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Advice Please?

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
T

TylerAshton'sMum

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi Everyone,

I'm new here and in desperate need of some advice.

I've just found out I'm pregnant again after losing my twin baby boys in May last year. I'm very excited but also nervous and trying to stay as positive as i can.

I'm only 4 weeks 4 days pregnant but for the past 3 days my blood sugars have been going very high which is very unusual for me. I have read that if it is high at this stage it can cause birth defects so I'm beginning to worry alot. I have been taking 2 to 4 extra units of insulin but it's still not at the level i would like. When i was pregnant with my boys i never found out until i was 6 weeks and then i had to reduce my insulin alot as i was taking alot of hypos.

I was just wondering why it's the complete opposite this time and if anyone else had similar high readings so early on in their pregnancy?

Your advice would be much appreciated.
 
Hi. I'm afraid I can't help you with your questions - hopefully some of our mums will be able to - just wanted to welcome you to the forum 🙂 Has your DSN given you any advice?
 
thanks anyway. so far i've only seen my GP who's sent a referral to the hospital, who i probably wont get an appointment with until next week. i was worried yesterday so rang my diabetic clinic who told me to carry on taking a couple of extra units but it doesn't seem to be helping much. for example my blood sugar level was 10.6 pre evening meal so i took 11 units instead of 9. i checked it an hour later and it was 16.4. i took an extra 3 units and drunk a pint of water to try and get it down and checked it an hour later and it was still 14.9. i'm just worried about it being high for too long.
 
Your sugar levels and reaction maybe different this time around, and I suspect that you are probably more stressed this time, with fear of history repeating itself..

At the moment you will be filled with excitement and apprehension, which is very natural I lost my indentical twins at 22 weeks before I went onto have my 3, and I know that I worried and apprehensive unable to relax and enjoy the pregnancy until after I got past the 22 weeks...

I can't remember what happened with BG's at the beging of my pregnancy, to long ago my youngest is 20 later this year😱 My youngest I spent more time in hosptial than out, but this was very several reasons, due to condictions with prescribed medication I was on at the time, I was advised to have a medical termination which I refused, so the pressure of not knowing whether I would actually have a baby at the end of the pregnacy, and the repeating of history, made me more suspectable to DKA at low BG levels..

But she arrived and been a pain in the butt ever since..
 
Ellie Jones said:
Your sugar levels and reaction maybe different this time around, and I suspect that you are probably more stressed this time, with fear of history repeating itself..

At the moment you will be filled with excitement and apprehension, which is very natural I lost my indentical twins at 22 weeks before I went onto have my 3, and I know that I worried and apprehensive unable to relax and enjoy the pregnancy until after I got past the 22 weeks...

I can't remember what happened with BG's at the beging of my pregnancy, to long ago my youngest is 20 later this year😱 My youngest I spent more time in hosptial than out, but this was very several reasons, due to condictions with prescribed medication I was on at the time, I was advised to have a medical termination which I refused, so the pressure of not knowing whether I would actually have a baby at the end of the pregnacy, and the repeating of history, made me more suspectable to DKA at low BG levels..

But she arrived and been a pain in the butt ever since..
Click to expand...

thanks for your reply. my boys were identical aswell. i went into pre-term labour at 24weeks due to TTTS and unfortunately Tyler passed away at 6 days old then Ashton 12 hours later. i know that what happened with my boys can't happen in a singleton pregnancy but i'm still very nervous about something going wrong although i really want to stay as positive as i can. which as u know is hard after such a negative outcome previously.

however it's good to know that you went on to have 3 successful pregnancies after losing your twins. it gives me hope 🙂
 
Hi Tylers mum and congratulations. I am currently 14+2 with my first pregnancy. I had been under the diabetes Pre Conception clinic before falling pregnant as they advised my HBA1C was a little too high to start trying. They like the HBA1C to be below 7. When I fell pregnant they advised me to test my sugars before and after every meal. When I get upmaim to be around 5. Before meals less than 5.9 and 1 hour after meals less than 7.8. This is just a target though and dont worry if you over shoot - your insullin needs do change depending on your hormone levels and environment. Having hypos wont affect the baby but high levels often can mean the baby could end up larger than normal births. I often end up with readings around 11 or 12 depending if I have been snacking - I am eating like a horse! hope this helps and good luck, I am sure a few days of tweeking your doses will soon have you in range.
 
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Hi TylerAshton'sMum

Welcome to the forum. I'm so sorry to hear about your boys. Early pregnancy is a scary time, I was very very anxious about my sugar levels, so can only imagine that its even worse for you.

You'll probably read a lot about hypos being common in early pregnancy but I know for me, and others on here, it wasn't like that at all. In those early weeks I definitely struggled with higher levels and it uis very scary but the problems happen when your sugars are left to run high for a prolonged period and clearly you are not allowing that to happen.

Like LittlePeanut I'm aiming for before meals less than 5.9 and 1 hour after meals less than 7.8 but have by no means been able to stick perfectly within that range, its just not possible. Just keep increasing your insulin like you have been doing and doing lots of tests to make sure you don't swing the other way. This is pretty much how I've made it through my whole pregnancy, testing like mad and correcting when I get it wrong. I'm 30 weeks now and everything is fine, last hba1c was 5.3 and baby is a good size. And like you I have had plenty of high readings along the way.

