All You Need To Know About Gestational Diabetes

The gestational diabetes (gestational diabetes mellitus) is a form of diabetes, which is diagnosed during pregnancy.

The development of gestational diabetes during pregnancy is caused by hormonal changes. Due to the pregnancy hormone, it can cause hormone level changes and they can sometimes block insulin, which controls the body’s glucose level.

The placenta is also affected by the different mechanism of sugar metabolism: antibodies, both of which inhibit the formation of insulin, on the other hand, directly degrade the insulin itself. These effects are due to an overall increase in insulin resistance , or blood sugar lowering effect of insulin waning.

Women are at risk of having gestational diabetes when they are around 30 years of age, has obesity, a family history of diabetes, previous history of gestational diabetes during pregnancy, gave birth to a child weighing more than 4000 grams, unexplained intrauterine death, recurrent miscarriages, gestational hypertension, recurrent urinary tract infections
malformations.

The attainment of desirable body weight, keeping a balanced diet and adequate exercise during pregnancy is all we can do to reduce the risk of the disease.

The Symptoms of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus:

Fortunately, having gestational diabetes is not life threatening and symptoms are usually mild.

  1. Some women experience blurred vision
  2. Fatigue is also common
  3. Those that has GDS also experience frequent infections of the bladder, vagina, and skin
  4. Increased thirst is also a symptom same as the symptom of those affected by Diabetes
  5. Increased urination
  6. Some women experience nausea and vomiting even after the first trimester
  7. Weight loss can occur despite increased appetite

Gestational Diabetes can also affect the fetus. Without proper treatment, the fetus may not develop at the right pace as it should, and may incur various disorders, including heart and lungs. Sometimes, the fetus can become too big which would complicate normal delivery.

[box type=”important”]However, if the glucose level of the mother is controlled with appropriate treatment, the chance of fetal complications is very small. Therefore, it is very important that pregnant women regularly take part in the prenatal check ups, and take the tests required for any treatment that may be instructed by the doctor.[/box]

THINGS TO DO  if you have gestational diabetes:

  • In-order control blood sugar levels during pregnancy please talk to your physician/ health care provider on how to monitor them effectively in different situations and make a note of it.
  • Don’t forget to get tested for diabetes 6-12 weeks after the delivery and 1-2 years there after.
  • Plan before hand and be well prepared with the best available health insurance plans available.
  • Research showed that children who are breastfed are less likely to get diabetes in their adulthood.
  • Please speak to your health care provider/family physician at least 4-5 months prior, if you are planning for pregnancy again.

Hope the above information on Gestational diabetes will help you live better without any problems. Further if you need any more help please comment below…  we will surely help you in giving the best advice possible !

Dr Rajesh

Rajesh Moganti is Medical Doctor. He is the editor of i Health Blogger

3 thoughts on “All You Need To Know About Gestational Diabetes

  • March 17, 2013 at 10:15 pm
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    Gestational diabetes is one more type of the diabetes and Obesity doubles risk of gestational diabetes. So the regular checkup and balance diet can make big difference.

    Reply
  • October 22, 2012 at 4:43 am
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    The only way to effectively beat diabetes is to restore the natural balance between your body and your pancreas.

    Drop the chips and run away; processed foods are the best way to keep your body at war with insulin – each trying to one up the other in battle. So stay away from junk food – cookies, chips, fried food – basically anything to eat that you’d have to reach into a bag or box to get. These foods feed your diabetes and keep it working against you. Plus those foods are loaded with preservatives…so it can sit on the shelf forever and the companies don’t lose money on spoiled goods!

    Reply
  • October 19, 2012 at 5:51 pm
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    Thanks for this info however, it is very misleading. You are suggesting that uncontrolled gestational diabetes leads to malformations in the fetus. This actually occurs in the first three months of pregnancy due to the fact that the woman has undiagnosed diabetes which led to the malformations. There has bee no strong link found between malformations and GD. however, if you already had diabetes before becoming pregnant then there is an increased risk of cleft lip, heart malformation, and other problems. You need to do more research, for example the HAPO study found a weak correlation between GD and adverse perinatal outcomes even with treatment.

    Reply

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