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3rd Trimester
Something smells fishy about this Glucose test
So I failed my 1-hr glucose screening - my score was 181. Now mind you, it was my birthday week and I've been celebrating all week with candy, cake, etc, friends taking me out and eating ice cream every day. This is NOT my normal diet.
I have to go Thursday for my 3hr glucose tolerance test. I asked my midwife today if I need to do anything, and she said don't worry about your diet, just be sure you fast. I told her I caught a cold on Sunday so the past few days I've been on nothing but chicken soup, toast & lemon-honey tea diet (which, again, is not my normal way of eating... but I'm sick and need to kick this cold without any meds thanks to pregnancy!). She said don't worry about changing your diet, your score was so high last time that anything you do won't really matter and you'll most likely fail the 3hr... so come back next week so we can discuss your results and talk about diet, etc.
Are you kidding me? I'm 28weeks, and I've only gained 15lbs so far. I was never overweight to begin with, I've never had a problem with sugars/BP or anything, there's no diabetes in my family, I'm healthy, and I have a fairly healthy diet (not counting my binge for my birthday 
. Where the hell does this come from? I'm tempted to stop with the chicken soup, toast, honey tea diet and just eat protein and veggies today and tomorrow, despite how I feel, just so I can have a normal score. I feel like I'm being setup to fail for the simple fact of the timing of these tests. If I was tested during my "normal" self, when I'm eating as I normally do, I'm almost positive I'd pass. I don't have any of the symptoms of having GD, so I'm really puzzled.
Ugh.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Something smells fishy about this Glucose test
It makes absolutely no difference what you eat the day(s) before the test. She doesn't know if you will pass or fail it, so don't worry about what she said. But you definitely need to fast before the test.
We need Jenerally ... AGAIN.
GD is strange. It is hormonal. It's not what or how you eat, it's how your body reacts. You can eat like crap and not have GD, or be a marathon runner and eat great and have it.
I had it with one pregnancy (DD) and not with my DS, so it even varies within a person.
They are not setting you up to 'fail'. You either have it or you don't.
This. I took my first 1 hour test after a birthday weekend food bender (ice cream with every meal, every craving satisfied, etc) and my 1 hour fail was a 138. I repeated it three days later with a low carb, high protein (normal) diet and failed with a 170.
I went on to fail the three hour on 2/4 draws by less than 15 points. It's not the end of the world and your diet will not make a difference in showing whether you have GD or not. Follow the directions & take the test.
I've gained 9lbs with my pregnancy - I was not overweight pre-pregnancy. I have no family history of GD, I turned 25 when I was 30 weeks pregnant (over 25 is a risk factor), etc. It's how your body's hormones react.
Socializing foster puppies since 2009
Chart for TTC#2
See, I would think that it does matter, if not entirely, at least somewhat. When I was given the script to go get the 3hr test, there were instructions on how to eat the 3 days prior - basically up my carb intake, then fast, then go take the test. But today my midwife said not to worry about the diet at all. I feel like if you're shocking my body with a large intake of sugar, then starving me for 10hrs then shocking my body again, it's going to make a difference. Or am I missing something here?
Sometimes GD is just one of those things where if you have it, you just have it. I've seen other posts where ladies were normal wt, no family hx and still had GD. Don't feel bad....i failed my 1hr too (found out yesterday). I have to go for my 3hr tomorrow, so i know how you feel. I, too, had a normal pre-preg weight, have only gained 16lb, have no fam hx of diabetes, and eat a pretty well balanced diet.
It's just one of those things......
Plus remember, even if you do fail the 3hr, it's likely just a matter of watching your diet. GL!
It does NOT matter what you eat before these tests. You either have GD or you don't. It is a pre-disposed thing that you get when you become PG. It literally has NOTHING to do with your diet the days leading up to the test. Some girls get it, some don't.
These posts are taxing.
GD happens to anyone, it isn't based off of family history how much weight you have gained if you were overweight or underweight what your diet is. sometimes it can come with no symptoms at all, so that isnt a good way to convince yourself you dont have it. Even if you do end up with it, it isn't the end of the world you just have to take that as it comes. Just try to relax and wait for the results, even if you failed the first one it doesnt mean you are garrentted to fail the second one. Ignore your doc saying that particular statement. Your diet doesn't have a whole lot to do with the test results, you fast before you take the test.
word of advice tho take a snack to eat right after the last blood draw i had mine last friday and wish i would have remembered that! GL on your test.
You have a birthweek?
Shiit, I have been getting screwed.
Ok, I hear ya. But... if diet doesn't affect it, then why do you have to change your diet if you're diagnosed with it? Wouldn't you automatically then go on insulin shots? That wouldn't explain your situation either, though... This whole thing just doesn't make sense to me.
I too am 28 weeks, and I have only gained ~15 pounds so far. I also failed the one hour.
I really don't think there is anything we can do to affect it (although I failed by 18 points, so I am blaming my sugary breakfast). Especially if your numbers were so high. Just take the three hour.
I hope Jenerally posts it again, I need a GD pep talk.
Here it comes...I hope it's for her very useful information and not to just start drama...
But anyway, even though it might feel like a really nasty surprise, not everyone with GD fits the stereotype and you really could have it. If you're normally a healthy eater, then you might not even really have to change your diet. No sweat.
That being said, my dr.'s have mentioned that being sick can affect your test results. You may want to ask about delaying it a few days, till you recover. If I were you, I'd also keep time during the test (making sure they draw the blood at the right times) and ask for my numerical results.
