[MickeyBoo]

That's great news SSJ! I hope everything goes smoothly for you, the 19th is not far away at all, I wish time would speed up for me too still about 10 weeks to go Do you know what you're having?

Let us know how everything goes with the delivery and enjoy your chocolate!! That's one thing I'm a bit sad to be missing out on, I'm not normally a choc person but I do treat myself to a Terrys Choc Orange at Easter time, it'll have to wait now!

Good Luck
Mic

[Chelara]

Looks like I finally get to belong to a special group. Got the news today that my 2 hour result came through on the borderline at 8 so theyre sending me to the diabetic clinic at Nepean, has anyone been there? I am not familiar with Nepean hospital at all and it will be a pain unless the clinic has out of hours appointments.

So what am I in for apart from a healthier diet?

[MickeyBoo]

Hi Chelara, welcome although understandably it's not a group you want to join

As for what to expect, based on my experiences I would say that you will see a dietician, diabetes edcuator & endocrinologist and they should discuss with you in detail about what's expected with sugar levels, diet options and possible further treatment down the track with metformin or insulin.

They *should* get you to buy a BSL machine at a local NDSS supported chemist, and you will need to start testing yourself, most of the time it's on waking, and two hours after each meal. They will review your GTT results and decide whether they will give you a trial period with diet changes first, that is the more common approach. You'll need to have your levels come back under a certain amount (normally 5.5 on waking and 7.0 after meals). How they interpret the information seems to change, for me if i get three higher readings after one particular meal in one week then my insulin gets bumped up.

You can look forward to sizing scans towards the end to check bubs health and growth, and placenta function. If you end up on insulin the general consensus is that you will be induced around your due date or maybe a little earlier, but again that changes with each hospital and their own policies. If you're still controlling things by diet then they normally let you go over as long as bub is healthy.

As for hospital appointments and Nepean I have no idea sorry, my public hospital has one morning a week for the Diabetes Clinic, we see everyone we need to see on the one morning, but there is no flexibility with appointment times or days. Gets a little frustrating but it's not for long

HTH! and good luck
Mic

[Chelara]

Thanks for that mickeyboo, I am hoping for a vbac so would love to not need insulin, I'm guessing it will make it harder for me to achieve a natural birth. My mw did say that at this point I'm still fine but need to see my Ob in three weeks who I guess will lay down the law for me.

It's a pain going to nepean as my hospital is obviously too small to need a diabetes clinic, even though I am closer to black town or westmead. I was hoping it was a one off visit.

Testing bsl sounds like a lotta fun! Especially over Easter. Anyway as you say it isn't for long and I am going to try my best to sort this out through diet alone so will be strict on myself.

Thanks for the info.

[Chelara]

So what happens if my bsl is quite low? I only just got the bsl reader and had my session with the educator and dietician. I ate my lunch, large serve of San Choy bow with rice noodles and a plum. 2 hours later dud my reading, I was hungry, shaky and dizzy by this time. My reading was 2.9. No idea if this is too low or acceptable or why I'd be having a low reading if I do have diabetes.

[MickeyBoo]

Yep that's a low reading! Could be a few things, main culprit being that there weren't enough Low GI carbs in the meal to sustain you for the two hours after the meal, Higher GI carbs will burn more quickly and leave you at risk of getting a low.


When you do get a low like that, it's best to have one of the following:

What to do

Have some sugar quickly such as:
 5 -7 jelly beans
 1 glass of soft drink (not diet)
 1 glass of fruit juice
 2-4 teaspoons of sugar or honey
If you don’t feel better in 5-10 minutes have some more sugar.

Then eat some carbohydrate (starchy) food such as:
 1 piece of fruit
 1 glass milk
 1 sandwich
 2-4 dry biscuits
or
 If it is time for your meal, have it immediately

here is a fact sheet that has a large amount of information that you might find helpful... http://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/PageFi...d%20tablets.pdf

It's perfectly normal to have sugar lows when you are diabetic, a lot of how your body processes food changes so if you're not eating Low Gi, (or longer sustaining foods) then you will end up with a spike and a dramatic drop, instead of a gradual spike and slow drop. If you go back a page or so in this thread I linked a few pages of info about Low GI and spikes too.

[Chelara]

Thanks mickeyboo, I had another low reading this morning 2.1 after breakfast but made sure I had plenty of low gi carbs at lunch and got 6.2 so I think I need to try harder to get more and lower gi carbs in. Will read the links now, thanks.

Eta mickeyboo I am not taking any tablets or insulin, that link you posted suggests low blood sugar will only come about under these circumstances.

This post has been edited by Chelara: 20/03/2012, 02:56 PM

[MickeyBoo]

Yep its a lot more common while on tablets and insulin and the side effects of a low are a lot more severe when on medication. I know that I've had heaps of lows when I'm not on medication as well, its something that can definitely happen, but it is well worth talking to your Dr about, you may be able to redo the GTT and see if you get a better result etc.

[PleaseBeAdvised]

Sometimes I wish I had lows: absolutely dying for a jellybean.

[Chelara]

Thank you Mickey! That's great to hear. I am speaking with my educator tomorrow so will see what she says. I would love a chance to redo the gtt if that's at all possible, currently my hospital's policy means that my baby will go into special care after the birth regardless of how well he is. I would rather keep him with me especially if I don't have diabetes. Oh well it is interesting seeing what my bsl are doing so don't mind the monitoring just that I Don't want my bub separated from me .