I am fairly new to all this. I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my son in 2005. The doctors threw some glyburide my way and told me not to overdo sweets or carbs and I would be ok after delivery. I do have a very strong family history of diabetes, so I should have known better.
My son is now 2 and a half, and I went for a checkup the other day (first one since he was born). I am faithful to watch after the health of my kids but I rarely think anything is wrong with me. She did a random blood sugar and it was 310, so she prescribed me 500 mg Metformin to take twice a day and told me to keep a log of my sugars and to come back in a month. She ordered some blood work, no results on that as of yet.
I really know nothing about what I am doing or what my numbers mean. My fasting numbers after 9 hours sleep are around 190 for the past week, before meals average 160, and 1 hour post meals are averaging 300. Is this bad? What else can I do? Do you think I need to call her to make an appointment for sooner than a month?
Welcome Brittany! You have come to the right place! This community is a great support and a great place to ask questions…
The numbers who measured are high and they suggest that your treatment needs to be adjusted. We have many women in our community who were diagnosed with diabetes after pregnancy, both type 2 and LADA. You should be sure that the doctor tests to figure out what type of diabetes you have because they require different treatments. You should request a c-peptide test (to see how much insulin your body is producing) and GAD antibody tests and other antibody tests (to see if you have an autoimmune reaction). This will give better information to decide about your treatment.
Are you seeing an endocrinologist? If not, I would recommend seeing one as they are more aware of different options for treating diabetes and which may be best for you.
No matter what, know that you are not alone-- there is a whole community here ready to support and help in any way that we can!!!
Yes, I would make another appointment soon. Right away if you can. It doesn’t sound like the medication is enough or is doing what it should if it is the correct dose. Here is a good website with information that might help you understand blood glucose ranges at different times.
Get thee to an endocrinologist and a diabetes educator if your medical coverage covers it.
Your blood sugars may have been high ever since your son was born and was only detected now. Yes, those numbers are poor but you don’t have the tools yet to manage them properly (education, lifestyle changes, plus whatever proper medication is right for you).
Good for you for doing post meal sugars. Testing 10X a day once a week is better than testing 2X a day every day for getting an idea of what your BG is doing.
I’ll add my voice to call whoever “her” is and get the results now of the blood work she did: ask what the test was, then the result & have a pen ready to write it down for yourself. Labs get test results within a day or two. Ask for a copy. You have a right to one. Then if you go to someone different, you can take the copy.
If she isn’t an endocrinologist or she doesn’t take kindly to discussing lab results or making you a copy and having it at her front desk, make an appointment for an endocrinologist - one who has a CDE working with her/him.
Read online “Blood sugar 101” now, and you’ll see what your one hour post meals should be - 140mg/dl or lower. Jenny Ruhl’s explanations are worth it. She writes primarily for Type 2s, but the goals are the same, no matter what kind of diabetes one is.
If you are diagnosed as more Type 1, buy both Blood Sugar 1 and Dr. R. Bernstein’s book, Diabetes Solution.
Metformin does not prevent diabetes. It is the first drug given by doctors for Type 2 diabetes. It’s worth a try, a SHORT try.
She is right in asking for a log of your sugars: fasting, before each meal, what exactly you ate, and one hour post meals. Learn how many carbs are in your foods. Read the carbs off nutrition labels. Look up calorieking.com if in doubt.
Get the most information you can - we’ve been there, we’re all wanting you to get the best treatment that’s right for you.
Brittany , are you able to include some exercise as in " brisk walking " at least once daily , twice would be better …after meals ? This will lower blood sugars .
My humble opinion : and others gave good suggestions about what is next for you to do .
Take care of YOU , please .
I was pregnant with my son in 2005 also. I have two other sons also, I had when I was just a teen. I had toxemia and gestational diabetes with them. That tuned into T2 at 18. I am on a pump now. I have no damage to organs so far but that is why my doc put me on a pump. He said I was not reacting to pills and it took so much insulin that it was going to take a pump. I also have diabetes that runs in my family.
Yeah 300 post meals is pretty bad. That is how mine was before pump.
I recommend a good endo for your diabetic needs. They specialize in this medical field.
As moms we generally watch the health of our little ones and are so protective, but remember to take care of yourself that way you can keep doing that for them. If you need anything let me know.
Awesome answers, thanks everyone The “her” I am referring to is my general doctor (just thought one was necessary at age 27…bad, I know). I have put a call in to her and I am now awaiting a return phone call to discuss options from here, including referral to a endo/medication change/etc.
