My wife has been diagnosed with
gestational diabetes and she seems to be
taking it pretty hard. And, rightfully
so, I suppose. I am trying to be
supportive, but I am an "information"
person. Without it, I just feel lost and
my support is lessened.
At her sugar tests with the physician, she
was highest after fasting (20 points too
high) and right after meals (2 points too
high). After a consult with a diabetes
specialist, we have begun a diet to combat
the high levels. Primarily, lower
(contolled) carbohydrates.
Oddly enough, her blood sugar levels are
acceptable during the day. In the morning
(prior to eating), her levels are highest,
or after fasting. Today was her first
"self test" and registered 99. She ate
breakfast and tested and hour later which
was high also. But, all subsequent tests
during the day were "normal", even after
meals. She believes a test three hours
after a meal would be high also, due to
the long period after eating.
Why would lack of eating cause blood sugar
to elevate? How can we keep the levels
lower other than diet and
exercise...Timing? Any help would be
greatly appreciated. I will also
croos-post into the pregnancy forum of
this site. Thanks!
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vgray77
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 21 Nov 2003 Posts: 9 Location: Tenn
Posted: 12-25-03 12:07pm
Hi:
there are a lot of good diabetes sites
online. I use google as a search engine.
Just search for diabetes, diabetic,
gestational diabetes, and a new one to me
glycemic index. There are a lot of
factors that affect blood sugar levels.
With diabetes the body doesn’t produce
enough insulin and/or is unable to use
insulin properly, causing one’s blood
glucose or "sugar" to rise too high.
Diabetes can be treated with diet,
exercise, medication or a combination of
the three. When I started my treatment
with medication and diet, it took a couple
of weeks to get control. I had to learn
how many carbs I could eat at a meal.
When I added exercise I had to eat more
carbs to keep my sugar from going to low.
That let me eat a healthy diet, loose
weight, and keep my sugar in a normal
range.
Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of
all pregnant women. During some women’s
pregnancy hormones from the placenta that
help the baby develop also block the
action of the mother's insulin in her
body. Left untreated or poorly
controlled gestational diabetes can hurt
your baby. While gestational diabetes
usually goes away after pregnancy, some
women will go on to develop type 2
diabetes years later.
Every now and then even though I ate the
right number of carbs my sugars would go
crazy. Then I found out about the
glycemic index and glycemic load. All
carbs are not created the same. The
glycemic index measures how fast a food is
likely to raise your blood sugar. If a
food is composed of complex carbohydrate
(starch), it will break down into sugar
more slowly in your body than food
composed of simple carbohydrates (sugars).
The rate at which a food raises
someone’s blood sugar is called the
glycemic response. It depends on the
type of carb, the way the food was
processed, the amount and the way the food
was cooked.
