Gestational Diabetes: Signs, Causes, and Natural Ways to Treat It
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Gestational Diabetes: Signs, Causes, and Natural Ways to Treat It:
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that only affects pregnant women. Normally, our bodies take the food we eat and turn it into glucose ( which is a type of sugar) that enters our bloodstream. In response, our pancreas sends insulin to help move that glucose from our blood to our cells where it’s used as energy. Without adequate insulin, blood sugar levels can build up in our blood, which is a problem.
Although the exact cause of gestational diabetes isn’t known, most doctors think it’s connected to hormones that the placenta makes.
It’s estimated that 9.2% of women will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes during their pregnancy.
What Are the Signs of Gestational Diabetes?
If your blood sugar is high, you’d know right away, right? Not necessarily. Most women don’t have any symptoms of gestational diabetes.
Other mamas experience:
increased thirst, increased urination, fatigue, and vaginal infections.
But what’s confusing is that all of those are also general pregnancy symptoms!
That’s why most midwive’s and doctor’s offices follow a general procedure called a Glucola test between weeks 24-28 of pregnancy.
For the test, you drink Glucola, which is a syrupy drink that contains 50 — yes, 5-0 — grams of sugar. It tastes like flat orange soda or flat lemon lime soda. Gross! We’ll talk more about that in a minute. After one hour, your blood sugar levels are checked. This test is sometimes called “the one-hour test” for that reason.
So if you fail, do you automatically have gestational diabetes? No.
If you fail the 1-hour test it means you’re at risk for developing gestational diabetes. You’ll need to take a second test — called the 3-hour test — to officially confirm diabetes (or not). The test is similar, except the sugar dosage is higher — ugh! — and you have to wait three hours instead of one.
If you fail the 3-hour test: You’re diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
If this sounds super gross to you, then you’re not alone. Many mamas find this syrupy concoction to be too much. Most feel sick or even throw up after drinking the glucola — which is a big bummer because you have to redo the test if that happens!
There’s other problems with glucola too. Take a peek at the label and you’ll see:
Artificial colors
Artificial flavors
GMO corn syrup
glycerol ester made from wood pulp
brominated vegetable oil
So, what can you do about it?
Well, talk to your midwife or doctor. But usually you’ll have a few options.
You can try a different sugary food. Some healthcare providers will allow you to consume 50 grams of sugar from juice, jelly beans, or dates instead. There's even something called The Fresh Test which gives you the 50 grams of glucose with organic ingredients
Or, you can get a hemoglobin A1C screening: This test is done in the first or early second trimester. It tells you if you’ll develop diabetes later on, but it won’t be accurate if you’re dehydrated or anemic.
Or you can track your own blood sugar levels: Some doctors will let you track your blood sugar levels at home for two weeks with an at-home blood sugar meter.
WHAT HAPPENS if you’re diagnosed with gestational diabetes?
First, don’t worry mama. It is usually possible to manage gestational diabetes with just diet and exercise.
Here are 8 ways to combat gestational diabetes naturally:
Cut back on carbs, eat your greens and veggies, be sure you’re not D deficient, boost magnesium, get sleep, cut the late night snacking, get moving
Whew, a lot to consider. But know this… in most cases gestational diabetes is manageable with good diet and exercise. Work closely with your doctor to be sure your sugars are in good range as you don’t want to deal with the complications of unmanaged gestational diabetes.
And what are those, you ask?
For baby, shoulder dystocia, low blood sugar for baby at birth, jaundice, and respiratory problems.
For you, it can increase your risk of c-section, preeclampsia or pre-term birth.
It’s hard to get good sleep with insomnia in pregnancy…lol but these tips are great! Thank you! Is there a magnesium you recommend that doesn’t upset your stomach/cause a lot of gas?
My obgyn recommended magnesium citrate! I got some in the nature made gummy brand and haven’t had any stomach issues 🙂
Potatoes are not a healthy carbohydrate and fruit is just sugar. Fructose is still Sugar.
@Vivian Velasquez that is not healthy juice is even worse fruit can damage you liver. Especially Consuming large amounts of fructose-rich fruits can result in inflammation and fatty liver. This is because the sugar present in fruits, known as fructose, can cause abnormal amounts of fat in the blood when consumed in large amounts. We were mislead that fruit was so healthy for us. Starches and Carbohydrates are bad. Potatoes Pasta Bread And Rice.
This is no joke the government lied / about Food and dairy.
@Vincent Wiese definitely wouldn’t put it pass government to lie to everyone lol
I’m sure at some point fruit used to be healthy. It’s hard to believe any fruit is unhealthy D:
@Vivian Velasquez Eating fruit causes a fatty liver. It’s the liver that stores fructose then it causes irreversible liver damage. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/abundance-of-fructose-not-good-for-the-liver-heart
@Vincent Wiese thanks for the article – the article you sent also said this too, “Experts still have a long way to go to connect the dots between fructose and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Higher intakes of fructose are associated with these conditions, but clinical trials have yet to show that it causes them.
Still, it’s worth cutting back on fructose. But don’t do it by giving up fruit. Fruit is good for you and is a minor source of fructose for most people. The big sources are refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
The American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of sugar you get from sugar-sweetened drinks, pastries, desserts, breakfast cereals, and more, mainly to avoid gaining weight. The same strategy could also protect your liver and your arteries.”
Starches are great and mecessary to feed some good bacteria in our dogestove system…
I failed my 1 hour in my first trimester and three hours this Thursday my doctor thinks I had diabetes before I got pregnant I ensured her I didn’t I’m waiting for a nutritionist to contact me meanwhile I been working out every since thirsty is pre-diabetes or high sugar levels related to pregnancy? I catched my sugar today once it was 120 it that reading bad? I’m concerned for my health and most definitely the baby boy as well
Determining if glucose readings are too high is really dependent on the time of day and how long ago you ate. Meeting with a nutritionist will help you educate yourself on all of this! And if you are diagnosed with diabetes this early in your pregnancy it can unfortunately be a sign that you were developing diabetes before becoming pregnant. The good news is that you can control it well through diet and exercise with some determination and good information sharing with your doctor!
@Mama Natural I wasn’t developing diabetes before I got pregnant wasn’t told I have it now my doctor said it was pre diabetes and okay thanks
Good counsel.
😉
Is it common that the actual drink can make you sick for days? I was sick for a day after the 1 hour test but sick for 2 days & felt horrible for another day after my 3 hour
Many women report feeling awful after doing this screening ???
Me too. …and the baby moved so much immediately and after that no movement at all that freaked me out….
The glucola is not that bad at all lol people freak out over the stuff
Lots of mamas don’t have an issue with it but lots of mamas do…it’s an individual choice, everyone just needs all the info!
Are you supportive of women with diet controlled GD having a home birth?
I’m not a medical professional, and cannot make a broad statement for or against that—it may be safe for some and not for others! It’s really about informed consent and shred decision making between a homebirth provider and the parents.
My diabetes disease was eliminated with the help of dr adule powerful natural herbal remedies. you can get in touch with him on YouTube.he cure so many disease and infection like Hiv HPV herpes etc..