Gestational Diabetes:
The Risk Factors and the Symptoms
You're
thrilled to discover your carrying a little bundle of joy!All is going well until one day you discover, at a
routine prenatal visit with your OB/GYN, that you may have
gestational diabetes.But
you feel fine and have not had one symptom out of the
ordinary pregnant woman spectrum of aches and pains.What is gestational diabetes and does it have any
symptoms?Are
there risk factors that you weren't aware of?The questions tumble about searching for answers.
Gestational
diabetes occurs in anywhere from 2% to 6% of pregnant women
who were not previously diabetic.It usually makes an appearance in the second half of the
pregnancy. Insulin, produced in the pancreas, breaks down
sugar to create energy for the body.When not enough insulin is manufactured the glucose
levels rise in the blood causing diabetes.In pregnant women with gestational diabetes the
elevated sugar in the blood enters the placenta and in turn
the fetus may produce more insulin to compensate for the
higher glucose levels.The other forms of diabetes, types 1 and 2 are
permanent conditions that can be managed and controlled but
not cured.Gestational
diabetes, on the other hand, usually disappears shortly
after giving birth
Often a
pregnant woman will exhibit no symptoms, but through a urine
test, blood test, or a suspicious doctor it is discovered.Exactly what causes this condition to develop is not
known at this time, but there are risk factors that every
woman considering becoming pregnant should be aware of.
Risk
factors Include:
Adult
onset diabetes runs in your family
You’re
over the age of 35
You’re
obese
In
the past you’ve given birth to a large baby
In
the past you’ve given birth to a baby with
abnormalities
You’ve
experienced still birth late in pregnancy
Often times
a woman experiences no symptoms at all, but the symptoms of
type 2 diabetes may occur in gestational diabetes also.Some of the symptoms are the same as a woman in a
normal pregnancy would exhibit.Those symptoms are:
Extreme
thirst
An
increased need to urinate.
Hunger
Fatigue
(These first four symptoms are often conditions that
occur during the last trimester of a pregnancy)
Blurred
vision
Frequent
infections such as infections of the bladder or vagina.
Excessive
weight gain during pregnancy.
If your physician suspects gestational diabetes he
will order a glucose tolerance test sometime between the 24th
and 28th weeks of pregnancy.There is no doubt that having gestational diabetes is
not healthy for you or your baby, but it can be controlled.If the glucose levels are high enough, taking insulin
for the duration of the pregnancy will keep it in check.Through eating a healthy diet, exercising appropriate
to your pregnancy, and carefully monitoring your glucose
levels, the condition known as gestational diabetes can be
managed.Just
remember not only will you deliver a bouncing bundle of
baby, but shortly after giving birth the gestational
diabetes will likely disappear.
