Gestational diabetes - HELP

[MummyCharmzy]

I'm following my gestational diabetes diet SO well, im eating only foods out of the list of food that says 'eat most' and have had one thing out of the eat moderately (which was one weetbix), I've only been drinking water - no more diet coke or coffee for me... im eating 1/2 the meal size I used to and trying to snack in between to keep my levels even but I'm getting RIDICULOUS levels every single time.

I don't know what else I can do?!

I go back to the diabetic doctor on tuesday but I'm so upset right now and SO HUNGRY but I dont want to eat cos my level after dinner was 9.6!!!!!!!!!

I'm so sick of this, i just dont know what to do

what can i eat that 100% will not push my levels up higher?
is there something i can eat that will bring it down???

please help!

[luckie_me]

I have G/D I have found that when i pick my finger a couple of different times on different fingers i get different readings,
Dont go hungry! I now eat alot of fruit and vegi if im hungry during the day!
Also ive found that apples help take away my heartburn:confused:
Just have a look in the "free foods" part of ur book those u can eat anytime and not have to worry!!

Megan

[TwoBlue]

beans are great to eat when your diabetic.

Baked beans were my favourite snack when i had GD....

and i put kidney beans in anything i could

sorry not much help really, if you are doing all the right things and still getting high readings....

talk to your doc perhaps you will need insulin until bubs arrives?
Hopefully not :fingerscrossed:

[Oscar's mum]

Don't fret too much about the readings. Some weeks your body will be able to process the sugar etc better than others! I used to eat the same thing for breakfast every morning when I was pg, same size portion etc and I hardly ever got the same reading, it was high some days, good other days!:p

Oh and I am not sure if this helps but Diet Coke is meant to be avoided in pg as it contains an artificial sweetner. That might help you to really avoid Diet Coke! It worked for me!;)

[~Emmylou~]

It sounds like exactly what happened with my GD. I started off fine with the diet, levels always under, but as the pregnancy progressed suddenly it wasn't working anymore :( I was about 32 weeks, this is very common apparently.
I went to the doctor and I was crying because I was SOOOO hungry all the time and I couldn't eat or my levels were going over, it was miserable. I was eating half portions and it wasn't enough. 9.6 is too high, they won't let you continue with the diet if you keep getting readings like that. They freaked out at me when mine were 8.0 (and it was only a few times).

They decided I was better off on insulin than being hungry all the time, preggos need to eat. I tell you, it sounds bad but it's not. Insulin is a naturally occuring substance so no threat to your baby whatsoever. And like a miracle you will be able to eat pretty much normally again and no problem with your levels. The needle is so small it's like a mosquito bite - less than the fingerprick.

I'm not trying to convert you here but I remember how miserable I was and what a drastic difference it made to everything.

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon :)

[♥Heaven Sent♥]

:yes: I agree that fruit and veg is great if you feel hungry in between meals eat some of this, oh and something that is really good to bring sugar levels down are bananas its a proven fact.

[Taylors_mum]

I know its hard when your preggers but after each meal you should try and move around as much as you can as this helps burn the sugar up.

Also be REALLY carefull with pricking your finger, make sure you wash your hands really well with warm water before testing. I made this mistake a few times and had either hair products,moisturiser or soap on my skin and it makes a HUGE difference to your readings.

I really feel for you, and totally agree with the other girls... by no means should you be starving yourself.

Hope everything works out for you.:hugs:

[MummyCharmzy]

thanks everyone..

well today I havent had a single reading under 7.5, I've just had dinner and I test at 8pm so hopefully I get a half decent reading this time.

I've been snacking on apples lately asmy dietician said that 'hard fruits' are best. She never mentioned bananas but with the price of them lately we havent been buying them anyway! $9+ a kg, no thanks!

[Sarie]

Make sure you wash your hands really well before you test.
I once made DS1 a strawberry jam sandwich before I tested and got a 9.5:eek: When I washed my hands and retested it was down to a 5-6.
The other most important thing is EXERCISE!!!

I was recommended to do at least 10 minutes of exercise in the two hours after eating. I went to the extreme and rode an exercise bike for 20 minutes after each meal and walked 3-4km every afternoon. Not only did I keep my readings between 4-6 for the whole day but I lost 14kg. I felt fantastic and I had a great birthing experience. I felt so much better than I had directly after the birth of my first son.

