Gestational Diabetes Support Group - Page 5

[hart2hart]

well, i had washed my hands and had taken the first reading. then rewashed them and took the second. very strange... wonder if there is sugar in the soap and i just didn't rinse them well the first time! :-) who knows...

[brandyk]

Originally Posted by hart2hart

well, i had washed my hands and had taken the first reading. then rewashed them and took the second. very strange... wonder if there is sugar in the soap and i just didn't rinse them well the first time! :-) who knows...

The nurse who showed me how to use the machine sent me home with alcohol wipes. They cost like 2 bucks at the pharmacy. try using that after rinsing.

[brandyk]

Here's my update so far. get fuzzy headed driving home. eat about 6 cashews when i get home. doesn't work. blood sugar 89. dinner ready at 7, i eat. hungry at 8:30. crying at 9pm because i'm so hungry already (snack was at 4, lunch was at 1, but hey, my numbers were good and that's what matters right?). eat 1 cup (seriously) of fage, and fruit. bed @ 10:30. wake up 12:30 hungry. 1:15 get out of bed and have huge handful of nuts. ginormous. 2:08 now, f-ing starving out of my mind.

dinner was 3 protein, 2 carb, 1 fruit, 1 fat, 2 veg.

doctor says yes, she would like my fasting numbers to be under 90. are you kidding me? she wants me to do this to my body on PURPOSE????

this is ridiculous. i am so hungry.

[kamesennin]

Originally Posted by brandyk

Here's my update so far. get fuzzy headed driving home. eat about 6 cashews when i get home. doesn't work. blood sugar 89. dinner ready at 7, i eat. hungry at 8:30. crying at 9pm because i'm so hungry already (snack was at 4, lunch was at 1, but hey, my numbers were good and that's what matters right?). eat 1 cup (seriously) of fage, and fruit. bed @ 10:30. wake up 12:30 hungry. 1:15 get out of bed and have huge handful of nuts. ginormous. 2:08 now, f-ing starving out of my mind.

dinner was 3 protein, 2 carb, 1 fruit, 1 fat, 2 veg.

doctor says yes, she would like my fasting numbers to be under 90. are you kidding me? she wants me to do this to my body on PURPOSE????

this is ridiculous. i am so hungry.

are you getting ketones in the morning? nak, sorry
is your diet low fat? i would try moe olive oil, etc. it adds calories too so that's good. how many calories a day are you getting? i don't think it's good that you are so hungry. if you exercise as well, you need more cals

[brandyk]

i ended up having a whole wheat mini bagel with a metric buttload of cream cheese. i couldn't fathom that ANY amount of cottage cheese/yogurt/cheese/etc would make me not hungry. i did fall asleep for the rest of the night and my sugar was 109 in the morning. they didn't give me anything for ketones testing.

i didn't exercise yesterday. my calories are around 2100 a day i think. I am overweight.

i have been using full fat stuff - regular sour cream, eggs, salad dressing. but very little of it. yesterday i had 1 T dressing, 3 big olives, and 2 T sour cream.

[kamesennin]

Originally Posted by brandyk

i ended up having a whole wheat mini bagel with a metric buttload of cream cheese. i couldn't fathom that ANY amount of cottage cheese/yogurt/cheese/etc would make me not hungry. i did fall asleep for the rest of the night and my sugar was 109 in the morning. they didn't give me anything for ketones testing.

i didn't exercise yesterday. my calories are around 2100 a day i think. I am overweight.

i have been using full fat stuff - regular sour cream, eggs, salad dressing. but very little of it. yesterday i had 1 T dressing, 3 big olives, and 2 T sour cream.

You should get some keto-tix from Walgreens. They are usually behind the counter and cost about $20. I can't believe they didn't give you any since my dietician stressed that it was very important. If you are spilling ketones in your morning pee, it means your body is burning fat because you are not taking in enough calories (ketones are a by-product of fat burning, as I understand it). While this is good for people on Atkins, I don't think it is good for pregnant ladies. I only gained 4 pounds on the GD diet but I never had ketones in my urine besides the first 2 days on the diet. My dietician had me add more calories and then it was fine. Some people just have a high basal metabolic rate. It must be frustrating being so hungry--have you called again to get more advice?

[kohlby]

Agree - you can get ketosis sticks at any pharmacy. They're not even behind the counter at some pharmacies. My RE wanted me to test every morning for ketosis.

[avivaelona]

how irritating I wrote a post and lost it.

Brandy if you are hungry, eat, it doesn't matter if its only an hour since dinner, eat something. I wrote down what I'm eating for my doctor today and it works out to 7 meals a day most days. Most are fairly small meals but they are more than a handful of nuts. I have two breakfasts, two lunches, a snack, dinner and another snack. And since I'm not gaining weight and throwing a few ketones in the AM they want me to start eating a larger snack after dinner.

