Diabetes Advice

[Snow_Crystal]

As some might know I'm expecting a baby at the moment - I have recently been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. They call it gestational because sometimes it only lasts for the time you are pregnant but because it runs in my family history.

I'm not particularly overweight (although we all have those bits we love to hate!) and only have baby weight added on at the moment.

I was just wondering if anyone else here has diabetes or knows of people that do. It's quite a lonely illness if you don't know anyone else that has it and it's very misunderstood I think.

My dad had it but he died some years ago eventually of symptoms brought on by his diabetes so it was difficult for me finding out I had it too. My brother-in-law has it but sometimes I feel he talks down a little and so I don't like talking about it to him. The rest of my immediate family don't have it (it was all on my dad's side who we have very little contact with) and so they don't understand what I am going through.

I am just finding it really hard to cope as I hate having to inject insulin (with a special pen) and have got loads of bruises on my legs where I inject.

The hospital gave me advice on trying to manage it with diet but it didn't work well enough (hence the reason for managing diet as well as taking insulin).

I don't even eat that many sweet things actually and diet has always been pretty good for me. But learning about it all has been quite interesting in that I never knew that any food that contains more than 5.0g sugar per 100g serving is actually a lot of sugar. And also those drinks that say no added sugar still contain a lot of natural sugars which are also not so good for you. For god sake even fruit caused me to have a problem.

Finding foods that fall under this 5.0g, is a nightmare and sometimes even the healthy eating foods are incompatible because they cut down on fat but then up the sugar to compensate.

I just wondered if anyone has been through anything similar as I haven't really had any emotional counselling on it at all and could really use some advice/tips on how to cope.

At the moment I am just praying this is only a temporary thing.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

i've never been through anything like that before, but i feel your pain. sticking to the diet must really be hard for you, because of the cravings one gets when they're having a baby. i don't really know anything much about it, but i'll let you know if i find out anything. as for the bruises on your legs, i'd suggest either putting ice on it, or putting it on a heating pad or something like that.

[Alexandra]

Ice, my dad has diabetes for 10 years I think although I don't know much about it because he didn't have many problems with it. He has to take care of himself but he doesn't have to get insulin injections. I have a book about it and I'll try to find about your type of diabetes as much as I can.

[Snow_Crystal]

Hi guys! Thanks for the replies. Things are much better now - I must have been feeling a bit low back then. We have finally managed to get it under control and I have been able to have a few naughty things too!

Thankfully I've been told that once I have the baby I can come off the insulin straightaway although I have to go back for checkups. We have to wait and see if it stays now but hopefully it will go once the baby is born. They call it gestational because it's for the time the baby is in growth phase.

I've got so used to taking the injections now, it will be wierd to not have to take them but even if it stays it won't be so bad as I know so much more about it now.

Thanks for your support!

[Alexandra]

You are all better now I see. I found most of the stuff you probably know. The possibility is less than 2% that the baby will have diabetes. The point is that you have to go to your doctor often and stick to the diet he gives you. It also says that you have to pay attention how fast the baby is growing.
You'll be ok

[Rory Pridinham]

Oh you poor thing - I've had diabetes now for 16 years and it never gets any easier - from my mouth to God's ears I hope after your baby is born everything returns to normal.

However grocery shopping as a diabetic has gotten a lot easier since I was diagnosed because they're coming out with more and more low calorie, sugar-free things than ever before (at least here in Canada)

I hope everything works out well for you and the baby.

[Snow_Crystal]

Hi Guys - thanks for the support. Thankfully I've not been injecting since I gave birth to Lily Maya (no surnames here) on 13th June. I have to go back for a checkup in September to see if I still have it but fingers crossed.

Apparently if I want to have more children in the future then I have to see the diabetic team again to get my diet under control before we start "practising" again!

I really do appreciate all your support and will keep you posted!