Gestational diabetes Monitoring?

[Dobbie]

I have an OB appointment next week but i'm a bit obsessed after 2 high glucose tolerance readings.
If you have diet controlled Gestational diabetes how do you monitor it? Will i need to buy a device to check my sugar level at home or see GP? How often do you usually test? Any advice for snacks that will help?
Also is there a limit to number of decaf coffees i can have? Was drinking alot of milo but this is not reccomended.

So hoping DH eats the last piece of cheesecake(made before 2nd result came in) in the fridge...it's driving me mad.

[bump2b]

I saw a diabetes educator and she gave me the testing kit. For snacks I have milk and fruit or yogurt and fruit or Milo. Mine was diet controlled till I hit 28 weeks then high blood sugar levels and are now on insulation.
Good luck

[bump2b]

I saw a diabetes educator and she gave me the testing kit. For snacks I have milk and fruit or yogurt and fruit or Milo. Mine was diet controlled till I hit 28 weeks then high blood sugar levels and are now on insulation.
Good luck

[Penny88]

I had to test 4 times a day. A fasting one before breakfast first thing in the morning, then one or two hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner. My diabetes educator gave me a testing kit but you have to buy your own test strips, lancets (the things that prick your finger), safes containers, etc. Most of it is pretty cheap if you sign up to diabetes Australia as it's subsidised by the government.

You might get to see a dietician who can tell you great things to snack on. I ate small handful of cashews, cup-a-soups, glass of low fat milk, low fat cheese, a hard boiled egg and I always got to have dessert - low fat ice cream each night. Like Milo it helped keep my levels stable overnight and resulted in my morning reading being lower because of it!

I'm not too sure about coffee, my dietician told me that I had to look at carbs on the packaging but I doubt that coffee has carbs. It will really depend on if you have sugar and / or milk. Milk has sugars and fats. Maybe OK if you have low fat milk and a tiny bit of Equal or similar, or perhaps that Logicane low GI sugar?

[heatherm]

do you have diabetes or did you have to get retested?

when i had diabetes it was diet controlled during the day but i had to have insulin before bed otherwise my fasting levels were always high of a morning.
i had to test when i woke up(fasting) and 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner and then before bed.
each week i had to either email, ring or fax my results to a diabetes educator so they could assess if i had to keep doing what i was or change it.
the diabetes educator from the hospital supplied me with the finger pricker and machine i just had to purchase the strips and needles.
i never changed anything except before they put me onto insulin at nights.
i also had to see a dietician so i knew what foods to eat and what not to eat and also portion control which is big with diabetes.
i had a list of most foods which had "portions" next to them and i was allowed to eat 3portions for breakfast, lunch and dinner and 1 portion for a snack.

bit unsure why they said not to have milo, you can have milo as it has a low glycemic index which is good for diabetes.
if you have milo like me(3/4 glass milo and 1/4 milk) then it wouldnt be recommended. i always steered clear of milo as i know i couldnt just have a small amount of it, lol.

[pdogsmum]

I had to buy a test kit (machine, strips, lancets) from the pharmacy. Yep, definitely make sure you join the NDSS if you don't have a health care card otherwise the strips are really expensive ($70 as opposed to about $14). I test about 3 days a week - 4 times a day.. before breakfast (fasting), and 2 hours after each meal. Snacks I mostly have a piece of fruit in the morning and 2 vita wheats or some carrot/celery sticks with dip in the afternoon. Post dinner I have a diet yoghurt or a milo (3 tspns milo with 1 cup of milk). I think like a PP said, I've found that if I don't have something 2 hours after dinner my fasting levels can be quite high. I've only had 1 follow up appointment with the Dietician I saw when first diagnosed but my OB always asks about my levels. Apparently after 36 weeks he usually gets you to test every day. So far I've been able to control my GD just with diet but I've had the odd high result every now & then. Good luck

[Dobbie]

I'm 31 weeks and I've had the 1 hour & 2 hour tests and had high readings with both at the 1 hour point but back to normal after 2. Mind you at 2hours i felt completely wasted and tests were at either side of christmas new year break.
Now i'm at a strange point in changing health care providers (and state) for the 2nd time this pregnancy due to moving. So i've sought as much advice as i can here but haven't actually met OB or been advised to see a diabetic educator.

