Hi all, I’m 7 weeks pregnant and have had 3 very low blood sugars for the past two days, before pregnancy i could feel when my sugar take a big dip but now i can’t…woke up this morning feeling great to my surprise checked my sugar “48”…rushed to the kitchen for some OJ…has anyone else exper. low blood sugars through out your 1st trimester? If so how did you get this under control?
Congrats on your pregnancy.
Do you take insulin? I’ll assume you do. Maybe your dosages need to be adjusted for a little bit. If you are waking with lows maybe wake at 3am test & drink some OJ.
I had a CGM so it caught a lot of my middle of the night/early morning lows. That was helpful because like you, I felt normal and then a BG check would tell me that I was 45. If you have insurance, you might want to see if they’ll cover a CGM for you. If that’s not an option, you might want to dial back your insulin/carb ratio for meal times. I still needed an 8/1 ratio in the mornings but the rest of the day it was 12/1. Pester your endo, he/she is there to help you figure out the craziness of being pregnant while diabetic.
I’ve read that it’s common for diabetic women to experience a lot of lows in the 1st trimester. I’ve also heard about not being able to feel lows as much when you are pregnant. Weird thing is, I’m having the opposite problem. My sugars are really, really high unless I keep a +50% basal rate on my pump. With the basal up my sugars are fine. By the way, when did you schedule your first OBGYN appointment? I’m almost 6 weeks and havent done it yet.
Hi Kathy, I’ve read the same also and had an appointment with my high risk doc on yesterday and he also confirmed that this was commom…I hope you can get those sugars down! alot of people laugh when i tell them this but i scheduled an appointment with my obgyn when i was 5 days late on my cycle, just becuase i wanted to make sure everything was ok. So if you are already 6 weeks i would go ahead and schedule an appointment !!! keep me posted !
Hey Sharry. How are you doing? I took your advice and went ahead and scheduled my first obgyn appointment for this friday. I’m really nervous and excited too. I go to Joslin diabetes center in Boston and they transfered me from my regular Endo to the “pregnancy program.” I will be followed by an Endo who specializes in diabetes during pregnancy. I will be seeing her bi weekly for the rest of the pregnancy. Do you see your Endo that often too? Im happy about the extra care but it does seem very often. How many weeks are you now? 
Hi Kathy thats great I felt the same way you did nervous and excited, everything will go just fine. Right now i see my Endo twice a month and my OBGYN once a month… I’m excited about the extra care we receive throughout our pregnancy because if you’re like me my mind is always wondering! I’m currently 7 weeks and 3 days, so you’re not to far behind me !!! Keep in touch, and let me know how your appointment go !!
From the time i conceived until about 7 weeks, my insulin needs increased. then, at 7 weeks they started to go down consistently throughout the 1st trimester. i had a lot of help from my dr. in reducing my basal rates and adjusting my meal boluses. having a cgm also helped a lot, as things were constantly changing and i’d have so many lows i couldn’t feel them as much.
Kathy ,
I am also pregnant (type 1) and go to the Joslin pregnancy program. I have been going there since July (a few months before I got pregnant). They are SO great-you will love them. I am almost 10 weeks and am not seeing them bi-weekly until much later in the pregnancy. I see my endo and OB about every 3 weeks to a month.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Elizabeth
I had the exact same issue, its very common, through the first trimester I was on 75% of my regular insulin and checked my sugars at 2am and again at 4am. During your second trimester your sensitivity to sugar lows should return and you’ll probably need to increase your insulin by almost double. just keep counting down those months.
Mine hit in week 8 with my husband finding me at work on a Friday with a 28 and then again the next day I ended up driving onto some old guys front lawn with a 35! I drastically dropped my basal rates on my pump and have kept having to through week 9 too. I’ll be week 10 on Tuesday and hopefully these major lows don’t stick around too long although it is nice for keeping good numbers and getting to eat candy the honest way! If you aren’t on a pump and CGM look into them and also test, test, test! In the beginning before I set my CGM back on I would drink a large glass of water right before bed so it would wake me up automatically to test in the night! Worked great if you don’t want to set an alarm! Congrats on the pregnancy and good luck!
My lows hit in week 9 and my insulin needs have decreased dramatically since then (I’m currently 12 weeks along). My doctor kept warning me that the lows were coming, but they were a bit later for me.