I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning. In early 2000, I was pregnant with my third child and being closely monitored due to a previous c-section. The regular glucose tolerance test arrived and I was told I was borderline, but they weren’t going to do anything about it. Looking back, I wish they had but what did I know? Very little, really. I went on to the last two weeks of that pregnancy and had a final ultrasound to determine if I could try to have a second VBAC delivery.
I’ll never forget the tech’s response when she asked us to guess the weight range. I said we’d been told he was probably no bigger than 8 1/2 pounds. She said, “Then I’m not going to tell you what this says.” Oookay… that was weird. As it turned out, I went straight from the ultrasound table to a doctor’s office chair being told that she could not in good conscience let me deliver as nature intended. This was not the same doctor I’d been seeing and I could tell by the earnestness of her voice that she was sincere and I better listen. The baby was estimated to weigh approximately 10-11 pounds. She asked about the GTT and I told her what had happened. She was livid that they hadn’t treated the higher numbers or at least monitored me more closely. A few days later, I delivered a 9lb-12.5oz baby boy via c-section. That was the last I heard about blood glucose levels even with a primary care physician’s follow up a few months later.
4 years later, I was pregnant again and had decided to try a doctor closer to home, with whom I became quickly dissatisfied. Because I’d been on the ADA diet, he was going to skip the GTT. It made me very uneasy and I went back to the other practice with the doctor who helped me at the end of the last pregnancy. I was 16 weeks pregnant and craving massive amounts of orange juice. I was thirsty all the time and having to urinate frequently so I dismissed it as pregnancy symptoms. Looking back, I’d had other signs of diabetes before then but had no idea what they were.
At my first prenatal visit after changing doctors, I was told I had gestational diabetes. A lot changed very quickly and I fumbled through that pregnancy not really understanding much of anything. I was told it would probably go away after delivery. They followed up at my 6 week appointment and suggested I see my PCP at that time. Long story short, I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. That was in 2005.
After almost three years of trying combinations of medications that didn’t work and some (Metformin XR) that just made me miserable, I saw some success with Byetta. However, by this time I no longer trusted that my PCP had my best interests in mind after he refused my request for a referral to an endocrinologist. So I found one on my own. My A1c was between 10-11. I started insulin the following month.
A year later, my A1c was most recently 8.1 and I feel like I’m on a ton of insulin with minimal results. There’s obviously some insulin resistance going on and I feel like I still don’t have all the answers I need but am still trying to figure out from here what I need. I am starting on an insulin pump in the next few weeks and hoping that helps. I’m just glad to have found a community of support.