GTT: alternative to the orange drink!

NBaril · February 2013

I have to share that I did some research online and talked to a few midwives and learned that there are alternatives to the nasty orange drink! My midwife allowed me 1 slice of bread, 1 banana, and 3oz grape juice. I had a little picnic outside the lab and felt bad for all the other women chugging the orange stuff. Worth asking around and seeing what your provider is open to!

KrisM86 · February 2013

I agree! My MWs gave me a list of choices. I ended up eating half a banana and drinking 8 oz of orange juice.

katie6/26/04 · February 2013

I don't get the big deal about the orange drink either.

kimmarie1105 · February 2013

Yeah, the orange drink wasn't that bad. Also, in the case of medical testing, I would be more inclined to follow my doctors orders than a midwife. I recognize the importance of a mid wife to those who have them and the significant role they play, however, they are not doctors. The orange drink is there for a reason.

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meheron80 · February 2013

Not sure if I would trust an alternative. The drink was made for a reason. Anyway, mine was the flat tasting sprite stuff. I poured it over ice to get it really cold and chugged it in two minutes on my drive there. Was no big deal.

JordynLeighx3 · February 2013

I would drink it again by choice. I like it lol

mypalbabs · February 2013

For a medical test that relies on precise numbers, I wouldn't mess around with substitutions. Does "banana" mean a big one, a little one, a medium sized one? They all have different carb loads. Is the bread white? Whole wheat? Dense, chewy bread or Wonderbread?

KrisM86 · February 2013

kimmarie1105:
Yeah, the orange drink wasn't that bad. Also, in the case of medical testing, I would be more inclined to follow my doctors orders than a midwife. I recognize the importance of a mid wife to those who have them and the significant role they play, however, they are not doctors. The orange drink is there for a reason.

I would just like to point out that midwives are just as qualified as doctors to provide ALL rouine prenatal care. That includes standard screenings and tests. CNMs have a Bachelor's in nursing and a Master's in midwifery. It's pretty insulting to insinuate they are incapable of performing glucose screenings. Doctors are only truly necessary in pregnancy if there are complications or high risks.

Smartie26 · February 2013

kimmarie1105:
Yeah, the orange drink wasn't that bad. Also, in the case of medical testing, I would be more inclined to follow my doctors orders than a midwife. I recognize the importance of a mid wife to those who have them and the significant role they play, however, they are not doctors. The orange drink is there for a reason.

Not all midwives agree with this, mine sure doesn't. I also trust my midwife more than any OB that we could have gone with.

I agree that the orange drink is there for a reason, it's a precisely measured level of glucose, with a high glycemic index that needs to be consumed in 5 mins. Eating toast, OJ, and a banana in lieu of the glucola doesn't make sense to me.

kimmarie1105 · February 2013

KrisM86:
kimmarie1105:
Yeah, the orange drink wasn't that bad. Also, in the case of medical testing, I would be more inclined to follow my doctors orders than a midwife. I recognize the importance of a mid wife to those who have them and the significant role they play, however, they are not doctors. The orange drink is there for a reason.
I would just like to point out that midwives are just as qualified as doctors to provide ALL rouine prenatal care. That includes standard screenings and tests. CNMs have a Bachelor's in nursing and a Master's in midwifery. It's pretty insulting to insinuate they are incapable of performing glucose screenings. Doctors are only truly necessary in pregnancy if there are complications or high risks.

First, what happened to this part of your post :

Also, I might add that the 1-hour test is simply a screening. If the numbers are high enough, you go for the 3 hour. I would assume the 3 hour needs to be more precise and I was referring to the 1 hour screening.

For which I was trying to respond to by saying that this makes no sense. A "screening" or a "test". Either way it relies on a specific dosage of glucose in order to determine if you need additional testing. GD can be dangerous if left untreated and I just dont see the logic in eating something not proven to accurately depict the specific outcome needed.

Furthermore, I did not insinuate anything about midwives. I said nothing to put them, their practice or the choice to have them down. In fact, I pointed out how important they are. What I said was, in fact, correct. They ARE NOT doctors. Yours may be a CNM but not all are. Additionaly, they cannot care for high risk patients, including those with GD. This is why when it comes to a test specifically for GD, I would rather go with what an OB says. Lets not turn my POV into a bash on MW's.

hlkay31 · February 2013

With my first pregnancy, I did my GD test in the States and had the orange drink. I am currently in SE Asia and I thought it was interesting that my test was mixed with green tea. Not sure I know which I preferred.

