Gestational Diabetes Support Group - Page 10

[lifeguard]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with the restrictive 90 fasting goal. I am feeling more & more distressed about this. It doesn't seem to be improving. I have NOT once been under 90.

I seem to have been given a stricter diet outline then what a lot of you are stating. Altogether my carbs for the day work out to 135 or 9 choices. Definitely never more than 3 at a meal.

I've noticed a lot of dairy in some people's meal suggestions. Are you not counting dairy as a carb?

I SO just want this to be over. I'm finding I'm on the edge of tears from stress over this most of my day.

[NicaG]

I was given a fasting goal of under 100, but when my fasting numbers are in the mid to upper 90s, the perinatologist increases my insulin dose. I started at 10 units at bedtime, then 14 units, and last week it was increased to 18 units. My diet seems to have no effect on my morning fasting levels. I never expected to be on insulin, but here I am. On 18 units, my fasting bs was an amazing 75 this morning!

As for milk...I sort of count it as half a carb. My dietician says it's not really a carb choice because it has protein to balance out the carbs. She actually gave me separate allowances for milk at meals. I hardly ever have straight milk, usually yogurt.

[lifeguard]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to up my insulin. I'm taking 10 in the morning & 5 at night but really haven't seen an improvement over the glyburide I was previously taking. I am supposed to e-mail my numbers to the endocrinologist after a week but I think if I continue with these readings I'm going to contact him today. I'm really scared I'm too out of control.

[avivaelona]

count most dairy as half a carb. But Greek yogurt and an icelandic product called skyr are dairy products with tons of protein in them and don't need to be counted as carbs. Some cheeses might not either, but I don't know how to figure that out. I mostly don't worry about dairy as carbs or veggies except for a few as carbs. (otoh I just can't eat beets at all)

[brandyk]

i didn't mention this last night because i thought it would be resolved by dinner. my little peanut wasn't moving hardly at all yesterday, which really bugged me because they upped my glyburide the night before. we had to go into the hospital last night for 5 hours! everything SEEMS ok but the amniotic fluid is low. not dangerously low right now, but low. i am going for a better ultrasound tomorrow. have any of you had this problem before?

[superflippy]

Jealous of you, Nica! I'm supposed to be at 90 or under for fasting, too. Last time it was no problem, but this time I just can't seem to manage it. I'm trying different combinations of snacks before bedtime, but just when I think I've figured it out, my bs is high again.

It seems that lack of sleep contributes to a high fasting number, but there's absolutely nothing I can do to control that unless I lock my toddler in his room and ignore him. (i.e. not gonna happen, though I occasionally fantasize about it on particularly bad nights)

I'm just terrified that my doctor is going to make me take drugs. My numbers are fine throughout the day - they're only high first thing in the morning.

Anyone have tricks for getting fasting numbers lower?

lifeguard, I know how you feel. I did everything I could to avoid it this time, and I feel like my body has betrayed me. I hate eating only at set times and having to wait to test before I can have a snack, no matter how hungry I am. I'm afraid I'm starving my baby. When my numbers are high even when I've been good, it makes me really upset. I get mad at meat and vegetables and eggs because I don't want to eat them.

[brandyk]

let's just be clear - eggs are the devil.

you have to test before snacks? are you eating enough total food? especially at night?

[avivaelona]

Susanna, really if you are hungry, test, and then eat something! Just mark that sugar as one taken early. Please eat if you are hungry, it won't help your blood sugar anyway to be overly hungry when you eat.

Fasting numbers are sometimes lower if you either eat some protein in the middle of the night, or the other way around if you don't eat anything quite as late at night. Sleep really really affects fasting numbers. Try changing when you take it, if you usually take it when you finally wake up for the day, after say toddler wakes you at 5 am and then you go back to sleep til 7, try taking it at five not at 7.

He can't MAKE you take drugs, he can strongly suggest it and play the "dead baby card" and make you feel awful but he can't make you take anything, and honestly for slightly elevated fastings and no high numbers through the day I would insist on a "wait and see" attitude about taking drugs and or insulin. You can always do NST's to see how the baby is doing if he's stressing you out.