What i've been told is to follow a sensible diet, drink plenlty of water, avoid really sweet foods & seek advice when i meet OB. Result wasn't massively high and returned normal after 2hours so I have impared tolerance to glucose (lowest end of gestational diabetes). When i drink milo i drink it like a coffee(i teaspoon, 3/4 cup water & splash of milk)

From what people have said i shouldn't need another long test (while pregnant)which is what i was really stressing about.

[heatherm]

eating what you think is a sensible diet probably isnt for diabetes, i thought i was eating a good diabetes diet before i saw the dietician and got all the info.

fruit has sugar in it and can send your levels high as with corn, potatoes, rice, pasta bread. basically all the good stuff lol.

i always have the 2hour test due to my family history and now as i have had gd in my previous pregnancy.

all the best for the next 9 weeks

[Dobbie]

Cheers
Not sure what "a sensible diet" is supposed to mean but 24 hours on bubhub & i feel calmer. Ob i'm going to see has been working for 30 years so i'm sure he's seen most pregnancy complications. I've sent all my results and cover letter with summry of "me"/birthplan so his reccomendations should be awesome.

Needed information now to stop myself over thinking the situation or getting in a google/wikipedia panic. Have stopped my another cuppa & buiscut - putting off lunch habit which wouldn't help keep a steady sugar level.

[Mum5]

I have Type II and this is my fourth pregnancy with it, so I follow all the normal GD rules.

You will need a BGL machine, which you should use to do a finger prick test when you wake up, and two hours after each meal (some Dr's want 1 hour readings)

My hospital used to loan out the machines, but now gives a voucher for a heavily discounted machine, so it worked out to be $20 instead of $60, or a cash back offer which meant bigger savings but you had to spend the cash upfront and send the offer in the mail to get the cash back. You can visit any pharmacy that has NDSS services and they will have a range of machines to choose from. Your Dr will also give you a form for the NDSS scheme so that you get discounts on other things like test strips and lancets.

You should be referred to see a dietician to help with your food. The biggest change is that you'll need to make changes from high GI foods to Low Gi foods, so for eg. multigrain bread instead of white or wholemeal.

You will need to eat three meals and three snacks during the day, if you time it right, you should be able to have your main meal, test at 2 hours and then a snack. It works out for me that I am eating every two hours throughout the day.

Depending on what your Dr wants, most seem to want your waking up levels to be under 5.5, and after meals to be under 7.0. Some want them under 5.0 and 6.7. If you get three high readings in one week after a particular meal, or on waking they will offer tablets like metformin, or insulin. I have used both, and although insulin is daunting it is much easer to use to control sugar levels over the tablets as the dosage is more exact and immediate.

Other things in relation to food, they will focus on they types of food you're eating, so vegetables, protein and carbs are the main ones, you need to make sure that you are eating the right amount of carbs so that they know how your body is reacting to them. Cutting out carbs will lower your BGL's, but it is not a true indication of how your system is actually coping, and not a good fix. You will need to look at the serving size of carbs in each meal, which is easy enough to do looking at nutritional panels. 15gm of carb is classed as 1 serve. Snacks you can have 1-2 serves of carb per snack, and main meals 3-4. Vegetables aside from potato & corn are 'free' foods, and proteins are good as fillers too. Fruits are in between as they have natural sugar content, but you should get a list of fruits and foods to avoid anyway.

Milo is ok as it is Low GI, but limit it to one glass before bed time to help regulate your BGL's overnight. Coffee should be fine as well depending on how much milk is in there.

Exercise is another key point, 30mins each day can do wonders for your BGL's and can sometimes be the one thing between being able to handle things by diet control only or needing to go onto insulin. Well your hormones play a massive part in that decision, but exercise and diet is a really big key as well.

Feel free to contact me for any help or information