KrisM86 · February 2013

kimmarie1105:
KrisM86:
kimmarie1105:
Yeah, the orange drink wasn't that bad. Also, in the case of medical testing, I would be more inclined to follow my doctors orders than a midwife. I recognize the importance of a mid wife to those who have them and the significant role they play, however, they are not doctors. The orange drink is there for a reason.
I would just like to point out that midwives are just as qualified as doctors to provide ALL rouine prenatal care. That includes standard screenings and tests. CNMs have a Bachelor's in nursing and a Master's in midwifery. It's pretty insulting to insinuate they are incapable of performing glucose screenings. Doctors are only truly necessary in pregnancy if there are complications or high risks.

First, what happened to this part of your post :
Also, I might add that the 1-hour test is simply a screening. If the numbers are high enough, you go for the 3 hour. I would assume the 3 hour needs to be more precise and I was referring to the 1 hour screening.

For which I was trying to respond to by saying that this makes no sense. A "screening" or a "test". Either way it relies on a specific dosage of glucose in order to determine if you need additional testing. GD can be dangerous if left untreated and I just dont see the logic in eating something not proven to accurately depict the specific outcome needed.
Furthermore, I did not insinuate anything about midwives. I said nothing to put them, their practice or the choice to have them down. In fact, I pointed out how important they are. What I said was, in fact, correct. They ARE NOT doctors. Yours may be a CNM but not all are. Additionaly, they cannot care for high risk patients, including those with GD. This is why when it comes to a test specifically for GD, I would rather go with what an OB says. Lets not turn my POV into a bash on MW's.

My first post was eaten by the bump so I reposted and decided the part about the screening vs test was unnecessary and didn't have any bearing on my point about midwives.

You are right, not all midwives are CNMs but most (and any working in hospitals) are. My comments relate to CNMs and I should have specified that. Some actually CAN care for patients with GD. If I were diagnosed with GD, I would still be able to see my midwives, provided it was able to be controlled with diet.

My point is that there is no reason to trust CNMs less than OBs when it comes to routine prenatal care (and a glucose screening IS part of routine prenatal care.) We'll apparently have to agree to disagree about that.

nyki06 · February 2013

Although I don't have a problem with the sugar drink now, and definitely wouldn't go out of my way to avoid it, it would have been nice to have an alternative when I was dealing with severe morning sickness and had to take the glucose test.

hatroopes · February 2013

I don't get the big deal about the drink either - all the posts I read about it before taking my test made me think it was going to be horrible. And for the one-hour GTT, you don't even have to fast. It's really not a big deal!

gradbeth · February 2013

I didn't get the orange drink. Mine was fruit punch and it tasted exactly like fruit punch. No big deal. I agree with the pp who said that the drink is there for a reason and substitutions probably wouldn't give you a result that was as accurate. Why take the chance, especially on the border. If the cutoff is 35 ( or whatever) and you change everything up and get a 34, do you really feel confident that you and your baby are 100% healthy? You introduced another variable. Just drink the dang juice

KrisM86 · February 2013

gradbeth:
I didn't get the orange drink. Mine was fruit punch and it tasted exactly like fruit punch. No big deal. I agree with the pp who said that the drink is there for a reason and substitutions probably wouldn't give you a result that was as accurate. Why take the chance, especially on the border. If the cutoff is 35 ( or whatever) and you change everything up and get a 34, do you really feel confident that you and your baby are 100% healthy? You introduced another variable. Just drink the dang juice

If my qualified, very experienced health care professional says it's fine, yes. I am getting prenatal care from providers I trust completely, so yes. It's not like I (or the OP) just randomly are whatever we felt like and called it a day. Good lord.

tmrchi · February 2013

I'm definitely asking for an alternative next time. I agree that the orange drink is precisely measured, but there is no reason there should red dye #40 and sodium benzoate in it (I read the ingredients as I choked it down) I've also heard some places that let you drink pure grape juice or something more natural.

Also, yes it is a medical test, but I don't see how the size of a banana would throw off the test any more than the fact that I was told to fast for 2 hours first, and my coworkers were told they didn't need to.

Also I agree that Midwives and doctors are just as qualified for routine prenatal care. that comment was really insulting.

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