I probably had more than a teaspoon of honey, possibly 2, so that's a killer right there. At the one hour mark, my spike was 9.0 mmol. I freaked out! At the 2 hour mark, it was still 8.0 mmol (so well over the 6.7) . I wasn't game to eat that again but today, after almost 2 months, I caved when I fed some Vita Brits to my kids and decided to have only 2 Vita Brits this time and with a smaller amount of honey. I didn't measure before or at the 1 hr mark but at the 2 hour mark I was 6.3 mmol. So within acceptable levels. So I guess if you respect portion size, you can still have a few carbs here and there.

Not long after the Vita Brits I had today, about 20 mins after I measured the 6.3, I made my smoothie of milk, cream, 1/2 a small banana and a handful of raspberries and blueberries. I also munched on a few walnuts in that 2 hour period before measuring the 2 hour post meal glucose - it was 5.3 mmol. I'm happy that I can get that after having what effectively is as enjoyable as a milkshake to me at the moment.

Anyway, the reason I am taking my diagnosis so seriously is because something like 50% of women who have Gestational Diabetes go on to develop T2 diabetes. And I'm not as young as you . At 44 yo, I might only have 5 - 10 years rather than the 15 - 20 years that they state it can take for full blown diabetes to develop in those women who turn out to be susceptible. I'm assuming the level of insulin resistance I must have to have already developed gestational diabetes warrants a serious look at my diet from now on if I don't want to end up down that path.

If you want to learn more about insulin resistance, have you watched many of the talks on Youtube by the Diet Doctor crew?

Also a good one is this man: Ivor Cummins

It's a bit of a bummer having to deprive yourself of most of the sweet things in life, but if you just reduce your portion sizes, I think you buy yourself many more years where you can still enjoy the naughty things every now and then. If you indulge heavily for years while you are young, then I think when you are older, if you do end up with diabetes, it will be an all or nothing scenario with dietary change or you just end up on lots of medication and it never really fixes you, you still go on to get the diabetic complications.

Anyway, don't panic about preeclampsia. There are so many things that can go wrong in pregnancy and if you focus on all of them, you'll be a nervous wreck. Just know the signs so that if something becomes fishy, you will know to report it and not ignore it.
I only ended up with preeclampsia I think because I was on a home birth program and I was waiting for natural birth to begin. My blood pressure had gone from my normal of 100/60 mid pregnancy, to 130/80 towards the end. At about 36 weeks my right foot swelled up and I was getting shocking heartburn and the odd headache. Those were the signs of preeclampsia but were all written off as still normal pregnancy symptoms. So I was let go (partly my own fault not wanting to be induced - also because the doctors never really mentioned preeclampsia as a specific risk in my situation) so I thought I could just go on waiting for baby to come naturally. At 42 weeks on the dot, my BP was 150/90 and there was protein in my urine = preeclampsia. In reality, a rise in blood pressure of 30 points on the top and 15 on the bottom is already a warning sometimes (not always) but in presence of my swollen foot and heartburn, I think they should have been more suspicious and encouraged me to get baby out by the due date at 40 weeks. Easy to say in hindsight I guess. But if you already have a bit of a complication with blood sugars, they should watch you more closely for other things anyway. And I'm sure you'll be fine! Good luck resisting your cravings

U have so much more experience than me . You know just what to do !
Well I’m 27 and I conceived the very first time but lost it at around 4 weeks . After the loss my doctor ran tests where my serum insulin was very high 30 I think .
Then he told me I was insulin resistant and put me on metformin . I conceived the very next t cycle with metformin .. now 6 weeks . Previous chemical is why I’m a nervous wreck .
But I’m also prediabetic. My fasting glucose was always 5.8 . I have a family with a history of diabetes from a very young age .

I’m going to be very careful with my diet and like u said about the portions . I want a healthy pregnancy !

I know I may very well develop t2 in future .i will do everything in my power to control it . I will work on my weight once this pregnancy is done . I’m quite obsessed with testing blood sugars too with different foods .. I’m learning .. I’ll get better .

