Question re: sugar levels (GD ladies)+

Richardsmom_817 · September 2014

I don't have my appt w/ nutritionist until tomorrow, so I will ask here....so I checked my sugar after 1 hour (171) & after 2 hours (179), go figure....I believe below 120 is the ideal, but mine went up....does anyone do insulin? What point did your doc decide to put you on insulin? I just want to work on ways to get this fluid level down....

turtles7 · September 2014

I have no advice but I hope you are able to control your levels soon. My doctor advised I would be put on insulin if I'm consistently over the recommended range (90 for fasting and 120 two hours after a meal).

Richardsmom_817 · September 2014

@turtles7 - how long is your doc giving you to get numbers in check? My fasting is great..always....

Lilwatz · September 2014

I think every doctor is different. Mine was most concerned about fasting numbers and said f they didn't go down with diet we'd try the pills. If those didn't work, then insulin.

Good luck!!!

lil_shocker · September 2014

I think they try the pills first then insulin if that doesn't work. At least, for me that's what they said. My fasting numbers aren't quite right and I still have ketones, but this weekend my fasting numbers have been good so as long as they stay, I can stay off the pill. But if you are high other parts of the day, that may be completely different.

120 seems low for a target range. I am set for 130 and the clinic tends to be on the lower end for their limits.

mockingjay1 · September 2014

I'm not sure what your diet is like, but after meeting with the nutritionalist you should have a better idea of what to eat. At the class I had to take the dietician individualized how many servings of carbs, proteins, and fats each person should have for each meal and snack of the day. Maybe you're eating too many carbs at one meal, especially if they aren't whole grains/fruits/veggies?

I'm no help on the medication vs insulin front. I know my doc/hospital wants fasting levels <90 and two hour levels <120.

Good luck!

KMW08 · September 2014

I'm no help on the med front. My office wants fasting to be below 90 and 2hrs after meals 120 or less.

The nutritionist will teach you how to count carbs (two ways) to maintain your levels. So far I've found that as long as I do proportions and have protein as a balance, my numbers are steady.

turtles7 · September 2014

My levels are under control now and am not on a "watch list" for insulin yet.

Loopyseven · September 2014

I also had the guideline of <90 for fasting and <120 2 hours after eating. I was never told to count carbs, but given the general rule of thumb. Divide your plate into quarters. 1/2 should be leafy greens and vegetables, 1/4 lean protein, and 1/4 complex carbs (includes whole grains and starchy vegetables like corn/potatoes). By following that guideline (although breakfast is lots of dairy and protein and not so much with the veggies/greens, but I do toss some spinach in my eggs a lot of the time, but I'm not having issues) I've been able to hold pretty steady. I see a huge difference if I have a piece of whole grain toast vs. a piece of white bread toast with breakfast, so pay attention to what those carbs are cause the whole grain does help. Use sweet potatoes, brown or wild rice, whole grain breads.

Hope you can get things under control soon.

Deardra77 · September 2014

hi!

This is my 2nd pregnancy with GD. First time around for about half the time the targets were 95 or below @ fasting & 140 or below @ 1 hour postprandial but then the recommendations were updated due to current research & changed to 90 fasting & 130 postprandial. The idea is to control as close to a non blood sugar challenged person's numbers as possible. I've seen some women this time around (funny last time I was pregnant I didn't hear of many women talking about testing at 2 hours rather than 1) testing at 2 hours for 120 or below but by experience I know for me to be over 120 as far out as 2 hours I'd have to have eaten pretty terribly and my 1 hour number would be reaaaaly bad.

I set an alarm when I take my first bite of food @ meal time and when it goes off an hour later I test. My instructions are that food has to be completed within 30 minutes of starting. This is usually fine but is challenging at restaurants.

In my first pregnancy when my numbers started to get more challenging they wanted me to start on glyburide. I did some research on it & decided I wasn't very comfortable with the drug during pregnancy & would prefer to go with insulin as it better mimics natural control & body chemicals. I'd had experience of lots of injections through IVF so it wasn't intimidating to do the injections. If you find yourself in that situation please don't stress at all. The insulin needles are TINY! Like honestly you really hardly even feel them. You'll notice it less than the finger pricks. It's a bit of a mentally difficult thing to give yourself the first few but it doesn't hurt at all and after the first 3 or 4 you'll be over it. This is coming from someone that used to lie down when giving blood so I wouldn't pass out!

When you are following the assigned GD diet you're numbers will drop from hour 1 to 2. When it is off track quite a bit you can see little reduction from one hour to the next & even an increase. For me I have found that starch is usually what does this to me. You'll learn over time what affects you. Best advice I can give you is make sure you have an accurate weighing scales for everything you eat & log everything you eat and the associated blood sugar levels & it will help you best identify what works well for you & they can be your go to meals & what makes your numbers crazy, everyone is slightly different on how their body works. Pregnancy brain makes it hard without writing your food intake down to easily spot trends.

Diet I have to follow is as follows:

no milk or fruit before lunch time (hormones are higher & numbers therefore harder to control in the am), no fruit at snacks, no cold cereal ever, no fruit juice ever, where food has a list of ingredients no food where any of the first ingredients are sugars (they told the class to look out for -ose at the end of a word to signify sugar) and a bunch of other outright prohibitions. Personally I have found that bananas and pastry are completely out even in quantities where they are within my carb count numbers.

For lunch and dinner it is a max of 2 servings of starches ( so that's 30 carbs), 1 serving of fruit (15g) and 1 serving dairy (15g). I have found that really anything about 20g of starches makes my numbers bad. Every time I eat carbs I need to be sure to eat at least a portion of protein. Not overeating on carbs can still result in a very high number if you haven't correctly balanced with protein. Fat helps to slow down glucose digestion too so that helps. Its weird to think that for my current dietary needs that having fruit with whipped cream is healthier that fruit by itself! Some things like this on the GD diet is counterintuitive like this.

Insulin allows you to best control numbers and at the end of the day that's what matters. If a number is very high at 1 hour you can give yourself some additional insulin to bring the number down faster so you baby isn't stewing in the high glucose. BUT BE VERY CAREFUL with this & your physician may not recommend for you as you are so close to the end and it really does take time to learn your body & how you respond to doses etc. and most likely you wouldn't have gotten a good control on that by the end of your pregnancy to use insulin safely in that postprandial manner. For sure something you would want to discuss with your Dr before doing. You really need to be very mindful to avoid lows as they can be very dangerous.

If you find you got a high number at 1 hour you can drink a glass or 2 or water & immediately go for a brisk walk & this will help your numbers drop faster.

Good luck tomorrow! Really don't stress if they suggest insulin, really doesn't hurt, really TINY needles & controlling you numbers as tightly as possible will lead to the best outcome for you & your baby.

Nfranco973 · September 2014

At this point I am just working on diet. I have been watching my carbs, not skipping meals and making sure that I have a small snack before bed which usually helps my Morning Fast numbers. My doc is really funny about giving medicine unless totally necessary so I have been keeping a food diary and checking sugar levels 4 times a day. I also have the 90 fasting and 120 after 2 hrs of eating meal guideline to follow.
Once you see the dietician, you will learn keeping them under control has a lot to do with what you eat. Exercise helps a lot as PP mentioned. A walk or even cleaning up the house a bit has helped me. Good luck with everything and remember you can do it!

lil_shocker · September 2014

From what my providers told me, if I were to use insulin, I can no longer deliver or see the midwives as that would classify me as high risk. So check with your provider (prenatal, not dietician) about what restrictions or new monitoring you may face with added medicine, too.

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Question re: sugar levels (GD ladies)+

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