Those diets make everyone crazy, look at them to see how you should balance your meals, but not as much for the amounts, eat enough to make yourself full, you should not be dieting right now and if you are limiting the amount you eat of course you are hungry.

Though I do have to say, some of the problem may just be pregnancy...its not uncommon for people to just be hungry a lot when they are pregnant, and I have had the problem that I sometimes will get hungry at the same time as I feel TOO FULL from the last meal I had to eat more. In those cases there isn't anything to do but suffer until your last meal goes down. I've done things too like drink a glass of milk when I am too full to eat anything else but still feeling HUNGRY.

[brandyk]

Thanks for all the support guys. I have felt like I was losing my mind. i am clearly not getting enough from the medical "professionals." DH was so concerned that he called from work today (which he never ever never does). he is really furious. he's the one with anxiety and panic attacks and i am always totally chill (and haven't had any variation on that with the pregnancy either). i have spent the last 24 hours in some sort of starvation induced crying rage.

I had to go to 2 pharmacies for the ketone strips, which I will use in the morning.

I haven't had too many issues with being hungry before now. I just eat. I feel like my perspective on food has been totally warped in the last couple of days. We all want to do what's right for our babies, and I tried following the diet. It just can't be the right thing for my baby. Hopefully the ketone strips will be unnecessary, because I am just going to eat.

As for the doctor, she was completely nonplussed about my complaints. she thinks that 89 is a fine number and that's clearly ok. i really don't care what the numbers are - even if they are high, this just can't be ok for the baby for me to be freaking out and starving and crying.

[avivaelona]

I totally have been there with the freaking, starving and crying btw, the first month I was doing this with my last pregnancy I think I cried every day.

Oh and I know what was in my last post that got wiped out..if you feel the need for a bagel with cream cheese, go ahead and eat it, but try first eating half a bagel with cream cheese and something else with it, like a hard boiled egg, some nuts and some salad greens. If you are still hungry, eat the other half! Just add a few more nuts and some more greens along side it. (this is really easy if you make yourself a big salad and put it in the fridge, just add some "protein salad" to any meal that feels otherwise imbalanced)

Your goal should never be to remove any healthy food from your diet but rather to balance it by making a bigger percent of the food protein and fiber. So don't think of it as reducing your carbs but rather as upping your protein and fiber. If you add some of both to every meal than you will automatically be reducing the percentage of carbs. The only things that really need to be avoided completely are really sugary white carby stuff that you know probably isn't healthy anyway.

[brandyk]

This afternoon & evening I added about about calories in. I finally feel normal. I was even able to exercise post dinner!

Last night's bagel was one of those mini ones - not a whole fat bagel There is no way I would eat salad greens in the middle of the night yukko! But I totally get what you are saying. Eat what you feel you need to, but not giant size, balance it out with other stuff and then continue eating if necessary.

Hopefully I can go back to being my normal chill self. My pregnancy has been wonderful save these past 5 days!

[kamesennin]

Originally Posted by brandyk

This afternoon & evening I added about about calories in. I finally feel normal. I was even able to exercise post dinner!

Last night's bagel was one of those mini ones - not a whole fat bagel There is no way I would eat salad greens in the middle of the night yukko! But I totally get what you are saying. Eat what you feel you need to, but not giant size, balance it out with other stuff and then continue eating if necessary.

Hopefully I can go back to being my normal chill self. My pregnancy has been wonderful save these past 5 days!

I'm glad you are feeling better. Your doctors sound wacko, my dietician was seriously nice and was always asking if I felt hungry or was having trouble with the diet. I hope you can get the real life support as well. your husband sounds wonderful, btw. You know, you do the best you can and if you have to go on insulin, that is just how it is sometimes. I was devastated when I found out I needed that shot at night (I had trouble with my fasting #s only, no problems during the day so I had 10 units of insulin at night). Take care, I know how the stress can wear on you!

[kohlby]

I have a question for your ladies about the 3 hour GTT, which I took today. I know, I know, I'll have the results in two weeks. But of course I feel like speculating if I passed or not now! My fasting was 93 according to the glucomenter. However, a couple years ago I had a fasting of 107 according to the glucometer but the blood draw was really 90 - so I understand that 93 can go either way. I have been on a diabetic diet since January. (But without checking blood sugars, since they've always shown up fine during the non-pg 2 hour test despite insulin levels being screwy).

I felt more or less fine during the test, other than a terrible headache. However, right after the test, I had what felt like a hypoglycemic episode. It started as soon as I got back to my car, which was less than ten minutes after the three hours. I had stashed a south beach meal bar in the car thankfully. I went from feeling fine to sweating buckets in the matter of a second. My pulse felt fluttery and I had that wierd panicky feeling as well. I used to have this happen quite often until I went on a diabetic diet. It did end about 20 minutes after I ate. (The south beach bar says 1 carb and 2 protien exchanges, however, the carbs come from fiber and sugar alcohols for the most part). I was curious if a hypoglycemic episode increased the chance that I'll have GD. I did not have insulin levels taken as well, though I can guarantee those were totally out of whack based on my experience in the past dealing with my insulin resistance.

