Any one had a bout of sickness while measuring blood sugar levels? I've been building up a pretty yuck upper respiratory infection all weekend and it hit its peak today (at least I hope this is the peak). My numbers have been wild. After lunch were down to 88 two hours eating and now two hours after dinner (same meal I've eaten before with no problems) it is at 139. I took it again right after thinking maybe the reading was off and it read 149. Could sickness throw my numbers off?
Haven't had an A1C drawn in years. I'd be really interested in what it was. Yes @June2016BabyW sickness can definitely ruin your numbers. Your body thinks it needs more fuel to fight, so it releases the glycogen from your liver, and spikes your blood glucose.
Thanks both of you!! I took it again at the three hour mark and it was down to 99 (I drank a ton of water). I actually called off work in the morning, which I HATE doing, and may go to the doc if I'm not feeling better. But I will watch my diet closely and keep track of my levels. Boo for sickness!
@AshleyBKeen the A1C is a blood test that gives an average for blood sugar over the last 3 months. I haven't had mine done and I don't know how often it is recommended for GD. For other types of diabetes it is just one more measure they use for keeping track of your levels and I know for Type 2 (which my dad has) that since they might not test as frequently as type 1 (depending on the person and the situation) that the A1C level helps fill on the gaps for when finger pricks haven't been done. (Any one feel free to add in if I missed anything or misinterpreted anything)
You're exactly right. Blood glucose can create a "candy shell" around red blood cells. An A1C tests the thickness of that candy shell. So it not only fills in the gaps, but it attests to compliance. So if someone says "my sugar has been perfect", then eats cake after testing to skew their numbers, this proves they really have been eating right.
The A1C makes sense because of the guidelines I was given and not knowing what my boundaries were. I'm better at controlling my sweets and carbs, so I hope to get my # down to 5 or below. It's not bad at 5.2 right now, but I could improve with balancing carbs/protein/fat.
Not sure if this has already been brought up...I'm on Glyburide 2.5mg before breakfast and dinner. Anyone else get groggy/tired on the med? (Aside from the 24/7 fatigue) the med puts me in a bit of a fog
Speaking of being sick, I've got a cold and for the last two days have had "small" amount of ketones in the morning. (Dietician said only to worry if they were "moderate" or more. But "small" is enough to worry me.) IDK what it's from! Could it be the cold?
I'm not sure about the ketones but I do know my system and numbers were thrown off by my cold this week. I got some really random and unpredictable blood sugar numbers. My doctor doesn't have me testing for ketones at all and they never really mentioned it.
I spent time last night reading about testing ketones in pregnancy and so many sites said do it do it do it. Apparently some research in the past thought it made a correlation between ketone tests and IQ in infants in the past. More research says it isnt conclusive so some doctors are conservative and say test daily, some are not and don't mention it at all. I trust my doctor and assume they would have said to test if it was necessary but I definitely had a moment last night where I was going to send an email to the GD staff and ask if I should start testing.
so i am up to 25 units of insulin every night and still in the mid to high 90s. I assume they will increase again after my appt tomorrow.
I am just so frustrated with the whole thing, why isnt the insulin working? I just went to burger king and had 1/2 a medium coke and a couple of fries and chicken fries from my daughters lunch. I never give her that crap but i have literally been fighting her to take a nap for almost 2 hours and just needed to get out of the house. Luckily that did the trick and shes now sleeping in the backseat. And now i feel guilty about drinking soda and eating that crap. Ugh. I am so sick of worrying about carbs, and numbers and insulin and all of it. Im so glad there are only 6 more weeks to go.
Sorry for the vent. Just having a furstrating day.
@chesterdoodle is it only your morning number that is high or are all of your numbers higher than they should be? Have they been going through eating logs with you to see if there are any other places you could adjust?
My diet is perfect (except today), my numbers during the day are perfect. But then my morning numbers are still too high. They've looked at my diet every week and said its good and not to change anything. Ive pushed back because i feel like my morning numbers should have at least slightly decreased with more insulin, but they say i just havent hit the right number of units and that the placentas are working harder and harder against the insulin with each week.
Today was just tough because i feel like i am putting so much work into this diet, doing everything im supposed to and its nit working. It will be interesting to see how my morning number looks tomorrow. Im meeting with the GD clinic tomorrow so i will discuss with them.
