Early Gestational Diabetes - anyone else going through it?

knottie8ed38eae5787da2d · June 2018

Hi Mamas, given my family history, my OB had me do an early glucose test at 12 weeks, and it came back with a 93 when the cut off was 92. I’m now 14 weeks, on a strict low-carb diet, and while my numbers after meals look good, my morning/fasting blood sugars are elevated everyday. After a hard visit with the endocrinologist, I now have to give myself an insulin injection 2x day. Is anyone else going through this? My ultimate goal is of course to have a healthy baby, but the diagnosis has been hard, and I’d love to connect with anyone else going through something similar.

izza2 · June 2018

knottie8ed38eae5787da2d said:

Hi Mamas, given my family history, my OB had me do an early glucose test at 12 weeks, and it came back with a 93 when the cut off was 92. I’m now 14 weeks, on a strict low-carb diet, and while my numbers after meals look good, my morning/fasting blood sugars are elevated everyday. After a hard visit with the endocrinologist, I now have to give myself an insulin injection 2x day. Is anyone else going through this? My ultimate goal is of course to have a healthy baby, but the diagnosis has been hard, and I’d love to connect with anyone else going through something similar.

If it was just your fasting that was high, why are they making you take insulin multiple times a day?
If your postprandial numbers are good, the first course of action would be to start you on medium or long acting insulin at night time to get your fasting numbers under control...

But yes, there are plenty of women who are dealing with GD throughout their pregnancies.
I highly suggest finding your birth month board (for the month you're due) and finding/participating on their GD thread, or starting one if they haven't started one yet. It should be a great resource for information and support throughout the rest of your pregnancy.

CecilB93 · June 2018

Unfortunately I'm right there with you. And it's definitely been a hard thing to deal with. They made me do an early glucose test at 6 weeks because my BMI was apparently too high. Yes I'm "overweight", but not in the "obese" category, so that just pissed me off really. I have no personal Diabetes/pre-Diabetes history, no one in my family had issues, no GD with my previous son, nothing, just my damn weight (180 for anyone who's curious). But, I've been dealing with GD since then (now 14 weeks). I'm similar in the sense that my fasting number is the issue, after meals are typically fine unless I'm experimenting with a meal to see if or how much is "safe" for my numbers. I do agree though with @izza2 that it's really weird they're making you take insulin twice a day. I started by trying a pill once at night to keep my fasting numbers down. Unfortunately for me it either doesn't work, or I wake up with low blood sugar, so I'll be going on insulin probably next week after my next appointment. But, he said that it'll just be one shot a day, right before bedtime. It's, like PP mentioned, a slow acting insulin that should last a good 10-12 hours. But even with the fact that I have a slightly high after meal reading here and there, I'm only going to have to do the shot once a day, not multiple. I would definitely talk to your doctor about why you're taking it twice a day. I never saw an endocrinologist, just a high risk OB, so idk if that plays a role in the difference, but it still sounds weird to me.

Definitely come join the December 2018 board! We haven't started a GD thread yet, but I think I'm still the only person so far, maybe one other, so I was waiting until it wouldn't be a thread by myself, lol. We do have a High Risk thread though, so I post there about GD! Also, be sure to login to The Knot and change your username so we can get to know you better!

izza2 · June 2018

CecilB93 said:
I never saw an endocrinologist, just a high risk OB, so idk if that plays a role in the difference, but it still sounds weird to me.

To jump off this -- I do see an endocrinologist for my GD, and this was the first course of action (intermediate acting insulin at bedtime; NPH to be specific) because my fasting number was always high. She actually specifically put me on intermediate acting versus long acting because she didn't want to see my breakfast/lunch numbers drop since they were controlled at the time...

CecilB93 · June 2018

@izza2 interesting. My high risk OB actually just told me today that he wanted to put me on the long acting because the NPH only lasts about 2-3 hours max and is for after meals. I won't be able to start it until next Wednesday at the earliest (earliest I could get in with the diabetic nurse for education on injecting the insulin), so I won't know until then how it works for me.

Wishilivedinflorida · June 2018

You can inject NPH as well as levemir and lantus more than once a day if that’s the regimen the endocrinologist wants. Not out of the realm of possibility that OP injects twice daily for high fasting numbers.

izza2 · June 2018

CecilB93 said:

@izza2 interesting. My high risk OB actually just told me today that he wanted to put me on the long acting because the NPH only lasts about 2-3 hours max and is for after meals. I won't be able to start it until next Wednesday at the earliest (earliest I could get in with the diabetic nurse for education on injecting the insulin), so I won't know until then how it works for me.

Definitely consult with an endocrinologist before taking insulin, if that's what your OB said!!

NPH is intermediate acting - it has an onset of an hour to 4 hours, a peak of 4 to 12 hours, and a duration of up to 24 hours. It's meant for night time if you have a high fasting number.

Short acting insulin (regular), though, has a peak at an hour or two, so it's meant for after meals. It has an onset of like half an hour and can last up to 12 hours.

The long acting insulin is meant to kick in around an hour and last for 24 hours to keep your sugar levels even throughout the whole day.

CecilB93 · June 2018

Now that I'm rereading my comment, and since I met with the nurse educator for insulin administration today, I am on NPH for my fasting numbers. I didn't have my notes with me last time I commented, so I think I got confused on the acronym lol. This is all still so new to me, but I do know the insulin I have should last about 10-12 hours.

Early Gestational Diabetes - anyone else going through it?

Re: Early Gestational Diabetes - anyone else going through it?

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