There are two types of diabetes that can affect pregnant women. Insulin-dependent diabetes">Insulin-dependent
diabetes is a permanent condition which develops early in life and
which needs to be treated with insulin. diabetes.asp#Gestational diabetes">Gestational
diabetes develops for the first time during pregnancy and is usually
temporary.
Insulin-dependent
diabetes
If you are a diabetic who takes insulin to control your diabetes, it’s a good idea to
see your doctor before you become pregnant so that you can discuss how pregnancy might
affect your diabetes and vice versa.
Once you are pregnant, it’s important to have your blood sugar levels carefully
monitored. This is because pregnancy can cause changes in the way your body processes
sugar, and you may need to change your insulin dosage to take account of this. With the
right dose, there’s no reason why pregnancy should be any more complicated for a diabetic
woman than for any other woman. But without enough insulin, it’s possible that
complications may develop, affecting both you and your baby. In particular, the baby may
grow very large, and need to be delivered by Caesarean section. The baby can also
develop more serious problems, including certain illnesses and abnormalities. The insulin
itself won’t affect the baby.
If you’re insulin-dependent, you’ll probably have more frequent antenatal appointments
than non-diabetics. This is not only so that your blood sugar levels can be monitored -
you can do this at home yourself – but because you’re more at risk of other complications,
such as high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia
and having too much amniotic fluid.
This type of diabetes isn’t a disease but a temporary change that occurs during
pregnancy and which usually disappears within hours of your baby being born. It causes a
higher level of sugar in your blood or urine than usual. This doesn’t necessarily lead to
the complications that can be connected with insulin-dependent diabetes, though in a small
percentage of cases it can lead to problems in the baby. There is also a very slight
possibility of gestational diabetes progressing to permanent non-insulin-dependent
diabetes.
The condition is picked up from the urine tests that are routinely done
at your antenatal
appointments. If you’re found to have sugar in your urine, you may
be given a blood test to check your blood sugar levels. In some areas
this blood test is routinely carried out at around 28 weeks. If the test
shows that your sugar levels are high, you’ll probably be offered a glucose
tolerance test. Depending on the results of this test, you may be asked
to monitor your own blood sugar levels, to modify your diet by cutting
out sugary foods, or even possibly to take insulin.
For more information about diabetes, visit the Diabetes UK website which has links to other relevant sites.
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