The other thing is to make sure you test two hours after you finish eating. But really try and do some exercise. Burn up those carbs you've just eaten, even if it's just walking on the spot for 10 minutes. If you can do that you will find you'll be able to eat more and allow treats here and there. I managed to work in a small piece of chocolate each day. But I did extra exercise.
Good luck!
Sarie

[MummyCharmzy]

that kind of excercise is out for me, I have pre-eclampsia and even walking to the mailbox some days can push my blood pressure up way too high.

I am under instructions to test after 1.5 hours also.

I always wash my hands well before testing, my dinner reading tonight was 'only' 7.8, a nice improvement on last nights 9.6 but obviously still too high.

I've lost 2.5kg in 4 days which is half of what ive gained through the whole pregnancy...

[Sarie]

PE no good...
I was obsessive about the exercise and now that I'm ttc #3 I'm back into the routine...
Have you only just found out that you have GD?
What portion sizes were you told about for your carbs?
I was told 1 serve = 14 grams and to have 2-3 serves per main meal and 1-2 serves per snack.
Basmati rice is good.
I used to make up a basic tuna salad, with tuna lettuce and tomato and a bit of cheese. When ever I'd get hungry I'd have a bit.
I don't know if this is any help for you. I hope you do get it under control though.
The first doc I spoke to after being diagnosed told me that I wouldn't get through the pregnancy without going on insulin.
I didn't want to go on it and went about proving him wrong in a big way! But that's just me, it was almost like he dared me, so I had to prove him wrong;)
Good luck.
Sarie

[MummyCharmzy]

I was told 15grams for serving size and 2-3 serves for main meals and one serve size for snacks so similar to what you said..

I've been trying to keep it at 2 serves max per main meal though...

I was told not to have cheese too which sucks.. I'd love a toasted cheese sandwhich lol

I've been thinking about tuna today and wondering if it was okay or not, im guessing it must be then so ill be having some tomorrow thanks hehe :D

I found out I have GD about 2 weeks ago but only started monitoring on tuesday.

[Sarie]

If you get Tuna make sure it's in spring water or brine. No oil.
I'd give yourself a couple of weeks to get it under control. It will take time figuring out what foods work for you and what to stay away from.
I'm pretty sure nuts are a free food, or at least they were when I had it. So you could use them to snack on too.
It is hard in the beggining, but you'll get there. Don't beat yourself up too much yet. I had a hell of a time just getting the blood out of my finger!!!
You'll get there!
Sarie

[ETsMum]

Hi, I had GD now I am type 2. Like Sarie, I exercised heaps and I would do a "pre-test" at the 1.5 hour mark to see how much exercise I had to do :D (lazy cheater me) and test again at the 2 hour mark. I found walking up and down stairs was best for me. Also, one of the docs said perfumed soap can make readings wrong too.

But on food... my advice...

1. Eat by the clock - don't wait until you feel hungry.
2. I only had 2 serves of fruit a day - mostly for snack times. All fruit (I think) has carbs except pashionfruit, lemon, lime & rhubarb. I think there are carbs in tomato and peas too... (happy to be corrected)
3. Switch to multigrain or wholemeal bread, maybe wholemeal pasta too?
4. Eggs were my lifesaver - I had heaps of omlettes with finely diced veges. I also had heaps of diet yoghurt - in fact after I had the bub, I swore I would never have yoghurt again. Now I have type 2 - I'm back to having yoghurt everyday. It is nice with almond flakes mixed in. (It is my morning snack.)
5. My doc said to eat more nuts and seeds if I am always hungry (nibble on them or sprinke on cereal/dinner etc) . I can cope with the nuts, but I can't face seeds yet.

I had low fat cheese, maybe because of your blood pressure you have been advised against it?

Anyway if you have to go on insulin, remember that is what is best for you and your baby. Good luck!!

