Gestational Diabetes

Written by Michael Corrieri

Between two and four percent of pregnancies are affected by the temporary condition of gestational diabetes.

Gestational diabetes occurs because of glucose intolerance during pregnancy. It means that the glucose or sugar can’t leave the blood stream to feed the body’s cells and be transformed into energy. Because the glucose is essentially stuck in the blood stream, the glucose levels rise and become harmful for both the pregnant woman and her unborn baby.

Generally the condition can be controlled with a proper diet and exercise. The diabetes normally disappears after delivery. But this situation brings with it an increased risk for the mother and child to develop diabetes later in life.

Risk To The Mother

During the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy or anytime your doctor decides you are at risk, all women should be tested for gestational diabetes. Even though the disease is temporary and normally goes away after giving birth, the risks to the baby are such that it needs to be tested for and monitored carefully. The mother will generally have mild symptoms and this disease presents little to no threat to her life. It will put her in a higher risk category for diabetes later in life. In fact the numbers suggest that as many as forty percent of the women who develop gestational diabetes will contract full-blown diabetes within ten years of delivery. The risk of getting diabetes increases in obese women.

Risks To The Baby

If a woman develops gestational diabetes, the increased maternal glucose or blood sugar means that her child is also at higher risk for developing diabetes later in life. But there are other possible complications that might mean the baby grows larger than it normally would in birth size and it raises the occurrence of some birth traumas like shoulder dystocia. Shoulder dystocia means the head comes out, but the shoulders won’t follow. This is an obstetrical emergency that can cause complications that include possible death.

Gestational diabetes also means the baby has an increased risk for prolonged newborn jaundice and neonatal hypoglycemia - or low blood sugar. The baby can have low blood calcium or be born with respiratory distress syndrome. On rare occasions this disease can result in the fetus’ death in the womb in later stages of the pregnancy.

These risks can be reduced by diagnosing the problem and controlling the mother’s blood sugar levels.

Symptoms

Gestational diabetes’ symptoms include the symptoms that are usually associated with diabetes. These include increased thirst, excess urination, fatigue, and weight loss. Other symptoms that are associated specifically with gestational diabetes include nausea and vomiting in later stages of pregnancy, and frequent bladder, vaginal or skin infections.

Treatment

Gestational diabetes treatment will be focused on controlling the mother’s blood sugar or blood glucose levels to keep them within normal limits during the rest of the pregnancy. The baby will be monitored several ways, and this monitoring might include the use of electronic fetal monitoring to check the baby’s heart functions.

One of the most critical treatments includes managing the mother’s diet. She must get enough calories and nutrients for both herself and the child, while at the same time working to control the blood glucose levels. If diet doesn’t keep the blood sugar levels in normal range, insulin therapy will be used.

Risk Factors

The risk of getting gestational diabetes increases among women with a family history that includes diabetes. The risk goes up if the woman has had gestational diabetes in an earlier pregnancy and if the woman has had a miscarriage.

Weight increase and alternating hormones are both normal in pregnancy. But these factors can make it difficult for the woman’s body to produce the insulin it needs and thus it can contribute to the development of diabetes. It is important to gain weight, but not too much weight and to follow the advice of your doctor in this matter.

Lack of exercise can also contribute to this problem, so pregnant women should be exercising every day within their doctor’s stated guidelines. There are racial factors that increase the risk for gestational diabetes. These follow the racial factors for full-blown diabetes. Those of Asian, African-American, American Indian, Hispanic and Pacific Islander decent should be especially vigilant during their pregnancies.

Summary

Gestational diabetes is something to take very seriously. Yet it can often be controlled or avoided all together if you watch your weight, your diet and get plenty of exercise. If you feel you have some of the symptoms, or are a high risk for this disease, make sure and talk to your doctor as soon as possible. Then carefully follow the doctor’s advice.