GD question

zoeylove

Hi Ladies, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes on 12/31....I have only been doing my blood and diet for 8 days. On my first reporting to the dietician, they told me I would need to go on insulin. This scares me....anyone know how it works? Does anyone know why they would do this so soon without even trying to work out a diet with me. My numbers have been all across the board some good some bad ... mostly my lunch & dinner is great and my fasting & breakfast high. Feeling frustrated ... any suggestions would be great! Kristen

EMarieMe

Fasting numbers are the hardest to control. You can do everything right all day long and still have a high fasting number the next morning.  Yoga the night before did seem to effect mine, but it won't help for everyone. At a point, you may just have to bite the bullet and do insulin. 

Are your numbers whack regardless of what you eat?  Or are they bad because you splurge? I'm only hazarding a guess, but they may see that regardless of your diet or exercise it's just not getting under control. 

When you asked them these questions, what did they say?

hgtvmom

My team had me try several things at my night time snack to see if we could get my fasting and post breakfast numbers down. All protein, no carbs, added carbs plus increased protein, no dairy, etc. They were just barely over the range, but nonetheless, it was over. I started glyburide on Friday to get those numbers down. It worked one day, then I got the flu and all my numbers went up again. But, today was better again.

I was told that you eat, which increases your blood sugar number. Your number dwindles and when it gets to a certain point, your body starts making sugar, so your numbers go up. Pregnancy hormones being at their peak in the mornings does not help this. So, sometimes your body just needs help to keep your numbers steady overnight.

All the diet modifications in the world just may not help to get the morning numbers down.

Good luck!

24karat

Sometimes they will put you on meds right away if it's your morning (fasting especially) numbers that are consistently higher than what they want to see. That's often an indication that there's more insulin resistance going on since the body has had extra time to process the sugar out but hasn't done so. If this is the case, diet alone may not be enough to bring the numbers down. Your OB and dietician might be okay with letting you play around with the diet a little more, depending on how high your numbers were getting. Out of curiosity, where these 8 days of readings done with a normal diet or a GD diet?

With insulin and other GD meds they usually start you on a low dose and increase it only as necessary to get your sugar within the acceptable range. It's pretty common to have to adjust things as the pregnancy gets closer to term.

JackieP1023

Insulin isn't that bad. They also put me on it right away, without giving me a chance to try and control with diet. My fasting number was around 140 for my 3hr GTT. My MFM simply said 'your fasting numbers are way too high-we're going to have you take insulin every night before bed to get them down'. I started on 12 units, and had 1 increase to 14 units. I've been taking it for about 2 months now. All the rest of my numbers are strictly diet controlled-and for breakfast, all I've been able to have is eggs, ham, cheese, and 1c of milk. Anything else, even 1 slice of low carb toast, and my numbers go crazy!

zoeylove

Judging from what you guys have said it is probably my high fasting numbers why they did this ...they are anywhere from 87 to 135 ... only 2 of the days have been under 90. I had been doing this testing with somewhat of a GD diet...my breakfast and lunch and morning snacks were all GD approved stuff....it was my first week so I was trying different suggestions from the pamphlets they had given me for dinner to see how my numbers reacted and to try and plan something out ...I thought it was a fact finding week (that is what I was told)....I thought that I would go back on the 15th and readjust a diet plan but they automatically requested I come in today and learn how to use the insulin. I was so disappointed & frustrated but can not refuse their knowledge/advice for my LO's sake. Just so deflated about it.

EMarieMe

Zoeylove,

I think it is odd, that they are doing this before you have totally committed to the diet.  Maybe ask them for 72 hours where you completely follow a GD diet?

It doesn't sound like they are being very communicative with you about your diet or treatment. That's unacceptable.

Good luck.

angelsnight

I had a hard time when I first started insulin.  I felt like a failure.  I cried the first night I did my shot because I was overwhelmed and nervous, but now I'm an old pro.  I agree with PP, they're likely seeing a number that tells them no matter what you do, your fasting numbers will not be diet controlled, so why wait.  Do not feel like a failure, it's nothing you did wrong, our bodies just work against us sometimes. 

24karat

zoeylove said:

Judging from what you guys have said it is probably my high fasting numbers why they did this ...they are anywhere from 87 to 135 ... only 2 of the days have been under 90. I had been doing this testing with somewhat of a GD diet...my breakfast and lunch and morning snacks were all GD approved stuff....it was my first week so I was trying different suggestions from the pamphlets they had given me for dinner to see how my numbers reacted and to try and plan something out ...I thought it was a fact finding week (that is what I was told)....I thought that I would go back on the 15th and readjust a diet plan but they automatically requested I come in today and learn how to use the insulin. I was so disappointed & frustrated but can not refuse their knowledge/advice for my LO's sake. Just so deflated about it.

I would agree it does sound like that's the reason. Having six out of eight reads over 90 plus the high reading of 135 after playing with diet will often be enough for them to put you on meds. Eight days is pretty typical for the diet trial.

Remember it's not that you've done anything wrong and this is not a failure on your part at all. I'm sorry you're feeling down about this.

hpatalano

Here are some things that helped me:

1) Never sleeping more than 8 hours
2) Exercising after work (around 6 - 7 pm)
3) Eating chicken breast. Nothing else works for me like chicken breast (which makes me want to gag most of the time)
4) Taking my prenatal in the morning vs. at night

Also, a fun surprise, taking indigestion medication at night (Prevacid) raised my fasting number by 30 points so make sure you ask before you take anything for indigestion.

That being said, I'm a diet and exercise OCD Nazi and still ended up needing Glyburide at night to control that morning number.

Best of luck to you and remember it's only for a short period of time!!!

zoeylove

Yes I keep trying to remind myself as I cry through appts,, struggle to get my numbers down, plan my food, readjust my time schedule of eating, do my blood and insulin, try to add in exercise, all while trying to be happy at my fulltime job while people ask about the baby/pregnancy.... only a few more months....I do have to say .... this will give me extra incentive to eat healthy after I give birth so I don't have to do this anymore! Trying to keep my eyes on the prize ... a healthy baby hopefully!

dmbrydon

I was diagnosed with GD at 9wks based on my first set of lab work.  So, I had a longer time than most dealing with it.  You might find that you'll find meals and snacks that work one week and the next week your numbers spike again even though you haven't changed anything.  It's those darn hormones, which you can't control.  Almost every week, the docs were adjusting my med doses.  I was pretty religious about the diet and it didn't seem to matter.  I was one of those that just needed the meds.  So, I just wanted to give my two cents.  It's ok to be frustrated.  It's ok to cry.  All you can do is try your best and use the meds if you need them.  Good luck!

zoeylove

yes that is a long time .... makes me grateful for my time frame .... they just upped my doses on the insulin today because I cant get my numbers under control.