If you're running high before your evening meal could it be that your pre-lunch dose needs increasing? What regime are you on? If you take a long acting insulin as well maybe you need to increase your morning dose a bit?

I promise you it will settle down when you get your insulin right and you need to try to relax (easier said than done I know!) because stress will only push your levels up higher.

I think you'll feel better once you're seen at the hospital. In the meantime write everything down, all your test results, what you're eating and how much insulin your having and then your diabetologist will have plenty of info to go on when they look at making any adjustments.

Keep posting and let us know how you're getting on.

Mrs H xx
 
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LittlePeanut said:
Hi Tylers mum and congratulations. I am currently 14+2 with my first pregnancy. I had been under the diabetes Pre Conception clinic before falling pregnant as they advised my HBA1C was a little too high to start trying. They like the HBA1C to be below 7. When I fell pregnant they advised me to test my sugars before and after every meal. When I get upmaim to be around 5. Before meals less than 5.9 and 1 hour after meals less than 7.8. This is just a target though and dont worry if you over shoot - your insullin needs do change depending on your hormone levels and environment. Having hypos wont affect the baby but high levels often can mean the baby could end up larger than normal births. I often end up with readings around 11 or 12 depending if I have been snacking - I am eating like a horse! hope this helps and good luck, I am sure a few days of tweeking your doses will soon have you in range.
Click to expand...

thanks littlepeanut. my hba1c has been excellent since before i got pregnant with Tyler & Ashton. always below 6. it's just been the last few days my levels have went haywire. however i'm feeling a bit more positive today as i've managed to get my levels down a bit by taking alot of extra insulin. was just a shock with my levels being so high this early on as it didn't happen in my last pregnancy until i was about 16wks. was beginning to think the worst but after being reassured by you lovely ladies i can relax a bit. 🙂
 
MrsCLH said:
Hi TylerAshton'sMum

Welcome to the forum. I'm so sorry to hear about your boys. Early pregnancy is a scary time, I was very very anxious about my sugar levels, so can only imagine that its even worse for you.

You'll probably read a lot about hypos being common in early pregnancy but I know for me, and others on here, it wasn't like that at all. In those early weeks I definitely struggled with higher levels and it uis very scary but the problems happen when your sugars are left to run high for a prolonged period and clearly you are not allowing that to happen.

Like LittlePeanut I'm aiming for before meals less than 5.9 and 1 hour after meals less than 7.8 but have by no means been able to stick perfectly within that range, its just not possible. Just keep increasing your insulin like you have been doing and doing lots of tests to make sure you don't swing the other way. This is pretty much how I've made it through my whole pregnancy, testing like mad and correcting when I get it wrong. I'm 30 weeks now and everything is fine, last hba1c was 5.3 and baby is a good size. And like you I have had plenty of high readings along the way.

If you're running high before your evening meal could it be that your pre-lunch dose needs increasing? What regime are you on? If you take a long acting insulin as well maybe you need to increase your morning dose a bit?

I promise you it will settle down when you get your insulin right and you need to try to relax (easier said than done I know!) because stress will only push your levels up higher.

I think you'll feel better once you're seen at the hospital. In the meantime write everything down, all your test results, what you're eating and how much insulin your having and then your diabetologist will have plenty of info to go on when they look at making any adjustments.

Keep posting and let us know how you're getting on.

Mrs H xx
Click to expand...

hi mrs h,

thank you. it's been tough for us since losing Tyler & Ashton and took a while for us to finally get pregnant again so i'm just so scared something will go wrong again. but at the same time i'm trying to think positive.

i think i was just comparing everything to my last pregnancy but i guess every pregnancy is different. it has really reassured me to know that your levels were high in the early weeks and you're now at 30 weeks with a healthy baby.

i increased my pre-lunch dose by 4 yesterday - i took 11 instead of 7. i was 9 pre-lunch and 10.6 post lunch. i snacked on a peach which took me up to 12.9. i was 10.5 pre-eve meal - took 11 instead of 9 and went to 16.4! took 3 extra units and was still 14.9 an hour later. was still 13.4 before bedtime so took 2 extra units of long acting insulin and also 2 more units of fast acting. i was 2.8 this morning but i still took 7 units instead of 3 and was 8.7 an hour after breakfast. i think you're right about my morning dose. i have noticed that my reading goes up quite a bit after breakfast so at least i know this and may just take extra insulin.

i know you're right about stress so when i woke this morning i told myself this is a new day and i'm going to try and relax a bit and i'll just have to increase my insulin as my body tells me to.

thank you so much for all your advice you have definitley helped put my mind at ease. it's so good to talk to other diabetics going through pregnancy. 🙂
 
Its taken me a long time to get my readings into the 'acceptable' but I still go high - I started off at 6 on novorapid but everyone is different and did the same as you with the help from the specialists and just increased a couple at a time until I got in range. I now take about 20 novorapid and 20 levimir - everyone is different and has different needs and hormones and stress always affect my readings. Good luck
 
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Pregnancy

Hi Tyler Ashtons mam, I have been reading your storey and really really hope everything works out ! I cant give advice but make sure you dont run out of test strips and try not to worry as i know worring does have an effect on bgs. You sound like a very positive person and cant imagine what you have been through. Just wanted to try and give some support. GOOD LUCK I KNOW YOU ARE DOING YOUR BEST
 
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