[mum33]

i dont know why they havent explained this too you. they should have let u know about carbohydrates serving amounts and free foods. then you should have no problems. however there are some women that a diet just doesnt work for. with myself my diet was working but my blood sugar reading would be high in the morning for my fasting levels, although i would have my one carbohydrate serving at night so this wouldnt happen it still did. but because my fasting levels would be high but the rest were ok i ended up having to take insulin just before i went to bed at night so my fasting levels would be low when i tested in the morning before i ate breakfast.

basically anything that have carbs in it will make your blood sugar too high. carbohydrates break down into sugars forcing your B.S levels up.


this is how it went for me:

breakfast-2 to 3 servings of carbs

mid morning snack-1 to 2 carbs

lunch-2 to 3 carbs

mid afternoon snack-1 to 2 carbs

dinner-2 to 3 carbs

supper-1 to 2 carbs

fruits have carbohydrates therefore only eat when you are to eat your snacks in between meals. half a piece of fruit is considered one carbohydrate serving.

anything with protein in it such as meats and eggs are free foods, meaning you could eat as much as you like without affecting you levels, which is why i cant understand how you are going hungry. other free foods are vegies although some vegies such as corn do have carbs in it and will make your B.S levels go up.

other free foods are anything with artificial sweetener so you can have as much diet coke or other diet drinks as you like. you only dont drink diet coke if you are worried about the artificial sweetners, which i wasnt all that concerned about because the GD specialists told me it was fine. and because of having gestational diabetes and drinking nothing but diet drinks when i was pregnant, thats all i will drink now because even though i dont have diabetes anymore i know that anything else will affect my blood sugar.

be careful with bread pastas and rice, i think 3/4 of a cup of either is considered one serving and anymore than the recommended serving amount for one meal will make your levels go up. you also need to be careful about what type of rice you buy as some can make your levels go up higher than others. i cant remember exactly which types are the best but i know a brand called mahatma is the best, jasmine rice is the worst.

i'm not a doctor so i'm not an expert here. i'm just sharing my experiences with it. next appointment you have with the GD specialists, get more information about carbohydrate serves. because if u cant keep your levels down with just the diet they will put you on insulin. which is not too bad but you dont want to go on that if you can help it. but if it turns out you have too, try not to worry about it too much because its the best thing for the baby.

oh also, diabetes gives you larger babies so if you get towards the end of the pregnancy and all is well with the diet but and you end up doing regular u/s to determine the size of your baby and they tell you that your baby is a little on the large side, make sure if u feel u need to be induced early, make sure you tell the doctor what u want and enforce it.

i had a large baby, my belly was enourmous and i was in excruciating pain towards the end and at first the doctor said i could go in at 37 weeks, then it was 38 weeks when he booked the appointment but then the day before the booking to be induced changed his mind and said i could go full term. although he never actually cancelled the booking and another doctor called me the night before asking if i was still coming in the next day but i told her no because of what my doctor said but then she asked me to come in that night anyways so i did at 10.30 that night i was induced and had my son the next day at 5.30pm.

i was induced at 38 1/2 weeks but it shouldve been sooner like i had pleading with the doctor to do. if i had of gone just another few days i wouldnt have been able to have my son naturally as he was almost too big too fit through my birth canal. when i had my son i had to have an episiotomy and he had to come out with the aid of the vacuum.

during labour my doctor wanted me to go into emergency surgery to have a c-section to get my son out because of i was getting too exhausted to push but i was determined to have him naturally and managed to get him out after 14 hours of labour. and afterwards i had post partum haemorrageing (sp) because of the size of my boy.

i'm not tryin to scare u, just tryin to share my experience. but remember just like every pregnancy is different, so is every labour. sorry about the long post. good luck.

[wktz]

Sarie was the biggest help to me with my GD, as I couldn't make head or tail of what the dietician was telling me :D . (Thanks Sarie, I still owe you big time!)

Things I have found that work for me though are:


Switch to low GI bread - any of the bergin breads are good
Basmati rice is the one to eat, but no more than half a metric cup per main meal
If I eat an apple with anything it keeps my BSL's right down
Anything low GI is best - I have been living on corn and sweet potato during this pregnancy with a bit of grilled chicken or steak and my readings are fine
Always mix some protein with the carbs...something to do with the way it is digested affects sugar levels. For example I ate a toasted cheese sandwich at the beginning and got a reading of 7.4, but now I have ham, cheese and tomato and my readings are under 6.5 (even less if combined with that apple!!).


Good luck with it all, I hope it gets easier for you in a few days time :hugs:

[sueb31]

Hi,
I also had GD and was diagnosed at week 29/30 after the routine test. I followed the diet very carefully but my sugars were high so had to go on insulin after only 2 days of the diet! (2 hour suagrs over 7.0 was classed as high, most had to be under 6.5).