My diet is perfect (except today), my numbers during the day are perfect. But then my morning numbers are still too high. They've looked at my diet every week and said its good and not to change anything. Ive pushed back because i feel like my morning numbers should have at least slightly decreased with more insulin, but they say i just havent hit the right number of units and that the placentas are working harder and harder against the insulin with each week.
Today was just tough because i feel like i am putting so much work into this diet, doing everything im supposed to and its nit working. It will be interesting to see how my morning number looks tomorrow. Im meeting with the GD clinic tomorrow so i will discuss with them.
Thanks for your responses!
I kind of feel your pain. I am not on insulin (yet). My day time numbers are awesome with the dieting I'm doing but I just cannot seem to get my morning fasting numbers down for anything. They are ALWAYS high 90's low 100's (95-103). I have tried so many different snacks and exercise before bed and nothing works. I hate it because it feels like that's the only number I can't really control yet it's the worst. Feel like my body is just failing me! I'm sorry mama.
My diet is perfect (except today), my numbers during the day are perfect. But then my morning numbers are still too high. They've looked at my diet every week and said its good and not to change anything. Ive pushed back because i feel like my morning numbers should have at least slightly decreased with more insulin, but they say i just havent hit the right number of units and that the placentas are working harder and harder against the insulin with each week.
Today was just tough because i feel like i am putting so much work into this diet, doing everything im supposed to and its nit working. It will be interesting to see how my morning number looks tomorrow. Im meeting with the GD clinic tomorrow so i will discuss with them.
Thanks for your responses!
I kind of feel your pain. I am not on insulin (yet). My day time numbers are awesome with the dieting I'm doing but I just cannot seem to get my morning fasting numbers down for anything. They are ALWAYS high 90's low 100's (95-103). I have tried so many different snacks and exercise before bed and nothing works. I hate it because it feels like that's the only number I can't really control yet it's the worst. Feel like my body is just failing me! I'm sorry mama.
Same. My daytime numbers are good. My morning has yet to be where it's supposed to. Try not to get too frustrated. There's only so much we can do. But rest assured you're not alone.
I had the same problem. I actually eat a bowl of cereal about an hour before bed with Carbmaster milk but the cereal is about 40g of carbs. It doesn't effect my number at night I checked. But it has helped my morning number I was between 98-105 now I get between 77-83. My doctor said that was fine to do as long as it was keeping my numbers down.
Morning numbers are the worst. Even when I eat the same thing, get same amount of liquids in, wake up at the same time, etc, my morning numbers flutuate. And as we all get further and further in to the pregnancies, the numbers might get crappier. Don't get discouraged though!! We have all been rocking out at this for weeks now and if we are all due by at least the end of June there is only about 9 more weeks or less left. Just keep in mind, of your only number that is concerning is your morning fasting number but the rest are good, thats still really healthy for baby. And it sounds like most peoples' morning fasting is just a little higher than normal. So babies are fine, every one is working closely with their doctors to see where else they can tweak, and we can all get through this.
Any one been recommended to wake up at 3am, check, and have a snack then? I know that's one of the options they can recommend.
Glad to hear im not alone! My fasting number this morning this morning was 97, so looks like my diet slip up didnt really effect my numbers.
Met with my doc this am and doc is upping my insulin to 33 units. Hopefully thats the magic number. But she said we will probably have to keep increasing until 35-36 weeks when the placentas hit their max insulin resistance. Only a couple weeks left!
@jmohio thanks for the tip on the cereal and carbmaster milk, i am going to try that.
@June2016BabyW my nutritionist said not to snack in the middle of the night. She said it wouldnt help. I dont understand her logic since my after meal/ snack numbers are better than my fasting. I think im going try it anyway one night just to see if it helps.
I'm 'allowed' 5 bad levels per week according to my endocrinologist. Since it's only my morning fasting numbers that are off I'm pretty much in the clear. Anyone else have these 5 bad level cards to play?
@linabparis whhhattt?? Nope, I wasn't given any "cheat cards" or get out of jail free cards. They might give them to me, but no one has said anything about it. Which is probably good I wasn't told because then I would be more inclined to eat naughty things a couple times a week and just say "oh, it's one of my cheat times." I send my numbers in every week and even numbers that I think are bad (morning fasting usually and a couple of high ones when I was sick) and they just keep telling me my average is within normal range and to keep it up. I have a feeling I'm more strict with myself than I probably have to be but I think that's good.
