GD Support Thread

MamaPharmD

MrsL2B said:

I was on metformin prior to pregnancy and loved it. My OB switched me to glyburide, of which I'm not a huge fan. It makes your pancreas produce more insulin, regardless of what you eat (or dot eat!). I told my OB at my first visit that I'd much rather be on insulin than glyburide, and she thought I was nuts. She's a Type1 diabetic, so I suspected she had some sort of personal issue with injections. My experience taking glyburide was definitely tough at first, and I had a lot of hypos until I learned how to adjust my diet to eat enough carbs for the increased amount of insulin I was making. I've been eating a lower carb diet for several years, so it took a while for me to find a happy moderate carb diet/medication balance. Now that I've figured it out, I'm happier with the glyburide.

This has been my experience as well! I was getting several lows and eating so many carbs. I was thinking about asking about being switched to long-acting insulin at night but have been doing well on the lowest dose of glyburide. I still eat more carbs than I am typically used to but I can deal with that.

poca1313

@sujana22‌ I can't answer about the pills because I went straight to insulin but I too have found ice cream bars with only 10 carbs. I only eat them once in a while because I feel guilty replacing it with something healthy like milk. Sometimes you just need to satisfy that sweet tooth though. The baby needs nutrients but the rest of my family needs my sanity! :P

LoveOBX630

A GD board would be great! I am 36 +5 according to an ultrasound in October. I could be 39 weeks according to my LMP (hence the two tickers). I am curious to see what date he will be closer to…he's measured on with the LMP EDD ever since the ONE ultrasound. We went in for the first ultrasound, the LMP EDD was 5/26. They changed it to 6/11, and then I switched providers. He's been measuring on with the original due date ever since with 10 ultrasounds (we paid for 2 of them--4D) that he's had for various reasons, i.e. anatomy scan had to be redone 2-3 times because he wouldn't' sit still for the heart shots, etc. I'm not complaining, I've seen him a lot but I would like to see him in person!

I am on 2.5 mg Glyburide in the morning to try to control my evening numbers. The numbers aren't high because of diet the doctor says, because I can eat the same dinner 3 days in a row, 2 of them will be high, one will be low. Then I can eat the same thing for breakfast that I ate for dinner, and the numbers will be normal. I had a week of eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as an experiment….I'll never eat that meal again!!!

Honestly, I'm just beyond ready for this to all be over..the counting, the sticking, the remembering the pill, etc. I know it's for the good of the baby, but I'm tired at this point (I'm sure you guys are as well!!)

missmiss307

Hey, ladies, just wanted to share that someone from my BMB has started a Gestational Diabetes general support group if anyone is interested in joining for further support. I think you should be able to just search "Gestational Diabetes" on the groups page. It's also at the top of the new groups list right now.

poca1313

@LoveOBX630 As far as the due date, I had the same issue. I've actually had two ultrasounds so far (not the anatomy scan yet) and they both gave me different due dates, other than my LMP date. My first one gave me 11/4, my second gave me 10/30 and my LMP is 10/24. I use the middle one and will just stick with whatever they tell me at the anatomy scan!

And yes, I also had the same issues with my #'s. I literally would eat the same meal for days and would get perfectly fine #s one day and really high the next. I hear a lot of people struggle with that. I swear though when my doc would look at them, they would question me if I had something "sugary" at that particular meal. LOL Really makes you wonder if they really have patients who are really that clueless..** "why yes, I had a big bowl of frosted flakes. Is that bad??"**  :-S  But no, I made a journal of my meals so I could show them I was measuring and eating exactly what they told me to eat. And because of that, is the reason I was put straight on insulin. 

LoveOBX630

poca1313 said:

@LoveOBX630 As far as the due date, I had the same issue. I've actually had two ultrasounds so far (not the anatomy scan yet) and they both gave me different due dates, other than my LMP date. My first one gave me 11/4, my second gave me 10/30 and my LMP is 10/24. I use the middle one and will just stick with whatever they tell me at the anatomy scan!

And yes, I also had the same issues with my #'s. I literally would eat the same meal for days and would get perfectly fine #s one day and really high the next. I hear a lot of people struggle with that. I swear though when my doc would look at them, they would question me if I had something "sugary" at that particular meal. LOL Really makes you wonder if they really have patients who are really that clueless..** "why yes, I had a big bowl of frosted flakes. Is that bad??"**  :-S  But no, I made a journal of my meals so I could show them I was measuring and eating exactly what they told me to eat. And because of that, is the reason I was put straight on insulin. 