Also, I wouldn’t start making drastic lifestyle changes or starting new exercise just yet.
Priority #1 should be to see what type of diabetes you have, and then to lower your blood glucose with meds, insulin, etc.
Afterwards, if you are Type 2, you can try losing weight/exercising/changing diet and then, if those changes work, see if you can go off the meds and still maintain good BG values. Exercise and weight loss take a while to work and are extra variables that will only confuse you further at this stage. Once you have a good handle on carb counting and BG numbers, you can add in exercise and see what happens. If you try doing everything all at once you won’t know what works.
Normal morning fasting is under 100. Post meal BG for non-diabetic people is rarely, over 115-120 & then quickly drops down to the 80’s. BG over 140 causes damage. So, yours are quite high–sorry!
Hormones & stress play havoc with BG.
To begin with, you can start reducing carbs to see if that helps bring your numbers within a better range. Nothing harmful at all about doing this. Try avoiding high carb foods–starchy vegetables, beans, fruit juice, rice/pasta/grains, including bread & crackers.
Exercise is always good unless you’ve got some other medical condition that prohibits it. Long walks, moderate exercise is great! Test to see how your BG is effected. Don’t exercise if BG is over 250.
Brittany, you have gotten a lot of good advice from the members here. Just a word on a side note, you will be getting a lot of information coming your way from many different directions and you may well feel overwhelmed or confused, I know I was, you can ask questions here and people will help. You can vent here and people will listen, you can sing your achievements here, and the people here will sing with you.
I just heard back from the on call doc (not my regular one) and he said not to worry unless my sugar gets over 500 which I know is wrong. I was worried and told him mine has been over 200 since 1pm (254 at 1 and only dropped to 220 and it is 7pm) and he assured me I was fine. Sounds like I need a new doc!! This concerns me greatly
Agree–you need a new doc! Don’t worry, you’re fine–easy for him to say when it’s not his body. Drink lots of water when you’re over 200. 200’s are not going kill you, but it’s not good.
Just in case, heaven forbid, your meter reads HI, go to the ER immediately with your meds & meter.
Brittany , I am sure us living with diabetes don’t agree with your Doc …if I were over 500 as a type 1-er OR type 2-er ??? …don’t forget to drink lots of water in the mean time …cleanses the kidneys …possibly will bring dowm your BG’s as well and I still advocate , if you are capable, to walk after a meal …and I am not talking about training for a marathon …you get the difference ? Stay concerned and informed …there is a DOC out there , that will pay attention to you ! Docs have soo much to learn , so little time and all their patients with diabetes are different .
Brittany that is definitely wrong. No matter what type you are. Diabetic’s that run sugar high for to long start badly effecting their organs. High sugars can cause so many things to go wrong right down to moods being bad. My doc told me never let my sugars go over 200 for 3 test in a row.
Metformin does take some time to work. When I switched medicines it took probably about a month before I stopped seeing anything over 200. Month number two between 120 and 160. And month number 3 between 80 and 120. It did take some lifestyle changes like loosing some weight and excercising and eating better. The type of food that you eat will impact your numbers big time so its a work in progress. I have a log of things that I can eat and feel safe and things that I know will make the numbers go up. Trying to figure out what works for you takes time. When I was first diagnosed I was on insulin for nine months. I eventually went off the insulin and went to pills. The pill dosage has gone down but it was with the help of changing other things. So the one piece of advince I can give you is dont worry so much because that stress impacts numbers also. Take it one day at a time and test and see what works for you. Do take small steps in diet and excercise that you feel confortable with, its a lifestyle change and that takes time.
Hi Brittany. I agree with the responses your TuD friends has suggested so far…It might be a bit overwhelming right now. Now don’t panic. Take it one step a time. I agrsee with Gerri…find a good endo or get to an ER if you can. Lets stabilize your present BG first…then things like diet, medications, weight watching, carb counting, and even physical exercises, etc. will come after. Depending on what your endo and nutritionist tells you after the lab tests and blood works, you can already plan certain activities and routines. Tell us what happens, ok? We are here to help out however we know we can.
I wish you the best… =)
Hi! I’m also new here. I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 for 4 years now but made the poor decision to never take my meds, monitor or diet. I’m starting over this week also with metformin and was feeling very discouraged when my levels were just like yours, except around 230 after meals. I’ve been counting carbs and walking every day so far, but it’s nice to see everyone’s reply and to know that it might take time for things to level out. I had to spend the weekend in the hospital leveling my BG out. best of luck!
and all their patients with diabetes are different .