GD Diagnosis

[silvershadow]

Hello! Has anyone here been diagnosed with gestational diabetes early into their pregnancy? I'm 13 weeks 4 days with my first pregnancy and I just got diagnosed today. For reference I'm 33 y/o, 5'5 and weigh 322 lbs (according to last check up) with PCOS. I guess my questions are: were you able to manage the diabetes through diet and exercise alone? How did you feel throughout it? Was the baby impacted in any way? I appreciate the help so much!

 

[tinashires]

@silvershadow I was. I started insulin soon after as after they reviewed my food intake, there weren't any changes to make. Insulin helped so so much, while I hated injecting 5x a day and testing 6x a day, it kept my baby safe and healthy and he had no blood sugar issues after birth

 

[silvershadow]

@tinashires Thank you so much for sharing this and congratulations on your beautiful and healthy baby! I needed this reassurance

 

[tinashires]

@silvershadow Just remember that insulin is a tool, not a judgement or a failure and thank you

 

[yytg12]

@silvershadow Try the r/gestationaldiabetes sub.

 

[silvershadow]

@yytg12 Thank you for this suggestion!

 

[yytg12]

@silvershadow No problem. Honestly try not to stress too much, no amount of stress will remove the diabetes. Even if you end up taking insulin, I promise it's less of a big deal than you think. And it's not a failure. I know it can feel that way because of all the social messaging around weight, diabetes and insulin, but honestly fuck that noise. You're going to have a healthy baby and the doctors will help. That's all there should be to it. I know it's hard to think that way, believe me, I know... But having gone through it, if only I could have told myself this in the beginning too.

 

[silvershadow]

@yytg12 I honestly could cry thank you so much for recognizing and validating this for me and for your guidance.You're a beautiful soul! thanks so much again!

 

[yytg12]

@silvershadow You're welcome. And P.S. if you do go on insulin, you will most likely be able to come off it after pregnancy. I actually had pre-existing type 2 diabetes before getting pregnant and my blood sugar normalized literally the next day after delivery and haven't needed insulin since. It's just that the placenta screws with your blood sugar AND the blood sugar targets during pregnancy are extremely strict (basically they want to imitate a body that doesn't have diabetes at all) out of an abundance of caution for the baby. My bub was born perfectly healthy, didn't even have low blood sugar at birth (which is sometimes a risk in diabetic pregnancies but also extremely easily fixed by just giving him some formula or breastmilk at birth). Anyway, a big hug!

 

[dutyandthebeast]

@yytg12 Same for me. I tested for 2 weeks after delivery and my numbers fell DRAMATICALLY at about 48 hrs post delivery. Gonna bring a CGM to put on again after my csection this time and excited to see that happen again haha.

 

[ichron1217]

@yytg12 YES! Amazing group over there

 

[ayanda]

@yytg12 I would just keep a cautious eye on that sub. I’m on it too but there are a lot of non-plus size women on there that are very concerned gaining/loosing weight and lots of talk of diets/restrictions (which is to be expected) but it can get kind of triggering at times. Like I just saw a post about someone who is now 200 lbs and the comments are…not it.

 

[yytg12]

@ayanda That's true, op, I would be careful of that too. Fatphobia permeats everything. Even in the "pregnancy for people with pre-existing diabetes" sub, some T1 diabetics harp on about how they're so "brittle" and "tiny" and have to force themselves to eat and have always maintained "healthy habits and it shows". Yeah, because your body is still sensitive to insulin so it's not stockpiling fat like there's no tomorrow. Anyway, you always have to be careful and not get swept up in fatphobia shaming. Literally in every circumstance in life. It's the worst. But yeah I stopped going to the r/gestationaldiabetes because of the "you're not really diabetic like those other people with diabetes who are actually gross" narrative.

 

[marjmorris]

@yytg12 Here's a sneak peek of /r/GestationalDiabetes using the top posts of the year!

#1: Graduated | 18 comments

#2: When baby is born, I'm going to tell people "In lieu of flowers, please bring carbs."

#3: Tell me you've graduated without telling me you graduated | 36 comments

[sup][sup]I'm[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]a[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]bot,[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]beep[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]boop[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]|[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]Downvote[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]to[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]remove[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]|[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]Contact[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]|[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]Info[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]|[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]Opt-out[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]|[/sup][/sup] [sup][sup]GitHub[/sup][/sup]

 

[r3yu]

@silvershadow I was diagnosed at 8 weeks, diet control didn’t work very well for me and I’ve been on metformin plus night time insulin for a while now. It’s very frustrating, especially in the beginning because the number of carbs you’re eating can be in range but still spike your blood sugar and it takes some trial and error to learn your limits. I also blamed myself a lot on the beginning. Once you understand that it’s hormones and not you “not trying hard enough” it gets easier. I’m 26 weeks now and baby is doing great.

 

[dutyandthebeast]

@r3yu Also frustrating because sometimes, you just can’t overcome the hormonal effects. My lunch and supper numbers will be great and I actually can take a little bit of freedom within reason for my lunch meals in particular. Breakfast I measure and weigh everything, and will STILL spike. 30g of protein with my 30g of carbs, steel cut oats with Splenda, and sometimes my body just does whatever it wants anyways. I talk with a diabetic nurse once a week and she said the elevated fasting and breakfast sugars are classic patterns of insulin resistance and sometimes there’s just nothing you can do but take more insulin as things progress.

 

[slowmarathoner]

@silvershadow I was diagnosed at 5 weeks (I have PCOS, too). I started insulin around 20 weeks at night only, and by the end of the pregnancy, I was on 3 types of insulin and injecting 5x/day. I was religious about my diet and walked every day, but my placenta and pancreas needed more support. I'm incredibly grateful for insulin. It doesn't cross the placenta, and I had no complications at all.

 

[requiredname]

@silvershadow Hi! I was diagnosed at 10 weeks. I'm 5'3", 240 lbs, and also have PCOS. Only my fasting numbers were an issue (they ranged from 95-105 before being medicated) until I reached 34 weeks when I had some after dinner highs, on and off now, but nothing serious. I did read that weeks 32-36 are the worst, so it makes sense. I started insulin at 10 weeks before bed and have had to increase my dosage. I started at 10 units and am currently at 34 units before bed. Diet and exercise alone were not enough for me, unfortunately. I'm sure the PCOS has a big influence. Baby has been great!! She is currently 6.5 lbs at 36 weeks, which is in the 75 percentile for weight. My doctors seem very happy with that size but have told me I'll probably be induced sometime in the 38th week, just in case.

 

[firesofmylife]

@requiredname Hi there. I know this maybe random but if I may ask, with PCOS and the weight, were you able to conceive easily?

 

[requiredname]

@firesofmylife Absolutely not! My husband and I have been together for 15 years and never once even had a pregnancy scare. We tried for a baby for 6 years before ever getting pregnant. My doctors had recommended we try IVF, but it didn't feel right for me. I also have hypothyroidism, so that was another obstacle. I ended switched to brand Synthroid for my hypothyroidism and added inositol to my metformin intake for my PCOS, and it seemed to do the trick. I also read many articles that symptoms in women with PCOS tend to decrease as we age, so that could've also been helpful, as I got pregnant at 31.