I want to know what the numbers look like for someone who is diagnosed with GD but not following the diet or someone diagnosed who follows the diet loosely.
I want to know what the numbers look like for someone who is diagnosed with GD but not following the diet or someone diagnosed who follows the diet loosely.
I keep telling the midwives & drs i don't have GD but since my morning levels are high, they make me monitor it but i don't do much with regards to the diet. My lunch & dinner fasting numbers are always btwn 87-95 and my breakfast, lunch & dinner numbers 2 hrs after are 100-116. Always. And i still eat my Big Mac meal, a pastry for breakfast (i live in France), etc. I just don't snack btwn meals like before, i limit my bread intake and only eat whole wheat pasta & rice. With just those little modifications i'm good to go (aside from the morning but like the endocrinologist said, it's not so much related to my diet as much as just a pysiological response at night.
I keep telling the midwives & drs i don't have GD but since my morning levels are high, they make me monitor it but i don't do much with regards to the diet. My lunch & dinner fasting numbers are always btwn 87-95 and my breakfast, lunch & dinner numbers 2 hrs after are 100-116. Always. And i still eat my Big Mac meal, a pastry for breakfast (i live in France), etc. I just don't snack btwn meals like before, i limit my bread intake and only eat whole wheat pasta & rice. With just those little modifications i'm good to go (aside from the morning but like the endocrinologist said, it's not so much related to my diet as much as just a pysiological response at night.
Can I ask you ladies what threshold your doctors use to diagnose GD based on fasting numbers? I can't drink the drink so they just had me do my blood sugar at home for a week. Fasting first thing in the morning, and 1 hour after breakfast, lunch and dinner. My after meal numbers look normal to me, frequently under 100 and the higher readings are still under 110. However, my morning numbers are frequently in the high 80's and my friend told me they wanted her fasting numbers to be under 85. If they want me to do the diet, it's fine, since I usually eat fairly close to that anyway and my daytime numbers are well under the 130 threshold but I'm curious about that fasting number pushing the limits and wondering if that will be enough to diagnose me. And, if so, what they'll do about that? I've read through the thread here and I've tried a couple of the ideas suggested about snacks before bed, but it hasn't made a difference. Also, my one hour after meal numbers have sometimes been lower than my fasting numbers and I'm pretty sure that's not typical. My doctor is out of town until May 1st and I'm still waiting to hear back from either the diabetes nurses or the doctor who was supposed to respond for her.
So excited, i had an 88 this morning for my fasting number! Looks like 33 units of insulin may do the trick. Im so relieved to finally see a passing fasting number. Keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow is under 90 again!
@alitria my doc wants my fasting numbers under 90, but im on insulin so not sure if that effects where the fasting numbers should be.
@chesterdoodle and @June2016BabyW thank you for your responses. My friend was also diagnosed with GD and on insulin but she wasn't sure if the standards are different when you're on insulin. We have the same practice but she has had GD diagnosed early with each of her pregnancies so her experience isn't completely typical. It would just be nice to hear back because if they are concerned and have additional recommendations, I'd like to hear them sooner rather than later because I'm 31 weeks currently.
@chesterdoodle and @June2016BabyW thank you for your responses. My friend was also diagnosed with GD and on insulin but she wasn't sure if the standards are different when you're on insulin. We have the same practice but she has had GD diagnosed early with each of her pregnancies so her experience isn't completely typical. It would just be nice to hear back because if they are concerned and have additional recommendations, I'd like to hear them sooner rather than later because I'm 31 weeks currently.
Seems like from the education I was given that all of your numbers look really great. Hoping they call you soon to let you know it is all good. :-)
@alitriaI'm not on medication right now, and am also supposed to keep my fasting below 95. I think this is consistent with what the American Diabetes Association recommends: https://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/gestational/how-to-treat-gestational.html. My numbers after meals are sometimes also lower than my fasting numbers (though I'm testing 2 hours after meals instead of 1). I have no idea why that is, but my diabetes counselor doesn't seem concerned by it. Maybe I'm not eating enough snacks during the day!
