Gestational Diabetes – What Does Treatment Entail?
Pregnant women can develop gestational diabetes during their pregnancy. It happens in women who haven’t had any signs of diabetes before. Studies have found it happens in 3–10% of pregnancies, depending on the study.
Why do some women get it? The causes are unclear, but experts suspect that the hormones of pregnancy increase insulin resistance, leaving pregnant women more susceptible to gestational diabetes.
Why Treat Gestational Diabetes?
First, why is it important to treat gestational diabetes? There are several reasons for both mother and baby. The risks of gestational diabetes left untreated is substantial.
The baby from a mom with gestational diabetes without adequate treatment are more apt to be large for their gestational age, making delivery more difficult. They are also more likely to have low blood sugar, or jaundice.
For the mother, if they don’t get treatment for their gestational diabetes, after this pregnancy they are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Their children are more apt to have childhood obesity, and become type 2 diabetes as they get older.
About Gestational Diabetes Treatment
Most gestational diabetes can be controlled with diet management and adequate exercise. Checking blood glucose levels can also help. Some pregnant women also require the use of diabetes management drugs, especially insulin.
Dietary Changes
For gestational diabetes treatment, the diet should include enough calories for a healthy pregnancy. Most experts agree this should be from 2,000 – 2,500 kcal a day. They should also eliminate the simple carbohydrates from their diet, as they tend to cause spikes in the blood sugar. Instead, pregnant women with gestational diabetes under treatment should spread out their carbohydrate intake across the day, and eat carbohydrates that aren’t as quick to hit the blood. Fruit or fruit juice is a prime culprit. Other complex carbohydrates, like oatmeal, are much better for the diabetic.
Exercise For Health
Even pregnant women need moderate exercise! Though some think of pregnant women “in a delicate condition,” as long as the pregnant mother doesn’t overdo it, she will benefit from the workout. Check with your doctor on the appropriate amount and type of exercise for you. Often swimming is a wonderful exercise for a pregnant women – the water helps hold the belly up, giving the back some rest!
Monitoring
There are handheld systems that a pregnant woman can use to be able to check her blood glucose levels whenever needed. Her doctor can tell her what levels she should be at various times of day, like fasting, one hour after eating, and two hours after eating.
Beyond the home system, a woman should also be having blood samples tested regularly.
If these measures are not adequately successful at lowering blood sugar, using insulin may be necessary.
In this eBook, you are going to learn the 21 Diabetic Myths that many people may have heard and learn the truth about each of them.
I hope you gain some benefit from reading this short eBook. Many of the myths worry folks when they first become diagnosed as a diabetic.
