Understand gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that sometimes develops during pregnancy but it usually disappears once the baby is born. Statistic shows that there are approximately 4% of all pregnant women are affected by gestational diabetes. It occurs when the expectant mother’s pancreas cannot make enough insulin, causing the body not able to regulate the glucose and it normally noted in the second or third trimester. Left untreated, gestational diabetes can cause harm to the fetus and also to the mother.
In fact, some women are more likely to develop gestational diabetes than others if they fall on below categories:
- have family history of diabetes
- experienced gestational diabetes during previous pregnancy
- are overweight before pregnancy
- have a history of high blood sugar
- gain too much weight during pregnancy
- have given birth of large baby in the past (over 8 lbs)
- are African descent, Hispanic, or Native American
During pregnancy, placenta will produce a multitude of different hormones to help the baby grow and develop. These same hormones however make it tougher for the expectant mother’s body to use insulin, causing the insulin resistance. This does not cause a problem in most cases, because the pancreas will step up the production when the need for insulin increases. Anyway, when a pregnant woman's pancreas cannot keep up with the insulin demand, the blood sugar level will get high, resulting in gestational diabetes.
Symptoms of gestational diabetes are actually similar to other diabetes symptoms. They include frequent urination, frequent thirst and hunger, feeling of tired out more than is usual, unusual weight loss, increased fatigue, blurred vision, frequent skin rash or infection and also vomiting.
Gestational diabetes treatment
Gestational diabetes can actually be treated and controlled by simply using a combination of diet and exercise, and most of the time they work. The level of changes that are necessary are depend on how poor of habits the women have to begin with. Normally, their changes consist of going on a low-sugar and low-carb eating plan. This is very important as gestational diabetes brings a risk of the baby of getting too large during its gestational period, causing earlier delivery and other negative impacts both to the mother and baby.
Besides adjust your diet habit and perform regular exercise, it is recommended to include daily blood glucose testing, and if necessary, insulin injections. So, please work closely with your doctor, nurse practitioner or other members of your health care team so that your gestational diabetes treatment can be adjusted as needed.
Conclusion
If you are pregnant or are thinking of becoming pregnant in the near future, kindly take some time to learn about ways to prevent gestational diabetes. Remember, prevention is always a better option than finding ways of solution to high blood sugar level. Of course, we should perform regular exercise and eat healthy diet for overall health purpose. Start practicing now and you should be able to avoid dealing with gestational diabetes in your pregnancy in the future.
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