How to recognize gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes means elevated blood sugar levels during pregnancy. The insidious thing about gestational diabetes is that pregnant women do not necessarily realize that they have the disease. A test can provide information. Simple measures are often enough to avert serious damage to mother and child. Learn more about the symptoms and effects of gestational diabetes here.
What is gestational diabetes?
Gestational diabetes describes an elevated blood sugar level due to a sugar metabolism disorder (glucose tolerance disorder). Unlike other diabetes diseases, however, it only occurs during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes is considered to be one of the most common comorbidities of pregnancy and usually occurs in the 24th to 28th week of pregnancy. After all, around five to ten percent of expectant mothers in Germany suffer from it.
How does gestational diabetes develop?
During pregnancy, more glucose (grape sugar) is released to provide the body with the energy it needs. At the same time, the pancreas has to produce more insulin in order to transport the glucose to the cells, thereby lowering the concentration of sugar in the blood (blood sugar level). If the pancreas cannot supply this increased need for insulin, diabetes develops.
How do you recognize gestational diabetes?
If you have the following symptoms, you may have gestational diabetes:
- Too high blood sugar level, especially after eating
- The baby grows excessively due to the increased glucose intake
- Increased thirst
- Inflammation of the urinary tract and kidneys
- sugar in the urine
- Changes in the amount of amniotic fluid and thus pain in the abdomen
- Growth disorders of the fetus
- Excessive weight gain of the expectant mother
- Elevated blood pressure
- Increased tendency to vomit in the first few months of pregnancy
Who Gets Gestational Diabetes?
Obese women and pregnant women over the age of 30 are particularly at risk for this disease, as are mothers who had diabetes during a previous pregnancy. Physicians also become sensitive when blood relatives of the pregnant woman are diabetic.
Impending danger for pregnant women and babies
Gestational diabetes can be dangerous for both the unborn child and the mother. Because: A high blood sugar level in the mother leads to high blood sugar in the unborn child via the placenta. The child in the womb tries to compensate for the high blood sugar by producing more insulin. The overproduced insulin causes the child to grow disproportionately. With untreated gestational diabetes, infants weighing more than 4,000 grams are therefore often born.
As a result, birth complications are more common and it is not uncommon for a caesarean section to be delivered. Other complications include premature birth, stillbirth or breathing problems in the newborn. In addition, the risk of developing diabetes or obesity in later years is increased for these children. The women themselves suffer more frequently from urinary tract infections and high blood pressure.
Safety through a glucose tolerance test
It is characteristic of gestational diabetes that it progresses largely without any noticeable symptoms or complaints. Therefore, it is very often not recognized at all. Doctors therefore recommend pregnant women to carry out a so-called glucose tolerance test (sugar load test) between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy . An examination that is particularly advisable for women who have one or more risk factors.
Treatment of gestational diabetes
The good news: If gestational diabetes is detected in time, it can be treated effectively. Then all the consequences that can arise from this disease are avoidable. The aim of the therapy is to keep the blood sugar levels in an optimal range. For about 85 percent of those affected, therapy with the help of a wholesome and healthy diet is sufficientto successfully fight diabetes. Carbohydrate-rich foods play an important role in their fiber-rich variants. So: Wholemeal bread, cereal flakes, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, potatoes, legumes, vegetables and fruit – divided into five to six meals a day. This means that the blood sugar is well controlled in 85 percent of women with gestational diabetes. However, an estimated 15 percent also require insulin therapy. It is often sufficient to inject small amounts of a fast-acting insulin before the main meals. Sometimes a long-acting insulin is also injected before going to bed and possibly in the morning. After childbirth, diabetes usually goes away on its own. However, it can recur in subsequent pregnancies.