Also, the only thing that's worked for me to get my fasting numbers down is to wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. and chug 30-40 ounces of water. It's pretty annoying, but I've continued to have success with it as my hormone levels have increased and made all of my numbers go up (I'm 34 weeks on Friday, and each week has been harder than the last, so I'm hoping things level out soon -- my counselor said this will happen between 34 and 36 weeks). The water trick kind of feels like cheating, but my diabetes counselor and my midwife are ok with the strategy so I'm keeping it up! I have to leave my widwife practice for an obgyn if I need to go on medication, so I'm trying really hard to avoid that.
I am also getting more and more frustrated. My numbers keep going up even though I'm eating literally the same foods. I'm begging my doc to keep me on glyburide, but it's looking more and more like I'll have to be on insulin at some point.
Thanks ladies, it's just frustrating to not know either way. It's interesting to hear how many different standards there are for something I guess I always assumed was pretty clear cut. I should have known that NOTHING related to pregnancy was clear cut.
@pandora21524That's interesting about the water. I still have all the testing stuff so maybe I'll try that just out of curiosity. It's not like I would have to make it a point to wake up especially to drink the water, I could just do it on one of my hourly trips to the bathroom. On the off chance I am able to sleep for more than an hour or two, my son will choose that time to wake up and want to crawl in bed next to me so there's no worries I'll sleep too long and miss my window. What a relief.
Re: Gestational Diabetics Check-In
The OB wanted an A1C to see how I was doing. They want it at 5 or below.
Gosh, I hate to sound so ignorant but what's an A1C?
I am just so frustrated with the whole thing, why isnt the insulin working? I just went to burger king and had 1/2 a medium coke and a couple of fries and chicken fries from my daughters lunch. I never give her that crap but i have literally been fighting her to take a nap for almost 2 hours and just needed to get out of the house. Luckily that did the trick and shes now sleeping in the backseat. And now i feel guilty about drinking soda and eating that crap. Ugh. I am so sick of worrying about carbs, and numbers and insulin and all of it. Im so glad there are only 6 more weeks to go.
Sorry for the vent. Just having a furstrating day.
Today was just tough because i feel like i am putting so much work into this diet, doing everything im supposed to and its nit working. It will be interesting to see how my morning number looks tomorrow. Im meeting with the GD clinic tomorrow so i will discuss with them.
Thanks for your responses!
I'm sorry mama.
Any one been recommended to wake up at 3am, check, and have a snack then? I know that's one of the options they can recommend.
That was what my nutritionist recommended. Her put was pretty much "Since you'll be up to pee anyway..." :P
Met with my doc this am and doc is upping my insulin to 33 units. Hopefully thats the magic number. But she said we will probably have to keep increasing until 35-36 weeks when the placentas hit their max insulin resistance. Only a couple weeks left!
@jmohio thanks for the tip on the cereal and carbmaster milk, i am going to try that.
@June2016BabyW my nutritionist said not to snack in the middle of the night. She said it wouldnt help. I dont understand her logic since my after meal/ snack numbers are better than my fasting. I think im going try it anyway one night just to see if it helps.
I want to know what the numbers look like for someone who is diagnosed with GD but not following the diet or someone diagnosed who follows the diet loosely.
@alitria my doc wants my fasting numbers under 90, but im on insulin so not sure if that effects where the fasting numbers should be.
Also, the only thing that's worked for me to get my fasting numbers down is to wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. and chug 30-40 ounces of water. It's pretty annoying, but I've continued to have success with it as my hormone levels have increased and made all of my numbers go up (I'm 34 weeks on Friday, and each week has been harder than the last, so I'm hoping things level out soon -- my counselor said this will happen between 34 and 36 weeks). The water trick kind of feels like cheating, but my diabetes counselor and my midwife are ok with the strategy so I'm keeping it up! I have to leave my widwife practice for an obgyn if I need to go on medication, so I'm trying really hard to avoid that.
@pandora21524That's interesting about the water. I still have all the testing stuff so maybe I'll try that just out of curiosity. It's not like I would have to make it a point to wake up especially to drink the water, I could just do it on one of my hourly trips to the bathroom. On the off chance I am able to sleep for more than an hour or two, my son will choose that time to wake up and want to crawl in bed next to me so there's no worries I'll sleep too long and miss my window. What a relief.