glucose tolerance preparation diet

with gestational diabetes there generallyaren't any symptoms. however, there are patients who are at greater risk. so a a woman whoseparents have had type 2 diabetes, or who is obese, or who has had a very large baby, orwho is spilling sugar in her urine, or who has polycystic ovarian syndrome or who's hadgestational diabetes before, those are all high risk conditions and those women we wouldtest for glucose tolerance as soon as we saw

glucose tolerance preparation diet, them in pregnancy. i mentioned that havinggestational diabetes greatly increases your risk of having type 2 diabetes and sometimeswomen will develop that type 2 diabetes between pregnancies and we want to know if that'shappened. now for the average patient, we'll test them with a blood glucose testing whenthey get to be about twenty-four to twenty-eight

weeks pregnant. and that's because the hormonalchanges of pregnancy are exerting their effects. they're increasing the resistance to the actionof insulin. and so if we're going to see glucose intolerance or gestational diabetes, it'llbe evident by twenty-four to twenty-eight weeks. the other point is if we test the patientsand we find they have an abnormal test and we treat them, we can prevent some of theadverse outcomes, which for gestational diabetes one of the biggest concerns is having a babythat's over ten pounds that can be very difficult to deliver and have a traumatic birth. theother reason we want to avoid the babies getting too big and too fat is cause if they are toobig and too fat at delivery, they're more likely to grow up to be fatter as childrenand adults and they're also more likely to

grow up to have diabetes themselves. so thetesting that we do includes, at about twenty-four to twenty-eight weeks, having the mother drinka sugary liquid and then measuring her glucose one hour later. if that's elevated, that screeningtest is positive, then we go on and we do a full three-hour oral glucose tolerance test.and if that's abnormal, then we begin treatment. and for most patients, treatment is goingto be diet, making sure that the patient has a balanced diet and doesn't eat concentratedsweets, candies, soda pop that's sweetened with sugar. eats a balanced diet where mostof the carbohydrates come from complex carbohydrate sources and we also encourage the moms toexercise. brisk walking every day will help to reduce her glucose levels and reduce thechances that she'll need to go on to additional

therapy. and some patients, and it variesfrom patient to patient, but overall about twenty to thirty percent of patients, despitefollowing the diet, will have glucose levels that are too high and we know that becausewe also have the patients monitor their glucose levels using a glucose meter usually aboutfour times a day - when they get up in the morning and then after each meal. and if thoselevels are too high, if the pattern of those tests demonstrates they’re too high, whichcould be dangerous for the baby and lead to that baby being too big, then we would startadditional therapy. it might be an oral hypoglycemic, a pill, or it might be insulin.