I haven't had that problem Brandy but I have heard that upping your fluid intake can really help.

[lifeguard]

Originally Posted by superflippy

When my numbers are high even when I've been good, it makes me really upset. I get mad at meat and vegetables and eggs because I don't want to eat them.

Me too - it feels like I'm on an emotional rollercoaster that boards 4x daily.

I have to laugh at the thought of someone standing with the fridge door open telling the meat & veggies off!!!

Why are eggs the devil? Or do I want to know. They are definitely a staple of my very limited diet.

I sent my endo my readings today & he is having me increase my insulin doses. Hopefully that will show an approvement. I have to check in with him again on Saturday to see if we need to further tweak it.

[brandyk]

eggs are the devil because you can only eat so many before you go crazy

they got my followup ultrasound today instead of tomorrow. last night my fluid volume was 7cm (really low but not an emergency). today it was 13cm - at the bottom of the acceptable range. the baby measured right on target (so no big baby talk from anyone for at least 3 weeks).

of course all the measurements are subject to the normal hard to measure etc (and truthfully anything above 5 CAN be normal). but it was pretty clear that baby was unhappy yesterday. right now it appears its at least mostly due to fluids. i think the fluids were a side effect of the medicine. i was totally fine and baby was super active until my pill dosage got increased.

[avivaelona]

Glad to hear its back to "low normal" brandy, I do wonder if dehydration is a symptom of the meds, its certainly possible. Drink drink drink. I'm glad you were paying attention.

My "growth scan" is tomorrow.

[NicaG]

Brandy--glad to hear everything is ok. Hard to drink enough fluids. Hope baby continues to feel better and more active.

[lifeguard]

I just picked up my blood test results from yesterday. It looks like my glucose meter is off by almost 15% (reading too high). If I factor that into all my previous readings things look much better but still not ideal. I'm really irritated by this not only because of the stress I've gone through over the last month because of trying to get the readings right but also because I bought the monitor & $300 worth of test strips in Canada & now can't return them. I'm going to try to contact the company & see if they will somehow send me a new one here. $300 is a lot of money to throw away.

[brandyk]

baby was more active yesterday and definitely back to normal today. i am so relieved.

home glucometers regularly different than plasma readings. the numbers that they give you (keep fastings under X, PPs under Y) are meant for home glucometers. they also have a variable range of about 10 pts. so don't get too freaked out/discouraged about that.

[lifeguard]

I'm so seriously discouraged. I'm eating perfectly according to the nutritionist's guidelines - that's made zero difference in my readings. We switched to insulin - no difference. Upped the dose - still no difference. Some days, if anything, it seems my numbers are getting worse.

I e-mailed the endo today with my last 2 days results as he requested & he said he was going to call me 3 hours ago but he hasn't called or responded to my e-mail.

DH is frustrated & doesn't want to discuss it anymore & everyone keeps telling me not to worry. How could I possibly not worry when the thing the doctors keep focussing on are these numbers which seem impossible to get under control?

It all just seems to futile & hopeless right now. I'm worried about the baby. And I'm worried about me - I REALLY don't want a c-section nor do I want this to be a permanent condition (the diabetes that it). I feel so guilty for thinking about me at all, but I do.

I just don't know what else I can do.

[avivaelona]

I wouldn't worry too much about the baby unless your numbers are super high. They do try to control GD completely but honestly not a lot of benefit has been shown for controlling mild GD, its only in the super high numbers that they worry, and you are so close to due at this point that if your child isn't already experiencing growth problems its unlikely that they will have severe ones. If you can't control it you might need to have some additional checks on the baby but it should NOT mean an automatic C-section and don't let them scare you into one.

Would you like to put your diet and numbers down here? We might be able to help sometimes nutritionists really are not so good at Diabetes. List what you eat for a meal and what your numbers look like after for a whole day and maybe we can find some holes. Very often the amount of carbs they advise are actually too high to eat at one meal, or the kind of carbs they are considering acceptable, or sometimes there is a "trigger" food that should be ok that just isn't, and its possible you have one and are not noticing it.

