Gestational diabetes – signs, symptoms and glucose tolerance tests

This is the type of diabetes that only emerges when you conceive or get pregnant. Impaired glucose intolerance or if it progresses to gestational diabetes or GED, is one of the most common health problems that most pregnant women (or around 10 percent of them) encounter. This is when they register higher levels of glucose or sugar in the blood.

Pregnant women have a harder time responding to insulin due to hormonal changes. For most women, the pancreas can keep up with this problem by secreting more insulin. The problem lies when it is not enough, resulting to GED. The good news for most women who get afflicted with GED is that after giving birth, the condition goes away. However, when you get this type of condition in your recent pregnancy you might have it again in your future conceptions and even later on when you grow older in life.

Signs of gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes symptoms do not manifest any type of symptoms, but it can be seen once a woman undergoes glucose-screening test between the 6th to the 7th month of pregnancy.

However if you are a likely candidate for GED such as when there are high levels of sugar on your urine during the initial visit to your gynecologist then this test will be administered earlier.

Who are at risk for GED? Here are some of them:

• Strong family history of diabetes.
• You have high blood pressure.
• You have sugar in your urine.
• You’re obese.
• You’re over 35.
• You’ve had a baby with a birth defect.
• You’ve had an unexplained stillbirth.
• You’ve had GED in a previous pregnancy.
• You’ve previously given birth to a big baby. Cut off is around 8 pounds, 13 ounces
• too much amniotic fluid

There are risks when you develop GED. One of these is that it can result in an increased rate of miscarriage or birth defects in early pregnancy. Most of the time it is the fetal organs that are affected by untreated GED are the heart and the brain.

During the later part of the pregnancy GED can affect the growth of the fetus and may result to a very large baby, or over-nutrition. When this occurs it may result to a caesarean delivery.

Another danger is when the baby suffers from hyperinsulinemia. After birth, the baby’s blood sugar can drop to a minimal since it is no longer getting the high sugar content is used to get from the mother.

If you seek proper treatment, you can still have a bouncing, healthy baby even if you have GED.

Gestational diabetes test: Glucose screening and glucose tolerance tests

All pregnant women must be tested for GED. Screening for GED includes determining risk factors, medical history and sugar levels. One of the most common tests administered is the oral glucose tolerance test.

Oral Glucose Tolerance Test for GED

This is the test normally given between 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy, but if you are at risk then this test can be given as early as the 13th week of pregnancy.

What happens during this test is that the pregnant woman will be asked to drink Glucola or a sweetened drink that has 50g of glucose content. This will then be quickly absorbed by the body within an half to one hour of consumption. A blood sample will be taken for testing and will measure the glucose levels that were processed by your body within that time.

When your glucose level is more than 130 mg/dL then this is already considered high, and you may have to retake the test just to make sure. It can be done for up to four times, and if your glucose level were abnormally high in two out of four of those tests then you are considered to be suffering from GED.