 

[Cocosilk]

U have so much more experience than me . You know just what to do !
Well I’m 27 and I conceived the very first time but lost it at around 4 weeks . After the loss my doctor ran tests where my serum insulin was very high 30 I think .
Then he told me I was insulin resistant and put me on metformin . I conceived the very next t cycle with metformin .. now 6 weeks . Previous chemical is why I’m a nervous wreck .
But I’m also prediabetic. My fasting glucose was always 5.8 . I have a family with a history of diabetes from a very young age .

I’m going to be very careful with my diet and like u said about the portions . I want a healthy pregnancy !

I know I may very well develop t2 in future .i will do everything in my power to control it . I will work on my weight once this pregnancy is done . I’m quite obsessed with testing blood sugars too with different foods .. I’m learning .. I’ll get better .

Are you in the UK? I asked my GP recently about having an insulin level test after finding out I have Gestational Diabetes and she brushed me off saying I don't need one. They are not commonly done here yet but the more I'm reading about insulin resistance, the more I hope they become more common soon. I think they are a very important predictor of many health problems.

So if you are already pre-diabetic, then I don't think they will change that label to Gestational Diabetes because you already had a known blood sugar issue and yours will probably still be there after the pregnancy I imagine. In my case, I may also have had an undiagnosed issue or may find I am pre-diabetic after the pregnancy, or things may go back to normal for a number of years (if I am lucky), but again, I'm not taking it for granted because this is already a warning for me. Insulin resistance will not get better if you don't change your diet and stop over filling your body with carbs and sugars.

Well, at least you were diagnosed before the pregnancy and can do your best for baby from the beginning.

Sorry to hear about your loss. I've had a few too so you are also not alone there. My first pregnancy also ended between 4 and 5 weeks. I had had spotting between periods for a while before that pregnancy and found I had a polyp in my uterus that may have contributed to that miscarriage. They explained it that the body is always trying to flush the polyp out so you spot mid cycle and also miscarry more easily. So I had the polyp removed during a D&C straight after that miscarriage, then I fell pregnant again 6 months later with my Baby #1.
Baby #2 came quite easily - I fell 3 months after trying when Baby #1 was around 1yo. I was lucky! It took a year to fall the first time then that extra 6 months to fall pregnant with Baby #1.
But then in between Baby #2 and this pregnancy, I had another miscarriage, luckily not too dramatic even though it was 10 weeks before I finally bled it out. It wasn't a 10 week old foetus - just a blighted ovum or a missed miscarriage, where you are pregnant but nothing much develops in the gestational sac, but your body keep making the pregnancy hormone HCG and you get a few pregnancy symptoms so you believe you are pregnant. Except that I didn't really feel that pregnant. I wasn't getting morning sickness so I was suspicious. Anyway, that was pregnancy #4.
Then pregnancy #5 was a chemical pregnancy as well, only till about 5 weeks. Really faint lines on the home test. I suspected it wasn't going to work out. I was 43yo so you get used to failed pregnancies at this age but who knows if my miscarriages are also possibly connected to insulin resistance? They may well be!
Pregnancy #6 is Baby #3 (I'm hoping he comes out alive and well!) and I only had very faint lines on the pregnancy test as well so it's been very hard to embrace and trust that the pregnancy would work out. You would understand after losing your first. It's really hard to fully trust that any pregnancy is going to work out, isn't it? Seems emotionally safer to assume it might not. I've only got 10 more days to remain in denial with this one . My fingers are tightly crossed!

Anyway, I hope you find some way to stall your pre-diabetes from becoming full blown if it's in your family. There seems to be a lot of people on this forum who have used low carb diets and managed to reverse their diabetes, so there is hope!

 

[Insulinresistancepreggers]

Are you in the UK? I asked my GP recently about having an insulin level test after finding out I have Gestational Diabetes and she brushed me off saying I don't need one. They are not commonly done here yet but the more I'm reading about insulin resistance, the more I hope they become more common soon. I think they are a very important predictor of many health problems.

