Want to start trying for a baby but...

[Lawra]

My husband and I want to start trying for our first baby together but after speaking to my GP etc there seems to be a lot I need to do before I can even come off my pill and start taking the Folic Acid - one of those things is to get my HBA1C levels down to 48, at the moment they are up at 58 which apparently is good considering they were very high when I was first diagnosed with T1D June 2016.

My question is, what is a quick an effective way to bring these numbers down as we are very keen on getting started 😉

T.I.A 🙂

 

[grovesy]

You need to ask to be referred to your pre conceptual Diabetic service.

 

[Lawra]

I have been referred to a fertility clinic and to a different diabetes nurse that specialises in the pregnancy part too but the first thing I have to do is bring down my HBA1C levels but I wanted to know a quick and effective way to do this?

 

[trophywench]

Nothing with diabetes is quick Laura! Neither is some of it easy - but it is logical once someone explains it all properly.

What have they suggested to you so far?

How much BG testing do you do - have you ever done for instance 24 hour basal testing - or been on a proper Carb Counting course?

You need to be able to discover at which time(s) of day your BG shoots up higher than you want it to be in comparison to everything your day contains (eg eating, sleeping, shopping, exercise, going to work, walking the dog) in order to start adjusting those highs.

And it won't be sorted for at least a couple of months anyway cos you won't get another HbA1c before the changes made have had time to affect enough of your red blood cells (ie to reduce the amount of glucose that has stuck to them over their lifespan - roughly 3 months give or take) to change your HbA1c measurement. There would be no point doing another before that amount of time has passed.

 

[Cleo]

hello and welcome lawra, in answer to your question, I don't think there is a quick and effective way to bring down your hba1c, but please don't despair ! It takes time but its do-able. I agree with TW suggestion above re the carb counting course. When I discussed pregnancy with my team one of the first things they did was to sign me up to a DAFNE course - would this be an option for you? There's also a great resource / booklet on the diabetes UK website which outlines how to carb count - I found it very useful in the run up to the course. I can't re,ember what its called but if you have a look at the website Im sure you'll find it.

With my first pregnancy I went to the pre conception clinic for about 6 months. Like you, I was told that I needed to be below 6.5%, whats important to remember though is that they don't just want to see that you can achieve that, they want to make sure that you can maintain that as well over a few months. I went to clinic every 6 weeks where they did my hba1c and went over my BG diary. I also had to have my eyes and kidneys checked, as pregnancy hormones puts a lot of stress on these areas so they need to make sure everything is ok from the beginning.

The duration for the pre conception phase for my second (AND LAST !) pregnancy was a lot shorter, I had the same consultant the second time around so that probably helped as we knew each other - I think it was around 3 months or so .

I can understand that at this point in time, it may seem like a lot of work needs to be done before you can go off the contraception, but trust me, its better for you, and for the future pregnancy. All the hard work that you are putting in now will be worth it. I was really overwhelmed when I found out I was pregnant but I also felt reassured in that that the previous 6 months of prep essentially gave me an opportunity to get to grips with things . good luck and let us know how you get on. x

 

[Northerner]

There's also a great resource / booklet on the diabetes UK website which outlines how to carb count - I found it very useful in the run up to the course. I can't re,ember what its called but if you have a look at the website Im sure you'll find it.

The booklet can be found here:

https://shop.diabetes.org.uk/products/carbs-count-e-book

Regarding bringing down your HbA1c - it's actually not a good idea to bring it down TOO quickly, as this is thought to stress the tiny blood vessels in your eyes and kidneys more as they try to adapt, so a steady decrease is preferable 🙂 If you can stretch to it then a Freestyle Libre sensor would be a big help in finding out when you might be spiking with your blood sugar levels and help you to smooth things out - this is the best way of bringing down your HbA1c 🙂 You might be able to get a Libre on prescription, given your circumstances - worth asking! 🙂 Good luck!