[brandyk]

2 weeks? Seriously?? 2 weeks?? That is an incredibly long time to wait. I got my results back in um, about 12 hours after the test had ended. I don't know too much about the rest but you can have diabetes and crash and you can not have diabetes and crash. Weird, right?

My last post was supposed to say 500 calories that I added. Mostly carbs. And it didn't affect my blood sugar more than the 2 carbs per meal were.

One more question for everyone - what does it mean when your numbers seem to be totally unaffected by how much or what kind of carbs? My numbers are above the protocol, but it looks pretty clear I can eat whatever I want and my numbers follow a very typical after eating response pattern. Sugar, no sugar, carbs, no carbs. Same after eating UNLESS my number is very low before hand. Basically it is the same relative spike. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

It would be a whole lot easier to be a mindless sheep patient.

[kohlby]

Originally Posted by brandyk

2 weeks? Seriously?? 2 weeks?? That is an incredibly long time to wait. I got my results back in um, about 12 hours after the test had ended. I don't know too much about the rest but you can have diabetes and crash and you can not have diabetes and crash. Weird, right?

The nurse at the hospital said that she didn't really want to tell me how many days it would take in case it took longer, but most results are done within 5 business days. Seeing how this is a holiday weekend, that would mean just over a week of waiting. However, if they don't have it that day, I'm off for vacation for a few days so it will be two weeks by the time I get the results. In the past, I think it did take about two weeks before I got results.

[brandyk]

I didn't realize it was a holiday this weekend! Oops. Anyways, it sounds to me like even with the wait you are not really at risk.

I was informed by my OB this morning that Kaiser doesn't prescribe insulin to start, they prescribe glyburide. This is not a treatment recommended by ACOG, which notes that one unconfirmed study has shown it to be safe & effective. That study was carried out um... by Kaiser NorCal. And guess where I live! Now this treatment could be fine & dandy, but there's a certain lack of objectivity here. Note that the treatments aren't individualized - Kaiser prescribes glyburide.

[jenn252]

Thank you for the advice! I retested today and my numbers were great thanks to the diet! I am going to keep on it for the rest of my pregnancy. I am just so glad to know I can control it with diet rather than insulin.

[avivaelona]

I would way rather go on Glyburide than Insulin. I don't know why the amount of carbs you eat isn't affecting things much. I think I'd just keep fiddling with eating more protein and fiber and avoid sugary stuff and see what happens over a week or so. It sounds good that you added the calories and feel better.

Kohlby lots of people crash after the three hour, I don't think it makes much difference whether you have diabetes or not, who in the world eats that much sugar on an empty stomach?

Oh and Brandy obviously you aren't having the intense greens cravings I am. I eat greens throughout the day though I do admit that I don't usually have them at night, I have no objection to it though. Not lettuce though, greens like arugala. MMmmmmmmm.

My endocrinologist confused me, she wants me to take my blood sugar just an hour after, but when I was doing two hours after I did it two hours after I started eating. If I do it one hour after I start eating it might only be 15 minutes after I finish or less if we have a leisurely dinner. I probably should clarify it with her. I'm still having morning ketone problems and I have no idea what I can do about it, I can't eat any more food than I'm eating.

[brandyk]

Jenn - Yay for you!! That is really great to hear!!

Well, yesterday things were not all fine - totally obvious to me 2 hours after breakfast. Today I tripled the breakfast from what they originally gave me (yes, instead of twice the food as I was doing, THREE WHOLE TIMES!). I did not crash at all today. Snack was on the go so it was a luna bar & nuts & PB cookie (no sugar, flour, just for the protein). Lunch was a salad and bread and doo doo doo... my # after lunch was 105! But... I don't feel like crap. Snack was a low carb cheesecake. I have felt good all day long, even with the heat (oh, like 95 or so). So I think it might have been the breakfast plus the calorie deficit. If I can get the timing right, perhaps my fasting will go down. this morning it was 121 - I had no snack before bed. Too hot.

Aviva - I actually had to cancel my CSA box because I was giving away half of it - all greens. As soon as I got pregnant I got an intense disliking for greens. I can do well coated salad (and I am normally not a big dressing eater) and that's about it. Cooked spinach. Don't put chard anywhere near me! Barf!

They did not specify - they have me testing at 1 hr after - but I have read that 1 hour after is one hour after finishing the meal and 2 hours is 2 hours after starting.

I forgot to test the ketones again. I thought I was done peeing on a stick for a while!!

My mood is just so much better. I feel like myself again. YAY!!!!! Triple yay for real breakfast!!!

[avivaelona]

Brandy if you can break that breakfast up into two pieces you may have less trouble...I have a very small breakfast when I first wake up and a larger one an hour later. I had greens aversion with my last pregnancy. This time around its the opposite. I'll have to look up what they say about one hour readings.