so I just seen a high risk specialist at my ob office... they want my bg to be between 60-90 in the morning, less than 120 2 hours after meals, and 130-140 as my meal peak. I just tested at the one hour past mark and I was at 203! Im scared shitless because he said nothing over 150-170 ever or else I'm looking for trouble. how do I manage the bg and the fears? stick to a lower carb diet? bolus 30 mins before meals? help!
btw... I'm 5weeks 4 days today. Had a early ultrasound and everything looks good so far!
If you stress about your blood sugars being high it is going to be worse. A one time high blood sugar isn't going to do harm. And testing only an hour after you are done eating it is going to be higher than if you wait to test 3 hours after eating. If you are using an insulin pump you can always increase your basals to see if that will help as well.
I remember I was mostly low in my first trimester with occasional highs up to 200 as well. I had an awful aversion to my favorite low-carb foods like salads and meets. All I could eat was pasta, which I could barely accept since it has so much carbs in it. Try some lower carb foods like cottage cheese, edamame, etc. if you like it/can handle it. Everyone has occasional highs, it's not possible to be absolutely perfect. Just monitor your BGs as close as possible. Exercises help a lot. I personally find swimming very helpful.
Congratulations, Sarah! I felt the exact same way as you when I was told those same ranges. I know what the dr's say and in a perfect world we would have fully functioning pancreases(??) and this would happen automatically. But in this world, we don't. We have to do our best with what we've been given.
Don't stress too much about the highs. Deal with them to the best of your ability and find ways to not make them habitual. I found that pre-bolusing and then walking after a meal seemed to keep my numbers from spiking. I was moderately low carb before conceiving and was able to keep that up for a bit in the first trimester until the nausea hit.
Remember, like diabetes, pregnancy is a marathon not a sprint. There will be small bumps in the road and just when you think you have it your body will change and you will need to fight new bg battles.
But keep your eyes on the end goal! The hard work is soooo worth it when your little one will be in your arms! You can do this!
Congratulations Sarah!!! It sounds like an OB-GYN and NOT an endo talking! I would tell your endo what the OB said and see how he or she reacts.
Usually OB-GYNs are used to working with people with gestational diabetes where those targets are a bit more realistic.
That doesn't mean that you should give up. You should work REALLY hard to meet those targets, but don't panic when you don't! That said, with lots of effort, I was able to cut out most of my post meal spikes and usually stayed under 140 after meals. This became much easier for me after week 9, when my insulin sensitivity started.
Before week 9, I had some highs (above 200) and some stubborn highs (usually only around 160-180, but lasting for HOURS). Just correct them aggressively and check often to catch for lows later.
Keep us posted on how you are doing! During pregnancy things will change quickly from week to week. It is a lot of work to keep up with it all and it can be stressful, but as Kate said it is TOTALLY worth it :-)
Hi, congrats on your pregnancy - Yes, those were my goals too, but I had some times in my pregnancy that I went into the high 300s and everything turned out fine. Post meals I tried to prevents spikes (yes, I waited about half hour to eat, and I did cut down on my carbs), but sometimes my bg still spiked up more than I would have liked. Even so, my A1c was still under 6 throughout the pregnancy and baby was fine. So just try your best and you'll be ok (being keeping your bgs within target 100% of the time is nearly impossible, regardless of what a doctor says).
(And don't forget, that insulin resistance will probably kick in soon. My insulin dosage gradually ~doubled throughout my pregnancy, and one the baby pops out, it drops back down to pre-pregnancy).
-- test test test -- constantly monitor & change your doses
-- I needed more insulin right away, and didn't start getting lows until more like 7-8 weeks. I've seen people report the same thing again and again in this forum.
-- bolus early for breakfast, anyway, at least later in pregnancy
-- trial and error
-- we all occasionally see high numbers. *Occasionally* won't harm your baby (my endo has told me that, and I'm clinging to it!). What *will* harm your baby is letting high numbers be the norm.
-- exercise. It will drop you, probably faster than you're used to, so be careful. But damn if it doesn't help.
-- Both my high-risk OB and my endo are having me shoot for 120 1 hour after meals. I think that's the new gold standard, not 140.
-- check at 1 hour AND 2 hour. At almost 27 weeks, I am finding that I get extended or delayed rises now, and need dual-wave boluses for food I didn't need it for before. (Before the dual-wave function was pretty much reserved for pizza.)
