If you have recently been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, you could be going into panic mode. But, try to relax. Gestational diabetes can be managed with great success for you and your baby. Making a plan with your doctor to stay healthy and manage your gestational diabetes is important. Keep reading to learn more about gestational diabetes.
Where does it come from?
Gestational diabetes occurs when you have high blood sugar levels while pregnant, but but when those levels were normal before you were pregnant. Gestational diabetes occurs when your body doesn’t operate as it should. For example, your placenta naturally makes hormones that may cause a buildup of glucose in your blood. Usually, your pancreas can make enough insulin to handle that extra glucose. If your pancreas can’t keep up with the extra glucose, though, your blood sugar levels will rise. This can cause gestational diabetes. You will want to talk to your doctor about simple things you can do to manage your blood sugar levels.
After your baby is born, gestational diabetes usually goes away. Having gestational diabetes does make you more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, so it may be worth following up with your physician after you give birth to keep yourself healthy.
Symptoms
Many women with gestational diabetes usually don’t show symptoms at all; often they learn they have it during normal pregnancy screening tests. If the gestational diabetes is particularly extreme, you may notice:
-Feeling thirsty
-Feeling hungry or eating more
-A need to urinate more often
Treatment
Treatment is fairly straightforward at the beginning. If you are able to change some habits, you can avoid certain complications. To treat your gestational diabetes, your doctor will ask you to:
-Check your blood sugar multiple times a day
-Do urine tests that check for ketones
-Eat a healthy diet
-Exercise daily
Your physician will track how much weight you gain over your pregnancy and will update you if you need to take further action to manage your gestational diabetes. If you have questions, give us a call at (281) 364-9898 today to learn more.