As far as worrying about you afterwards, you definitely have more resources at your disposal once the baby isn't in there, there are medications you can take and such, but also while GD is often a sign of later onset Type II diabetes it isn't automatic, some people have no problem in the future and its something you have a lot of control over in terms of your lifestyle choices.

[NicaG]

Gd does get harder to control as the pregnancy progresses--try not to get too discouraged and take it personally. How often are you changing your insulin dose? I've noticed it usually takes my body about 4 days to register a new dose. Until then, the new dose has no noticible effect.

[brandyk]

lifeguard - i am pretty sure we have all been there. i read some of your blog and here's what i think.... eat AS MUCH protein as you possibly want. Want the chicken breast? Eat the whole thing! Want gobs of cream cheese? Eat it. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I am eating more fat (and certainly more protein) than I have ever in my entire life. Eat a salad with lots of regular dressing, a big hunk of meat, and then your carb choice. Also cut back your carb choices to 30g of carbs but try upping how frequently you eat. In order to get my numbers under control I had to very very deliberately ignore most everything the nutritionist told me.

BTW, I eat little milk, except for SF pudding after dinner. Take calcium supplements or eat cheese for your calcium intake. Milk has a lot of carbs/sugar and unless you actively like milk, you'd probably rather spend your carbs on something else! I eat a lot of cottage cheese and fage (greek) yogurt. They have much less carbs than milk.

I just eat the whole apple. I avoid fruit in the morning unless it is a 15g carb fruit cup. And then only for snack - NOT for breakfast.

BTW, my numbers weren't responsive when I was first diagnosed either. I think it took getting it under control first off and then my body became more sensitive to different amts/types of carbs.

[lifeguard]

Thank you everyone for your support. I go back & forth between feeling like it will be ok & I can get it under control to being overwelmed with guilt & hopelessness.

We have been trying to get the numbers under control for over a month now. I did just start the insulin this week however. I didn't realize it could take so long for it to "kick in" so to speak. Hopefully I will see an improvement soon. I am little irritated that the doc didn't call today after specifically telling me he would.

I have been pretty much ignoring the protein suggestions of the dietician as they seem rather ridiculous to me. Especially as I have long been on a high protein diet - that is a drastic cutback if I were to follow her plan. The dairy situation is a little frustrating here. Cottage cheese is crazy expensive 'cause it's brought in from the states & the yogurt is liquid - yuck! I was drinking more milk than usual mainly 'cause it was something I thought was a smarter choice. Now I've been pretty much exclusively drinking water (which has always been a struggle for me) & occassionally diet gingerale - I know the aspartame is not ideal but I just need something with some flavour at least some of the time.

What is consider Really high for a reading? I was told under 5.0 (90) for fasting & 6.6 (120) for post-meal but I'm rarely under those numbers. More like 7 or 8 something - which seems way too high to me - but on the other hand most of my numbers are still in an acceptable range for "normal" diabetes (according to the Canadian Diabetes Association).

I think the 4x daily testing is what is making things so hard. It makes it impossible for me to forget about it for any period of time.

[avivaelona]

I'm having trouble with my fastings now too, just in the last week...I got sick and everything went haywire. If its not under control in a few days I'm going to have to try insulin I think which just makes me upset since I've been so able to control with diet from the beginning. I can try playing with what I'm doing but I do know that sometimes no matter what you do the hormones get to be too much.

Lifeguard, I wouldn't worry too much about some "7's" but 8 is getting fairly high if I'm understanding the canadian numbers.

You can make your own greek style yogurt out of that thin yougurt if you want...Just get a very fine metal mesh strainer or use some cheesecloth. Let it sit in the strainer overnight. It will strain out a good deal of the milk sugar and liquid and leave the more proteiny part of the yogurt.

Unfortunately aspertame might be affecting your other sugars...there is some evidence that drinking artificial sweetners can trick your body into increasing insulin resistance. How about unsweetened ice tea for flavor? Or what I do sometimes is put an ounce of juice into 8-10 ounces of sodawater if I'm really craving a sweet drink.

More protein and more leafy greens seems to help me, though even that isn't doing the trick at the moment.