To some it comes as a shock to get the diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes (GD), but for me I was expecting it. I think I showed symptoms of it quite early on in my pregnancy - I was so thirsty really early on in pregnancy and had some blurred vision. I mentioned my thirst to everyone, my midwife, the antenatal team, the perinatal team, but no one said anything. When I experienced blurred vision, I called triage (as it's one of those things they tell you to call triage for), and they did all these tests for blood clots. I was put on blood thinners for a bit, they did a radioactive scan of my chest, and a head CT, but all these results were clear. It wasn't until about week 22 of my pregnancy that they mentioned Gestational Diabetes, as they were booking me in for the tolerance test at this time. I hadn't ever heard of it before, but as soon as they explained what it was, I knew I had it. I guess I'm also a bit annoyed no one told me sooner or thought about testing for it sooner given my symptoms, because then these potentially risky scans they did could have been avoided.
Given my symptoms, and that there is a history of Type 2 diabetes in my family, I was expecting to get the diagnosis. When I got the call, I didn't panic and I wasn't upset. I knew the drill of what happens when getting a diabetes diagnosis as I'd seen it happen to my Dad. However, I think if the whole thing is new to you and you weren't expecting it, then it can cause stress, worry, and panic. I'm not overweight (or at least I wasn't before pregnancy!), nor am I extremely unfit. Gestational Diabetes can happen to anyone - about 1 in 20 pregnancies will be affected by GD. So, if you have been diagnosed - you aren't alone.
When you get diagnosed, they should give you a little machine for you to check your blood sugars with, and you should check your sugar levels four times a day. At my original meeting, they said that the fasting/before breakfast reading was most important and that the others can be taken at any other point - as long as there are four readings. However, at a later appointment I was told this was wrong. The fasting/before breakfast is important, but then the other readings should be taken an hour after your first bite of your meal - so once after breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
They will be looking for your readings to be within a certain range:
- Before Breakfast: 4.0-5.2
- After Breakfast: 4.0-7.7
- After Lunch: 4.0-7.7
- After Dinner: 4.0-7.7
I found typically I was low before breakfast but then was able to manage my diet to be within the range for all other readings - aside from when I had 'cheat' meals, like going out for dinner with family. They do say that for the odd occasion, enjoy your food - like for birthdays, have the birthday cake.
So, what should you do.
I recommend for the first couple of weeks, stick to your normal diet but cut out sugar where you can. I already didn't drink energy drinks, or fizzy drinks, but I did have sugar in my tea so I cut out the sugar in my tea. Start with the easiest things. The reason I recommend sticking with your normal diet, is because everyone digests the sugars differently so if what you already eat doesn't affect your sugars, or you still get readings within the desired range, I wouldn't cut it out. For example, they recommend switching to brown pasta but if you eat white pasta and still get a good blood sugar level, then don't change it. I found that I could eat white pasta, but not white rice. It takes a few weeks to test foods and see what raises your sugar levels, and what doesn't.
When it came to snacks, I didn't cut out sweets and chocolate all together but I did eat less, and I switched to dark chocolate only. I confess, I haven't eaten cake or cookies, but only because I haven't had any inclination to eat those. If you're a biscuit snacker, I know my Dad switched to Rich Tea biscuits which are a bit boring but I like to dunk these in my tea which makes me feel better about eating them! I solely only ate ginger biscuits if I felt like having a biscuit, mostly because this helped with any nausea but also because I then didn't eat very many of them. Any oat based biscuits can also be better than anything chocolatey. If it's hard to cut things out completely, try by starting to make a switch to something a bit better.
The thirst is one of the worst things I found. I am just so thirsty all of the time, constantly. I've never drunk so much water in my life. I am fortunate enough to live in a place where the tap water is amazing, and I am super fussy with my water. I was strictly a no tap water girl before I moved house to a new area. If you don't like tap water, stock up on those massive bottles of water - the 2 litre in the 4 or 6 pack, you can get from the supermarket. Just drink water. Even if you have a cup of tea, or glass of squash, or bottle of something else. Just drink water alongside. Water is your friend. Have water by your bed! Yes, you will constantly need to pee. I'm currently at 35 weeks, and I think I get up to pee every 1-2 hours now. It's annoying, but I need that water! On the plus-side, you're always hydrated when they do a urine test.
At the first meeting, once you've been diagnosed, they give you the machine along with a pack of information. In this pack they talk about
food pairing. This is something that was a new concept to me, as my Dad had never come across it in his diabetes diagnosis. I found this did help, especially when it came to fruit. I really like eating strawberries, grapes, melon, etc. but fruit can raise your sugar levels. In this pack, they recommend one piece of fruit as a snack per day. However, I found pairing fruit with cheese super helpful. It meant I could enjoy my fruit, and still have decent sugar level readings. This website is super helpful at suggesting food pairings, and other information on GD:
https://www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk/what-is-food-pairing/
The only mistake we made after my diagnosis is that I didn't properly explain to my partner what GD meant, and he went out and bought a whole load of things that were fat free or low in fat or low in sugar - which was very sweet of him. However, full-fat is the way to go with Gestational Diabetes. You need those fats to help slow the release of the sugars. You also need to be careful with anything that says low in sugar or 0% sugar, because it may mean they've used something else like sweetener which is just as bad. If you didn't read labels before (I never did...) it's time to start. To avoid unnecessary purchases, inform your partner, family, friends - anyone who's out there buying/making you food. Explain what GD is and how you're managing it. I forgot, or didn't realise, that my partner had no idea what diabetes really was - let alone the Gestational kind, so make sure they know and understand that it isn't the end of the world, it's just another thing to manage.
I think my final point on this is how to manage heartburn alongside GD. I was drinking milk whenever I had bad heartburn - this was usually at like 3-4am, but found that milk raised my sugars in the fasting/before breakfast reading. I switched to Gaviscon in liquid form but my sugars were still a little high, but Rennies didn't affect my sugar levels at all.
To summarise:
- Start with the easiest things to cut out or switch - e.g. Stop putting sugar in tea, or switch from white pasta to brown
- If finding some things hard, switch to something a bit better or eat less of it - e.g. less cake, or switch from chocolate to chocolate covered nuts
- Drink water
- Pair your foods - especially for snacks
- Keep those full-fat foods
- Inform your people
- For those with heartburn, Rennies are the way to go!
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know! Did this help in any way? Do you have any other tips for those with GD? Perhaps you've had to manage GD with more than just your diet - share your experiences.
~ Sovay ✧
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