LOL! Yes! Everyone in my life comes out of the woodworks that week... one day my family throws a party, the next day my DF takes me out to dinner, the next day my one girlfriend takes me out to lunch, the next day another girlfriend takes me out for ice cream, the next... you get the picture
The key is to "remind" folks your b-day is coming up
j/k!
Ugh is right.
GD is not something that just happens to overweight people. It doesn't just affect those who don't eat the most healthy diet. It has NOTHING to do with what you ate before the test.
The reason they give you the sugar drink is to see how your body is processing the sugar. So you could have eaten 18 bags of candy before the test and still pass if your body is processing the sugar the way it should be. Just because you ate a lot of sugar before is NOT the reason you failed. You failed because pregnancy is somehow causing your body to not be able to process that sugar the right way.
They want you to fast so they get exact results at your 3 hour. You don't fast for the 1 hour.
GD is just something that can happen to pregnant people. It is not a death sentence. Do a bit of research. If you are diagnosed the reason you have to change your diet is because your body isn't processing the sugar as it should. That does NOT mean that what you ate changed the results.
Ok, I obviously haven't been around these boards long enough 'cuz I don't know what y'all mean about jenerally... anywho, any info anyone has that isn't just anectotal would surely help.
But about being sick... I thought that too, that it could affect things. I mean when you stop to think about it, when you're sick your body focuses all it's energy in combating the virus, so can it really be giving it's all to metabolizing glucose as it normally would?
And good call on the keeping time. I'll be sure to pay attention to be sure they don't screw it up. The lab I go to is notoriously busy, and I'm sure it can totally happen.
Throughout the course of pregnancy, a certain hormone increases in direct relation with your insulin resistence. You are told to eat normally because that is what you do on a regular basis. Once you are diagnosed with GD, you need to be monitored for adverse effects to your child; this will be done by your OB and a dietician. If you were to eat according to the GD diet and pass the test -- you don't know if you have GD or not. If you were to eat according to the GD diet and fail the test, you might be in that percentage of women who need either medication or insulin to help control their GD.
Gestational Diabetes is a different animal than regular diabetes, as several of the other ladies have said. I can understand your frustration, but there is no woman, "healthy" or "unhealthy" who is discriminated against. No one is above this complication.
Just because you ate a certain way all week doesn't mean it impacted your test -- could it have? Who knows? But that doesn't mean you're definitely going to pass or fail the 3 hour. Just take the 3 hour and find out. It's really not that difficult. There are so many complications that can occur because of untreated GD, it's really not worth the risk to not try to do everything you can to find out.
I never said it was a death sentence. And I have been doing research, and none of what I find is answering my questions. Then to top it, my midwife gives me even more conflicting info.
Sorry I bothered to bring it up. Geez.
Before the test you shouldn't be changing your diet because they need to be able to tell IF YOU HAVE GD. Masking it does not benefit you in the slightest - please google for what can happen with untreated GD (ie. 9lb+ babies, the risk of stillbirth, breathing problems, etc).
After being told you have GD the diet does make a huge difference in how your body reacts to food. It's a balance of carbs & protein - not an elimination - spread out over time to stablize your blood sugars.
GD is not straight forward. There is no black & white, clear cut line that says this is how it works for everyone. Take a gander at the High Risk board, there are quite a few ladies dealing with GD and every single one of us is very different.
Socializing foster puppies since 2009
Chart for TTC#2
Okay, I meant it's not that big of a deal, it happens a lot. You seem to be making a big deal about it so I was just letting you know to do some research. If you had been you would already know the answers to everything you asked. Which btw, my post did explain a lot to you. You just had to quote the part you didn't like.
I wasn't trying to be mean. Simple research will answer all of your questions and clear up any confusion. Good luck!
THIS. Seriously.
I have a family history of diabetes, I was overweight when I got pregnant (sigh), and I haven't exactly been watching what I was eating sweetswise over the past 33 weeks. I have gained 30+ lbs so far. I also passed the GD test with flying colours.
It has NOTHING to do with what you ate that week. It's just how pregnancy is affecting your body.
Your weight, amount of weight gained during pregnancy, and diet have NOTHING to do with if you could get GD. As long as you followed the fasting instructions your diet wouldn't affect the test.
as others have said, GD is not related to your weight gain or what you ate the week before the test. the reason for the fasting before taking the test, it to try to create some sort of "control" for the test (ie- the amount of glucose load they are giving you is more controlled if the only recent glucose you have had is the drink, rather than one patient eating a snickers immediately before the test, and someone else fasting). If there is no "control" it makes it hard for physicians to establish cut off criteria for a positive vs. negative screen.
GD results from hormonal changes during pregnancy. Your body/placenta produces several hormones (human placental lactogen, estrogen, progesterone) which create a state of insulin resistance (ie: your body needs more insulin to get the same "effect" on controlling blood glucose as it did pre-pregnancy). Your pancreas "knows" this and responds by producing more insulin than it did pre-pregnancy, but in some patients, this response is insufficient to adequately compensate for the insulin resistant state of later pregnancy, hence some patients have GD. You can imagine, people who had "insulin resistance" (ie: those who may be borderline type 2 diabetics at baseline) are more of a set up for GD, but that does not mean people who have no predisposing risk factors for GD can't get it.
Here is a link to a medical text book that has a chapter on hormonal/metabolic changes during pregnancy and GD. Granted, it is directed towards medical professionals, so may not be entirely clear to someone if they don't have a medical background- but you asked for more than anectodal support for why you may have GD, so I pass it along. The chapter starts on pg 598.
https://tinyurl.com/m7blwe
The normal cut off for the one hour glucose is anywhere from 130-140 (different OBs use different cut offs), so at 181, yours is pretty abnormal. I hope all turns out OK with your 3hr. good luck!