Health And Medical Doctrine

Diabetes is called gestational only if it is during pregnancy

Gestational diabetes is the diabetes that is identified only when the woman is pregnant. The diabetes will be said to be gestational if there was no prior symptoms of diabetes before the pregnancy and the symptoms disappears as soon as the baby is born.

However in some cases the women may be suffering from diabetes which was not yet diagnosed, or she may be prone to suffering diabetes and the pregnancy can trigger the factors of developing diabetes when the woman becomes pregnant.

This is why the women have to be put on the check up after the baby is born to identify if it was gestational diabetes or any other type of diabetes.

Taking care of an a gestational diabetes patient

If the gestational diabetes cannot be controlled by the diet, then there also a risk of the woman to fall in under hypoglycemia when she takes the insulin. If a woman is on insulin, the symptom that may show that she is falling in hypoglycemia is hunger, paleness, shaking or sweating.

As the woman is being taught about how to take the insulin, she should also learn on how to recognize the symptoms of hypoglycemia. If you are taking insulin, you have also to keep sugary drink around you.

You have to let your friends and relatives to know about your gestational diabetes and what to do when you fall in hypoglycemia since you may become unconscious when it happens.

After the baby is born, your blood sugar and that of the baby will be monitored to make sure that they become normal. It is advised to breastfeed the child before 30 minutes after giving birth to him to balance his blood sugar level.

If you were on medication, you will have to quit them after giving birth and you should be kept on check up until it is clear that it was real gestational diabetes not any other type of diabetes.

Since many people who develop gestational diabetes may develop type 2 diabetes later in life. They have to live a healthy lifestyle like a balanced diet, regular exercising and maintaining a good weight for the height. The following are tests done to identify if the woman is suffering gestational diabetes.

Non challenge blood glucose tests

When the glucose level is high after sometime of fasting or in any other occasion and it is confirmed for different occasions then a gestational diabetes is diagnosed. These tests are normally conducted on the first visit, however even if they are cheap they are not sensitive enough.

Screen glucose challenge test

Here a woman is given glucose and after sometime, it is assessed on how the body tolerated it on interval times. It is then assessed if the woman is suffering from gestational diabetes.

Sometime it may be necessary for every woman to pass through this test to identify who are suffering or who are not suffering. However, some doctors are against this, since they say that they are subjecting some women to this taste unnecessarily.

Oral glucose tolerance test

It is the test done in the morning and the woman is subjected to diet and limited physical activity, and she should not smoke during the time of testing.