AH! Well at least I'm not alone My OB looked at my dates on Friday, and if I had normal cycles (28 days) it would have been 5/26. My cycles pre-birth control were average 35 days. With that info, he got a due date of 6/2. With my early dating ultrasound, we have 6/11. So in a nutshell, we don't know…2 week window! We go for a growth scan today at 38 weeks to see what we are dealing with size-wise. 

I'm glad (I'm not sure if that's the right term?) that I'm not alone in the frustration over stupid numbers from the same meal. Here's to hoping we all get back to normal quickly! 

And on your ticker, I loveeeeee when I see someone that has "tumbler" along with "cheerleader". I coach cheerleading and it makes me smile to see young athletes so involved in many sports!

chatty6176

I have GD for the 2nd time.  I didn't have it with my first...had it with second and this one.  2nd time all diet/exercise controlled.  Hoping/praying it stays that with this one... I am almost 31 weeks.  I found walking after meals is very very helpful.  My average since being diagnosed this pregnancy (18 weeks) is 97.  My fasting has been good except for a few days the other week due to it being soooo hot and not sleeping. Once the AC was in they were back to normal. I just suggest even a 15 minute walk after eating. It does help alot!!!! 

Texasgurly0313

Hello all, I just got the phone call from my OB office that I failed 2 of the 4 readings for the 3 hour GTT. I am 26+2.

I have an appointment on June 5 for the Nutrition Class at my hospital, and my OB is referring me out to the GD clinic, so I should be getting an appointment for that soon as well to get my Rx for the supplies and everything. I don't know what my numbers are yet.

gig0512

Love this thread! Hi all - I'm joining the ranks, at the ripe young pregnancy-age of 7w3d. I am pregnant with my second and had GD with my first. When drawing blood during my first visit they went ahead and had me do a 1 hour, which I failed miserably, so here I am. It was a fasting number, 177.

I'm meeting with the specialist on Tuesday to get my testing kit, etc, but since finding out have tried to kick the diet into gear ahead of things, and I'm finding it so much harder and more depressing this time. I'm constantly hungry already.

Last time I ended up on glyburide towards the end, maybe the last 2-3 weeks. But starting so early this time I'm worried about insulin shots being needed. Looking forward to a place where I can vent to people understanding this struggle and learn how others are dealing with it.

poca1313

@LoveOBX630‌ yes! This year will be my DD's fourth cheer season. She cheers for football and she also does competitive cheer. I call them two totally separate kinds! Then in the off season ( now) she takes tumbling. She went from not even being able to do a cartwheel to working on her backhand spring! But in between she's done swimming, softball, ballet.....I'm a busy momma but I love to keep her busy!

poca1313

@gig0512‌ you sound like me. I had GD with my 1st, diagnosed in my third trimester. Was able to control it with diet n exercise. This one, they diagnosed me from my initial blood tests. I was about 8 weeks. I am now on insulin which worked at first but now my #s are starting to go crazy again. It's frustrating and I get down too sometimes like my DDs birthday last week her choice was to go to friendlys. :-( Was definitely depressing not to be able to share a sundae with her. She's such a good kid too because she won't eat stuff like that in front of me. She'll just hug me and says f I can't she won't.. **sniff sniff**. Everyone raves about my homeMade cupcakes but I couldn't even make them for my her this year. It's definitely a daily struggle, I have so much jealousy for people who can just pick anything off of a menu without studying a nutritional chart! Every time I see an add for food I think to myself how many carbs it must have. I spend two hours in the grocery store reading labels (and calculating in my head!) I'm jealous of people who can just be out and about all day and not have to worry about when they are due for their next meal or having to go all the way home first to take insulin before eating. I was so busy Sunday I actually had to eat a meal while grocery shopping! I also hate having to carry around cookies worrying about when my next low will hit and looking like a crazy person when it does and I'm inhaling cookies looking like a sweaty shaky crack addict! Ok there's my crazy rant! This's crap blows but every time I hear my baby's heartbeat I'm reminding why I not only put up with it but try my hardest. My favorite saying to my DD now I say to this one is " your lucky I love you so much"! ** sorry for all the errors. I hate typing on my iPad and have no energy to go back and fix anything!

kvickip

I am wondering what number ranges everyone considers acceptable and how long after eating? I had been on metformin for 13 years (!) after being dx with pcos and insulin resistance at age 20. My doctor took me off of it and gave me a monitor to test blood sugar. Haven't had the gd test yet (I'm 23 weeks today).

