Did anyone's existing diabetes complications worsen in pregnancy?

[Nem716]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had any advice.

I am currently planning a type 1 insulin pump pregnancy with my local diabetes specialist nurse and midwife, and they keep bringing up that complications can get worse with pregnancy.

I'm a bit worried as i already have a slight issues with my eyes and kidneys, and I was just wondering if anyone who is currently pregnant or who has recently given birth experienced any issues with diabetes complications while pregnant to themselves.

Any experiences would be interesting to hear as its always good to get a full picture before making such a big decision.

 

[1Sarah1]

Hi I had more changes in my eyes in my last pregnancy (twins now 3 months) and on a much more frequent retinal screen now. Assume it was caused by pregnancy hormones.

I suffered with terrible pain -pelvic leg foot arms etc but more pregnancy than diabetes but everything feels like an added complication. My last pregnancy with twins suffered terribly with sickness which obviously makes managing sugars interesting!

Was on a pump for both pregnancies and swear by it for control as suffered terribly with dawn phenomenon.

I guess there are risks to everything. If you have already got good control then hopefully things won't be exacerbated. It's honestly worth all the hard work.

 

[courtenayjane]

Hi,
I am currently 24 weeks pregnant with my first. I had low level eye changes prior to getting pregnant and they have monitored these every 8 weeks. They haven't got any worse but even if they did, the Doctors have given me great confidence that they could catch and treat them early.

I had a lot of concerns prior to getting pregnant as I feel that a lot of the messaging from doctors, nurses etc was very negative but no one could really explain the actual risks to me. Eventually, I was able to meet with one of the top UK specialists and he was very reassuring! Basically, there is a lot of misinformation out there based on old data and anecdotes. If your sugars are well controlled (and that doesn't have to mean perfect) your odds of anything happening are very low, and with all of the monitoring and testing they can do these days., they can pick up any changes in your condition much earlier than they ever could before.

Best of luck!