My endocrinologist said that the main thing was getting the sugars low and not to eat less.

Having said that, I followed a low GI diet very closely. As others have said, watch portion size and I could only eat low GI foods. I am happy to share what my diet was, if anyone is interested.

Other tricks I found were: couldn't eat much dairy (milk) at breakfast (insulin levels are lowest in the mornings) - sugars got much better when I switched to ham/bacon, eggs and 1 slice low GI toast. Had to avoid dairy in am for same reason which helped a lot.

Some other "free' foods are: cheese, raspberries, almonds (raw)...
You need to watch serving sizes of fruit, as most do have some sugar (as opposed to most veges). Absolute no-nos were white bread, potatoes etc.

Sugars also tend to get worse as pregnancy progresses, I needed higher doses of insulin as time went on. The insulin didn't hurt as much as the finger prick tests, but I really had to watch the clock and eat by it. It took a while to get the hang of it, but got there in a few weeks.

Let us know how you are going and if you would like any more info.

Sue

[Sarie]

Sarie was the biggest help to me with my GD, as I couldn't make head or tail of what the dietician was telling me :D . (Thanks Sarie, I still owe you big time!)

Things I have found that work for me though are:


Switch to low GI bread - any of the bergin breads are good
Basmati rice is the one to eat, but no more than half a metric cup per main meal
If I eat an apple with anything it keeps my BSL's right down
Anything low GI is best - I have been living on corn and sweet potato during this pregnancy with a bit of grilled chicken or steak and my readings are fine
Always mix some protein with the carbs...something to do with the way it is digested affects sugar levels. For example I ate a toasted cheese sandwich at the beginning and got a reading of 7.4, but now I have ham, cheese and tomato and my readings are under 6.5 (even less if combined with that apple!!).


Good luck with it all, I hope it gets easier for you in a few days time :hugs:
Anytime Kristy! It was no trouble at all!
We will catch up next time I'm in town!!:hugs:

[MummyCharmzy]

hey

ive been in hospital since tuesday so been on the hospitals 'diabetic diet' and my levels have still been over 7 every time. They have no started me on insulin yet but I was told this morning I will be started on insulin on tuesday unless something magical happened because even eating 'there right food' can't keep the levels down.

Still obviously following the diet but it makes no real difference anyway it seems!

thanks for all the tips, ive been eating lots of apples anyway as ive been craving them and they dont seem to help my levels sadly!

will let you all know how i go on tuesday once i start the insulin.. or if something magic does happen in the mean time!

[sueb31]

Firstly, hospital diabetic diets are not good diabetic diets, dumb hey. My sugars were high after I had the baby & the endocrine dr said to bring my own food in as the hosp diabetic diets are so bad!

Secondly, insulin is not the end of the world, whatever it takes to get that sugar down to keep that baby healthy I say. I know its daunting though.

My diet was -
Bfast - 1 carb eg 1 piece low GI toast, 2 eggs , ham, white coffee no sugar
M tea - 1 piece low GI fruit toast or 1 low fat yoghurt or 2 low GI biscuits
Lunch - 2 pieces low GI bread, ham & cheese, tomato, lettuce
A tea - as for m tea
Tea - Meat & veg, no potato. Lowfat icecream & berries or other fruit
Supper - low fat yoghurt

Snacks - raw almonds, carrot sticks

Couldn't have much fruit & def no fruit juice.

Hope that helps, good luck with it all

Sue

[mtjt25]

Hi

I was diagnosed with GD at about 30 weeks - I went to a diabetic educator who really helped me as I ate a lot of rice - these are generally what I tended o eat - once I found something that kept it low I would just eat those things so for 6 weeks I didn;t have a lot of variety

Breakfast - Non toasted muesli

Lunch - Rolls from Bakers Delight that are ow GI - can;t remeber which ones now - with either tuna, ham or chicken with salad

Dinner - Salmon fillets with swwt potato and sweetcon - my reading was very low with this - Chicken with Tuscan seasoning, basmati rice, and pita bread with salad
Home made pizzas on pita bread

Snacks - Keep away from rice crackers! - LOw GI yoghurt and plenty of fruit are great - I also made sure I drunk at least 2-3 litres of what and def water with each meal

Good Luck