I noticed my readings bounce around. Twice I had 157 but that was after eating a significantly sugary meal. In the morning I get anywhere from 80-99. After reg meals (reduced/balanced carbs) about 137.

Thanks!

CantoDeAmor259

I'm sneaking in on this board to ask a question! My doc sprung an early test on me at my dating ultrasound (9 weeks) Friday. I'm in the middle of moving and woke up late, didn't drink enough and ate the worst possible breakfast (McDonald's) and downed over 30 ounces of hi-c drink only to take this test 3 hours later. My numbers came back at 155 with the normal range ending at 139. I've never failed a test before. I think she wanted me to do it early because if my weight. Which I understand. But I'm pretty ticked. I have great blood pressure, never high. Never have had issues with gd, no family issues. And I had had soooooo much sugar before the test which is not an accurate description of my daily life, usually it's a breakfast of eggs an toast or ceral. I should of just denied to take the test that day. Any advice? I'm going to see if she will let me take the one hour again, then if I fail that one I'll be glad to take the 3 hour.

jlf1019

kvickip said:

I am wondering what number ranges everyone considers acceptable and how long after eating? I had been on metformin for 13 years (!) after being dx with pcos and insulin resistance at age 20. My doctor took me off of it and gave me a monitor to test blood sugar. Haven't had the gd test yet (I'm 23 weeks today). I noticed my readings bounce around. Twice I had 157 but that was after eating a significantly sugary meal. In the morning I get anywhere from 80-99. After reg meals (reduced/balanced carbs) about 137. Thanks!

My endo told me that she wants my fasting under 95. She said she'll take under 100, but under 95 is the goal. I am also supposed to be below 120 two hours after all meals (below 140 one hour after meal). 

They have me following a diet of 30 grams of carbs at breakfast (I never meet that amount), and 75 at lunch and dinner. With 15 gram snacks in between. I've been doing it for about 6 weeks now, and have done okay. But my doc just put me on 1.25 mg glyburide this week because I've been getting consistent morning fasting readings between 100 and 110. I've also had a few higher after dinner readings. 

I just started the glyburide yesterday, and two hours after supper, my BS was 69 :S I feel like this is going to be a rollercoaster, finding the right balance so it's not too high and not too low. 

PS, I'm 16 weeks. 

shakalex

You have to have a late night snack in order to control your am fasting num. I was told
A grilled cheese on wheat.

starkbaby22

I'm sorry that I didn't have time to read through every comment posted in this thread, but I've got a couple questions, ladies!

This is my 3rd go around with GD. I was totally diet controlled with my first two. This is only my 2nd day taking my blood sugar at fasting and 2 hours after each meal, but I'm already having trouble, and I'm worried. My fasting this morning was 94. My numbers during the day were perfect, but this evening my after dinner number was 130 @2 hours

I don't like the idea of being medicated, and it seems that glyburide seems really inconsistent. So my questions for you..

1. Even though my dietician said to eat 2-3 carb choices at each meal and for snack, can I alter that to be less in order to get better numbers? They were really concerned about me taking in enough calories, etc. I will do whatever I have to do, I just don't want meds it's stressing me out! Do you have any tips for better fasting numbers?

2. My other problem is my OB office. There are close to 15 Dr's and it seems they've all got wildly different views on numbers. One dr will say having one fasting number high or an after meal number is okay once or twice a week, but one of the others will immediately see one high number and they start talking meds. It's hard to know what I'm walking in to.

Any advice or tips? It's amazing what you forget in 4 years time!

jhoke82

I was diagnosed last week and see the dietician tomorrow. I have been reading and trying to start changing what I eat. I am almost 32 weeks and am a little nervous but reading through this am glad there is support here. Please add me to any GD discussions. 

Recipe ideas would be helpful as well. 

jhoke82

Do you test on the same finger or do you switch up? I tried my first time tonight at home and used the same finger as I did at the doctor earlier when practicing and had a hard time getting the blood. I actually had to prick it a second time. I did get 125 two hours after dinner so hopefully that is a good sign that my numbers will work in my favor. 

mandyreads

@jhoke82‌ I test 4 times a day and have to switch it up. Too many times in one finger gets painful. And your lancet device might need to be adjusted if you had to stick twice.