Lower fasting levels without insulin? (Gestational)

[Cocosilk]

Has anyone managed to lower their morning and pre-meal ( 3-4 hours post meal and before next meal) with just diet and exercise when you have Gestational Diabetes?

I've only be diagnosed a week ago and have been experimenting with different foods but haven't quite found anything reliable yet to get my fasting levels under 5.0 mmol / L (which is what the new guidelines ask for).

I've read about people drinking Milo before bed but I'm not sure if that's only for those on insulin.

Any ideas for a way to affect the morning fasting with just dietary changes?

Also, how much does your morning level change between waking and eating breakfast if you are up for an hour or two?

Does it get higher or lower the longer you are awake (and before eating?). And are you supposed to use the reading as soon as you wake or can it be after an hour or more if you are not eating anything in that time?

What about between meal levels? I'm finding that 2 hours post meal, I might have a nice low reading, say 4.9 or 5.0 sometimes, but then I didn't eat for the next 2 hours and only had a cup of tea with a bit of milk (no sugar) making it 4 hours post the previous meal, but I'm back to up 5.3. I didn't think tea would cause a rise like that. But maybe not eating for 4 hours does??

Last thing, has anyone been told to watch their post meal peaks at around 1hour? I was only asked to record the 2 hour post meal and morning fasting, but I wondered if you saw a post meal spike of 9.0, would you be worried?

And were there any other signs during pregnancy and having gestational diabetes that you can see were pointing to you having pre-diabetes or T2 after the pregnancy ended?

Look forward to hearing your experiences!

 

[Reemap]

Hello,

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in second month of my pregnancy. The major complications they say is that the baby will grow bigger and delivery would be tough. However in my case I was put on insulin and metformin immediately. After which sometimes sugar was in control and sometimes it was not. It entirely depends on what you eat. I Use to walk for 1hour daily which Use to really help. Later i was informed by looking at the scan and baby weight that the baby was not getting enough blood supply hence his weight was less. So was told to eat lot of food with protein. Once baby gained 2.5kg they said it would be better to get the delivery done. At 38 weeks my delivery was done .. guess what.. it was a normal delivery and baby was perfectly normal. His sugar was monitored for three days and it was normal . As they suspect once delivery is done the baby might have low sugar. So in short there is no issues with GD, you can still deliver healthy baby but insulin is a must to be taken to maintain sugar as they cannot prescribed much medications..
Once delivery happens keep a watch on your Sugar level .. my GD turned to type 2 now..

 

[Reemap]

Also make sure to take help of your doctor to give you best advice with your sugars..

 

[busydiabeticmum]

Has anyone managed to lower their morning and pre-meal ( 3-4 hours post meal and before next meal) with just diet and exercise when you have Gestational Diabetes?

I've only be diagnosed a week ago and have been experimenting with different foods but haven't quite found anything reliable yet to get my fasting levels under 5.0 mmol / L (which is what the new guidelines ask for).

I've read about people drinking Milo before bed but I'm not sure if that's only for those on insulin.

Any ideas for a way to affect the morning fasting with just dietary changes?

Also, how much does your morning level change between waking and eating breakfast if you are up for an hour or two?

Does it get higher or lower the longer you are awake (and before eating?). And are you supposed to use the reading as soon as you wake or can it be after an hour or more if you are not eating anything in that time?

What about between meal levels? I'm finding that 2 hours post meal, I might have a nice low reading, say 4.9 or 5.0 sometimes, but then I didn't eat for the next 2 hours and only had a cup of tea with a bit of milk (no sugar) making it 4 hours post the previous meal, but I'm back to up 5.3. I didn't think tea would cause a rise like that. But maybe not eating for 4 hours does??

Last thing, has anyone been told to watch their post meal peaks at around 1hour? I was only asked to record the 2 hour post meal and morning fasting, but I wondered if you saw a post meal spike of 9.0, would you be worried?

And were there any other signs during pregnancy and having gestational diabetes that you can see were pointing to you having pre-diabetes or T2 after the pregnancy ended?

Look forward to hearing your experiences!

This is a difficult one... tea rises me, I am looking for a milk substitute that doesn't raise my bgl but still tastes OK... I'm trying coconut milk as it doesn't have carbs... but coconut in tea... nah. I don't like soya so will probably end on almond milk.

Last pregnancy I was able to go the whole pregnancy without medication which is good for me because I am usually on insulin straight away. I was low carb before I fell pregnant and ketosis so dawn phenomena just didn't happen for me anymore and I was able to keep it up the entire time... this pregnancy I had food aversion and all the food I would normally eat just made me sick, so I just did what I could to try to make myself feel better... it meant I lost ketosis and my control especially of my morning fasting bloods.

I would really just carb count and unfortunately it doesn't happen over night, it may take a wk or so for you to see a difference, your liver holds a store of glucose which dumps this into your blood if it thinks you need extra energy... this is in the morning to help you get up and after exercise.

However in pregnancy you have rising hormones that also raise your bgl and stress hormones also effect your bgl.

It is frustrating... just test immediately b4 eating and 2hrs afterwards. As they should have told you, usually you do one day b4 and the next day after but I like to know what my bloods doing as I am on insulin ATM.

Good luck.

 

[Cocosilk]

This is a difficult one... tea rises me, I am looking for a milk substitute that doesn't raise my bgl but still tastes OK... I'm trying coconut milk as it doesn't have carbs... but coconut in tea... nah. I don't like soya so will probably end on almond milk.

Last pregnancy I was able to go the whole pregnancy without medication which is good for me because I am usually on insulin straight away. I was low carb before I fell pregnant and ketosis so dawn phenomena just didn't happen for me anymore and I was able to keep it up the entire time... this pregnancy I had food aversion and all the food I would normally eat just made me sick, so I just did what I could to try to make myself feel better... it meant I lost ketosis and my control especially of my morning fasting bloods.

I would really just carb count and unfortunately it doesn't happen over night, it may take a wk or so for you to see a difference, your liver holds a store of glucose which dumps this into your blood if it thinks you need extra energy... this is in the morning to help you get up and after exercise.

However in pregnancy you have rising hormones that also raise your bgl and stress hormones also effect your bgl.

It is frustrating... just test immediately b4 eating and 2hrs afterwards. As they should have told you, usually you do one day b4 and the next day after but I like to know what my bloods doing as I am on insulin ATM.

Good luck.

Are you pregnant with a girl this time maybe? I was much sicker when pregnant with my daughter than with either of my sons.

 

[busydiabeticmum]

Are you pregnant with a girl this time maybe? I was much sicker when pregnant with my daughter than with either of my sons.

Yes, but this is my 4th girl and I have 4 boys... the first 2 pregnancies I didn't get gd and they were both girls, 3rd was a boy and it was the worst, last one was a boy as well but I was able to control with diet... each pregnancy is different.
I think as well blood group may have something to do with it as my b positive babies were easier than my a positive ones... but still had no effect on diabetes I'm afraid... only diet did.