Is my gestational diabetes causing my blood sugar to rise?

Question

Hi doctor,

My wife is with a height of 5' 2" tall and has a weight of 158 pounds. We checked her BSL in the lab for fasting and BP a year back, and both results were normal. Yesterday we again checked the reports, and her reports are like fasting BSL 172 mg/dL, urine: no sugar detected. After two hours of lunch, FBL was 173 mg/dL, and urine: no sugar detected, and HbA1c came as 9.1 %.

Before eight months, there was no sugar detected in the reports, and now it is like this. Need your advice for this. Fasting seems to be a big value. How is fasting more impacted than PP? How severe is this? Can it be controlled only via diet and exercise? In our first pregnancy, we had a stillbirth. There was no sugar detected till ninth month of pregnancy. Till start of the ninth month, sugar reports were fine, but we still had a stillbirth.

She was detected with gestational diabetes, which came to normal within 15 days after delivery. After one and a half years, we again had a pregnancy, and we have a little girl who is 3.6 years old now. During the second pregnancy, she did not show any symptoms of sugar, but to avoid risk, we opted for a C-section at the start of the ninth month itself.

Please help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your query and can understand your concern.

This is very possible. Ladies who develop gestational diabetes are more prone to develop diabetes in the near future. It is like a warning sign to start healthy lifestyle measures so that you can avoid developing diabetes. Currently, your wife has diabetes, and she will require medications.

She will need to exercise and follow a strict diabetic diet along with the medicines. If she manages her diet and exercises well, she can get off the medications. But for now, she will need both. So when the fasting sugar is high, that means the glucose produced by the liver for our organs (especially the brain) during our sleep, even when we do not eat, is uncontrolled.

While the post-meal rise in blood sugar indicates that the body is not producing enough insulin in response to the food eaten. I have tried to answer your query in a simplified manner. Kindly meet with your local physician for the start of medications, or you can consult me as well.

I hope this helps.

Kindly revert in case of further queries.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to iciniq.com.

Yes, with proper diet and exercise, she can live a normal life. She might be able to even get rid of the medications if she is determined and compliant. It is normal, and there is nothing serious about it. It is the initial stage, and if controlled at this stage, she will be able to live a normal life and avoid the complications of long-standing diabetes.

Yes, modern medicine has made it possible to have a completely safe pregnancy and delivery in diabetics. She would just have to have a team of gynecologists and diabetologists, who would manage her together from the beginning of her pregnancy, so that she and the baby are healthy and safe.

I hope this helps.

Please revert in case of further queries.

Thank you.

Answer 3

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Type 1 is genetic and occurs when the pancreas is not producing any insulin (can be due to any reason, like auto-immune, damaged cells, etc.). Type 2 is mostly lifestyle-related and responds well to exercise and medications. Mostly, I think this is type 2 diabetes. She will need to be started on oral medications first, and then, according to the response, we can decide on the management further.

I hope this helps.

Please revert in case of further queries.

Thank you.