[pookel]

My doctor told me I was borderline for GD last time, so this time I asked my doctor if we could just skip the GTT and assume I have a blood sugar problem. She set me up with a glucose meter and I've been testing 4 times a day this week. I'm supposed to call the diabetes nurse tomorrow and tell her my numbers.<br><br>
Incidentally, I'm not really concerned about the "big baby" thing because I'm a repeat c/s mom anyway (not a VBAC candidate, different subject). But I have diabetes on both sides of my family, I'm overweight, and I'm really concerned about my blood sugar in general and my chances of developing diabetes in the future. I've never had a glucose meter until this week.<br><br>
So, can someone look at my numbers and tell me what they mean? This is over the last few days - the first number is before-breakfast fasting, the rest are 2 hours after meals.<br><br>
113 101 107 80<br>
108 102 (N/A) 89<br>
84 79 97 114<br>
83 101 (this is today)<br><br>
Why would the fasting numbers be higher than the after-meal numbers? Any other thoughts on what the numbers mean, other things I could watch out for?

 

[MotherofEden]

I'm no expert, but I can share what I've learned. I have GD, am on insulin 4X a day and my 10 yo dd is type 1 diabetic, also on insulin. We do a lot of testing around here.<br><br>
I don't know what your doc told you, but mine want to see fasting below 95, and 1 hour after meals below 135. I notice that if I dont' have a snack at 10/10:30 pm, my fasting # is higher. (something high protein, lowish carb- usually plain greek yogurt w walnuts and a bit of banana) I think this raise occurs because your liver starts kicking out sugar if you don't have enough in your system. So by eating too few carbs, you can raise your numbers.<br><br>
According to what I'm supposed to be shooting for, your numbers look great, except those first two fasting #'s are a little high. Mine were signifigantly higher, thus the need for insulin.<br><br>
Don't know if this was any help at all, I know it's frustrating and confusing. Ask if your doc's practice has a diabetes educator. this is a nurse trained to teach about blood glucose management through diet, exercise, and meds if needed. They can help you figure out meal planning and such. It helped me just to have someone to field questions.

 

[JanB]

Your two-hour numbers are fine, and you don't need to do anything different there.<br><br>
Your fasting numbers are iffy. The 83 and 84 are beautiful; the 108 and 113 are a smidge too high. (Before someone comes in and tells me I'm overreacting, I'm basing this on the guidelines for pregnant women who are diabetic; because the stakes are higher and because there is evidence suggesting that keeping blood sugar absolutely, 100% normal during pregnancy leads to the best outcomes, the target ranges during pregnancy are lower than the target ranges you will typically hear from a GP or even an endocrinologist for non-pregnant people.)<br><br>
A very common physiological scenario with diabetics -- or prediabetics -- is for insulin resistance to increase overnight. Just as an example, I'm currently on an insulin pump, and my basal (aka background) insulin settings are about twice as high overnight as they are during the daytime. For whatever reason, the body just tends to be more insulin resistant in the evenings. If you lurk around diabetes forums you'll see it commonly referred to as "dawn phenomenon" because for a lot of people it tends to peak around 3-6 AM or so, just in time for the morning fasting reading.<br><br>
Anyway. As far as what you can do to bring the fasting level down, unfortunately the answer is, not much. Fasting blood glucose is one of the most difficult numbers to treat with diet/exercise alone. That having been said, there are things you can do. Try to get daily exercise, as a certain background amount of physical activity seems to help with all numbers across the board. You might also try experimenting with your bedtime snack. This varies a lot by individual, but some people can really affect the fasting reading by: Having an all-protein snack before bed; having a snack with protein and a small amount of carbohydrate before bed; drinking a glass of water before bed; completely eliminating the snack before bed; or some combination of the above. If you did anything differently the night before you got the 84 and 83 reads, I'd say, keep doing that, whatever it was. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br>
It's really good that you're keeping an eye on things! Right now I would say your fasting numbers aren't really high enough to worry about, but because insulin resistance tends to increase as pregnancy progresses, I'd definitely keep checking.<br><br>
Ah, blood sugar, one of my favorite topics. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1">