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Losing control at 25 weeks?

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J

Jambat

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi,

Im a type 2 taking Humulin I in the evening and morning. I started the pregnancy with a good HBA1C (6.2) and have managed to control my BG within target levels (5.5 before meals, 7.5 after) throughout...until now!!

I've got to 25 weeks and suddenly the whole thing has gone mad! My numbers don't make any sense - sometimes in the 8s and 9s, but I can't work out why! Im trying to increase the insulin as instructed, 2 units every 2 days, but it doesn't seem to be making any impact on the numbers at all!

I wondered if this has happened to anyone else? I feel quite down about it. I'm due for review in 10 days, but am worried about the effect on the baby in the meantime :(
 
Welcome to the forum, Jambat.

Women often have to change their insulin doses through pregnancy. It sounds like you're increasing doses as instructed, but are the instructions from before pregnancy? Can you speak with someone on your diabetes / midwifery team before your appointment for more information or to bring forward appt if a bigger change of insulin regime is needed?
 
When I was pregnant (long time ago) I could not believe how much insulin I ended up taking. I would speak to someone at the diabetic clinic about this.
 
Sounds like you are doing an excellent job and don't worry too much as it sounds only recent that you have been getting your 'highs' (to me 8 or 9 isn't that high but obv more than you would like when pregnant!). I remember in my first pregnancy it pretty much doubled how much insulin I took, mainly my long acting one (Lantus). You will need to keep increasing it until you get the desired effect. I think its easier for me though as take 4 injections a day or more or less depending on what I eat so can probably adjust it better/quicker....

I'm all over the place at the minute, one minute low and the next high (probably from over compensating!) I'm only 5 weeks though so know I will get it on track.

Good luck! x
 
welcome to the forum and congratulations with the pregnancy!

It sounds like you're reaching the stage in pregnancy where we all get insulin resistant. The good news is that it's completely Normal and a good sign that your placenta is doing what it needs to do ! Just irritating because in doing so, the placenta releases hormones which counter insulin, hence the resistance.

I started getting the exact same thing around Christmas when I was 24 weeks , with the mornings being the worst - i ended up having carb free breakfasts for a while. I am a type 1 but was put on metformin in January to help increase my insulin sensitivity (it worked). Are you able to email / call your nurse between now and when you have your next appointment, so that s/he can help you manage things?. Although the odd spike won't harm the baby (and 8 - 9 is not that bad at all !!), I don't think you should be left on your own without knowing what to do. Also I'd try maybe to keep a food diary so you can see how the different foods affect your sugars.

Good,luck with it all !
 
Thank you all for being so welcoming...and wise! 🙂

After your responses, I gave my diabetes midwife a call and she was really reassuring. She said that although outside of target, the numbers aren't a disaster. At this point the baby is having a growth spurt so this is quite a normal occurrence and also why they do the GTT at this point to diagnose GD, so that all makes good sense to me!

She says she understood that feeling that the numbers were sliding further out if control but to continue increasing by 2 units every other day as it would eventually sort itself. She said I could increase to 3 units if I really felt it wasn't going well but she was concerned about hypos so to be very careful. As I'm having a growth scan next week, she says this would give us a really good idea of what was going on and how the baby is being affected by the diabetes.

I think perhaps some of this is also us putting pressure on ourselves? I was made very very aware before I got pregnant of how critical good control is, and probably scared myself with too much Googling!! It's hard to feel like you're a huge health risk and are endangering your unborn child...I had a consultant who certainly didn't hold back on impressing all of this on me! Fortunately my midwife was hugely encouraging during pre-conception otherwise I don't think we'd have dared get pregnant at all!

Thanks to you all again - it's been a lonely journey so far in terms of the diabetes perspective, so I'm very glad to have found you! 🙂
 
Great that you contacted your diabetes midwife, and that you got the support that you needed from her !

And yes, I'm sure that we're all pretty hard on ourselves and just want our babies to be in a healthy and balanced environment.

You're right, its not easy and its great to be able to share stories and experiences with others who have been through it .

Good luck with your scan, and great that you have found us ! 😉

x
 
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