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1st trimester, type 2, no help

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J

Just_jenn

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi everyone,

New to the board. Found you by searching for info.

I'm a type 2 diabetic with pcos. Life has been very stressful the past few months so I hadn't been taking my met (2x prolonged release) or monitoring my levels. Three weeks ago I found I was unexpectedly pregnant so I hustled myself off to the doctor's right sharpish and had my hba1c taken.

It was 13 :-/ however, the diabetic nurse -- who was an evil old hag whose advice was "there are ways to not be pregnant" sent me on my way with some more met and told me to come back in a month.

That's all the help I've had. GP referred me to that woman, and community midwife has referred me to the consultant at the hospital (appointment later this week) but I'm now about 8 weeks and am still getting fasting readings of 7-8 and post meals at 8-9. Is it normal for them to let sugars come down this gradually? I called the community midwife advice line but the woman there told me these high readings only affect the baby after 26 weeks, but that doesn't seem right to me.

No one seems to have any information about the effects of high blood glucose in early pregnancy. Googling just makes me more nervous because all I can find are horror stories. I feel like it's inevitable that I'm either going to miscarry or have a baby with awful abnormalities.

I just feel so alone, but don't know from where I can get any help.
 
Hi Just_jenn, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm very sorry to hear about the poor quality of care you have received on what must be a very worrying situation for you. There is a school of thought that it is better for levels to be reduced gradually as this can place less stress on the small blood vessels of the eyes and kidneys. However, I'm afraid I don't know about the possible effects on the baby of having those elevated levels for longer at this stage of your pregnancy.

Have you been given any advice about how to reduce your levels, apart from just giving you more medication? What sorts of things are you eating - is it high in carbs? It might be worth writing a food diary so you can determine how much carbohydrate you eat in a typical day, and if there are any areas of your diet that might help you gain lower levels. Do you test before and after meals to see how the meal has affected your levels?
 
Thanks for the response, that's interesting to hear about the gradual reduction of sugar for the blood vessels. I saw elsewhere that someone in a similar situation to mine had drastically reduced their blood sugars and she felt the rapid difference hard caused her to miscarry. Then again, that's mostly anecdotal so I'm not sure how accurate it might be. It's the opposite of the US where I had my now-3-year-old (had GD) and they whacked me on insulin straight away.

I have been keeping a food diary so I'm going to take that in when I have my scan next week and beg the midwives to please get me some help! I've been aiming for no more than 45g of carbs at 3 main meals and then 3 snacks of no more than 15g of carbs. Have been avoiding processed foods and trying to balance carb-y food with protein.

I haven't had any other guidance other than the medication. I suppose she figured because I've had type 2 for a couple of years I knew what I was doing, but I think if that was the case I wouldn't have found myself in this situation!
 
Hi Just Jen
Welcome to the forum.
I'm really sorry to hear that you've received such a ridiculous level of care (so far) !. I think you are right not to trawl the internet for information as you will just find horror stories, which aren't helpful to anyone!.

Did your GP prescribe any folic acid ??? I know that Type 1s need to take 5mg folic acid to the end of the 12th week (only available on prescription) but I dont know if thats the case for Type 2s.

I dont think your fasting and post meal BGs are not THAT bad at all. DO you know what your A1C was before this one?.

DO you know if you will be able to speak to a diabetes dietician when you have the appointment with the consultant ? Try to push for one if you can, I personally find the dieticians really helpful.

And lastly....the "nurse" has no right to judge you or anyone else, and try not to worry about having a miscarriage - having high sugars doesnt necessarily mean that the pregnancy would end in a miscarriage - these things can be caused by a host of non diabetes related factors.

Try to stay positive until your next consultant's appointment, and please let us know how you get on ! 🙂
 
Thanks for the advice and encouragement folks - I really appreciate it and I feel a *lot* more relaxed this morning! Curiously enough, had the lowest fasting reading I've had yet (6.7). I forget that stress can affect levels!

Cleo, I am on the high dose folic acid (though I had to ask for it) so at least that's one thing. I hadn't thought about seeing a dietician, but I think I will ask when I have my appointment. It sounds silly but I don't really know how to eat healthily without losing weight. I've got plenty to lose but I think that ought to wait until after the bub gets here!
 
Just_jenn said:
Thanks for the advice and encouragement folks - I really appreciate it and I feel a *lot* more relaxed this morning! Curiously enough, had the lowest fasting reading I've had yet (6.7). I forget that stress can affect levels!

Cleo, I am on the high dose folic acid (though I had to ask for it) so at least that's one thing. I hadn't thought about seeing a dietician, but I think I will ask when I have my appointment. It sounds silly but I don't really know how to eat healthily without losing weight. I've got plenty to lose but I think that ought to wait until after the bub gets here!
Click to expand...


Hopefully the dietician will reassure you that it is possible to lose weight slowly during pregnancy, provided you're supplying the right nutrients to the baby by eating healthily.
 
Thanks, leelee. I hope they can give me some good advice - I've seen conflicting reports about losing weight in pregnancy, even if you're plus sized. But I know less weight will make my diabetes easier to control. So many things to think about!

Have a scan tomorrow - hoping everything is Ok.
 
Just_jenn said:
Thanks, leelee. I hope they can give me some good advice - I've seen conflicting reports about losing weight in pregnancy, even if you're plus sized. But I know less weight will make my diabetes easier to control. So many things to think about!

Have a scan tomorrow - hoping everything is Ok.
Click to expand...

Good luck with the scan tomorrow JustJen! 🙂
 
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