So if you are already pre-diabetic, then I don't think they will change that label to Gestational Diabetes because you already had a known blood sugar issue and yours will probably still be there after the pregnancy I imagine. In my case, I may also have had an undiagnosed issue or may find I am pre-diabetic after the pregnancy, or things may go back to normal for a number of years (if I am lucky), but again, I'm not taking it for granted because this is already a warning for me. Insulin resistance will not get better if you don't change your diet and stop over filling your body with carbs and sugars.

Well, at least you were diagnosed before the pregnancy and can do your best for baby from the beginning.

Sorry to hear about your loss. I've had a few too so you are also not alone there. My first pregnancy also ended between 4 and 5 weeks. I had had spotting between periods for a while before that pregnancy and found I had a polyp in my uterus that may have contributed to that miscarriage. They explained it that the body is always trying to flush the polyp out so you spot mid cycle and also miscarry more easily. So I had the polyp removed during a D&C straight after that miscarriage, then I fell pregnant again 6 months later with my Baby #1.
Baby #2 came quite easily - I fell 3 months after trying when Baby #1 was around 1yo. I was lucky! It took a year to fall the first time then that extra 6 months to fall pregnant with Baby #1.
But then in between Baby #2 and this pregnancy, I had another miscarriage, luckily not too dramatic even though it was 10 weeks before I finally bled it out. It wasn't a 10 week old foetus - just a blighted ovum or a missed miscarriage, where you are pregnant but nothing much develops in the gestational sac, but your body keep making the pregnancy hormone HCG and you get a few pregnancy symptoms so you believe you are pregnant. Except that I didn't really feel that pregnant. I wasn't getting morning sickness so I was suspicious. Anyway, that was pregnancy #4.
Then pregnancy #5 was a chemical pregnancy as well, only till about 5 weeks. Really faint lines on the home test. I suspected it wasn't going to work out. I was 43yo so you get used to failed pregnancies at this age but who knows if my miscarriages are also possibly connected to insulin resistance? They may well be!
Pregnancy #6 is Baby #3 (I'm hoping he comes out alive and well!) and I only had very faint lines on the pregnancy test as well so it's been very hard to embrace and trust that the pregnancy would work out. You would understand after losing your first. It's really hard to fully trust that any pregnancy is going to work out, isn't it? Seems emotionally safer to assume it might not. I've only got 10 more days to remain in denial with this one . My fingers are tightly crossed!

Anyway, I hope you find some way to stall your pre-diabetes from becoming full blown if it's in your family. There seems to be a lot of people on this forum who have used low carb diets and managed to reverse their diabetes, so there is hope!

Thank you ! Yes it’s just so hard to fully trust .sorry for your losses . Just 10 days to go . All will be well
Our bodies work in magical ways ..so much science .I’m constantly symptom spotting and googling and getting anxious . I think if I let two or three more ultrasounds go I might relax .
And also when I have this under control . My IR could also be from my non alcoholic fatty liver from being overweight . Everything is linked !
I’m from Malaysia . I have a great doctor here . He acts quick , answers all my questions doubts with so much patience and he keeps telling me everything looks great and that I should t worry . We saw a sac on 4w6d . Next us at 8w6d .
I’m determined to do everything in my power to fight this . Full on low carb mode now on .

 

[Cocosilk]

Thank you ! Yes it’s just so hard to fully trust .sorry for your losses . Just 10 days to go . All will be well
Our bodies work in magical ways ..so much science .I’m constantly symptom spotting and googling and getting anxious . I think if I let two or three more ultrasounds go I might relax .
And also when I have this under control . My IR could also be from my non alcoholic fatty liver from being overweight . Everything is linked !
I’m from Malaysia . I have a great doctor here . He acts quick , answers all my questions doubts with so much patience and he keeps telling me everything looks great and that I should t worry . We saw a sac on 4w6d . Next us at 8w6d .
I’m determined to do everything in my power to fight this . Full on low carb mode now on .

I found this really helpful to understand insulin resistance