ladies;
I’ve been trying to have a child for over 5 years now. So far it hasn’t been very successful, partly thanks to the fact that I went undiagnosed for multiple health problems for far too long.
Little history; have had 5 miscarriages of which 3 in the Netherlands and they basically didn’t care. Moved to France 3 years ago and my 4th pregnancy they did an entire work up and found anti-tpo (thyroid) through the roof and high tsh but also way too high blood sugars. Did glucose test and failed. Dx; gestational diabetes. Was put on a diet. But the meds for thyroid and the diet came too late. I miscarried at 10 weeks.
Fast forward 2 years to a 5th pregnancy. Again too high blood sugars (Especially fasting was usually above 120). So they hooked me up with testing devices but lost the baby again at 6 weeks.
Endo said; right, that’s enough. We need to figure out why you get gestational diabetes the second you get pregnant. Was admitted to hospital for a day of tests and came back positive for antibodies. Got the dx of LADA.
Am now under the care of a specialist who will be accompanying me during my journey to have my first baby.
Just got told today that my fasting sugars are consistently too high so I’ve now got an appointment on march 15 to start insuline treatment for my morning highs.
I must say I am still really concerned. I’m scared to start the insuline and I’m scared I will never be able to have a healthy baby with all these problems.
What are chances of me having a healthy baby and is there anything I can do to maximize my chances?
Has anyone else had a similar experience? I would love to hear from you!
Hello @JoSiBe84: Sorry, I responded to your question on an older post, but best that it be a new discussion. Welcome! Unfortunately, your story is very common. Tragic, but very common. There is a Facebook group “LADA Support Group for People with Type 1.5 Diabetes,” and a huge number of the women there were diagnosed with autoimmune gestational diabetes, which really is just Type 1 diabetes that is unmasked by pregnancy. Insulin really is your friend, and of course can help you to have a healthy pregnancy (along with having an excellent medical team). I do know many women with Type 1 diabetes who have had successful pregnancies–I attend a Type 1 women’s support group, and over time the group has experienced many babies!!! So I would suggest working with your medical team on getting your diabetes under control with insulin. Finally, here is a blog I wrote on autoimmune gestation diabetes that may be useful. Best of luck!
Just to cover all bases, I would ask for a celiac disease antibodies test. Miscarriages are common for celiacs, which is strongly linked to TD1 and autoimmune thyroiditis.
Because you have thyroiditis, make sure they ordered the entire celiac panel. I have Hashi’s and tested positive only to the DGP IgA and not the common and most often used TTG (even on follow-up testing). Not sure if this is due to the Hashi’s but if my GI had not ordered the entire panel, my diagnosis would have been missed (biopsies revealed Marsh Stage IIIB). Anemia was my only symptom at my diagnosis.
Make sure that your thyroid dosage is correct during pregnancy as this can contribute to mis-carriage as well. I am not a doctor, but by managing your issues, I think a successful pregnancy is very possible!
Being the wrong gender, I won’t attempt to weigh in on pregnancy issues I’m not qualified to discuss. But I need to reinforce something Melitta said: insulin is, indeed, your friend.
Many people are afraid of insulin because of deep-seated cultural conditioning that is, unfortunately and tragically, WRONG. Most have been taught by the media and even by their doctors (who really are supposed to know better) that insulin is a desperation measure, a “last resort”.
Poppycock, balderdash, nonsense and BS. It’s nothing of the kind. With all the tremendous progress that has been achieved in managing diabetes, it still remains the most powerful weapon we have. Nothing else comes close.
Everyone has heard those horror stories, e.g., “my aunt was put on insulin and had to have her foot amputated and only lasted another year after that”. If that really did happen, it was because the doctor(s) waited to prescribe insulin until things were so advanced that nothing was going to do much good. Instead of prescribing it when it could have prevented all those things from happening in the first place, they waited until it was essentially too late.
Look at it this way: if you had a broken leg, would you put off having it put in a cast while waiting for it to get better on its own? Of course not; you’d want that cast and you’d want it right now, because it would be the right solution to the problem. That’s what we’re really talking about.
As a Type 2 diabetic, I limped along for years with inadequate control until I finally figured out for myself that insulin was the only thing that would give me the kind of normal blood sugars I wanted, whereupon I marched in and essentially demanded it. That was about 5 years ago and it has been positively life changing. If it turns out that that’s what your doctor recommends, then don’t be afraid. Welcome it as the game changer it really is.
I don’t know where you’re located in France, but Dr. Zahir Amoura is quite good. If you’re not in Île-de-France, you might ask him to recommend a physician in your region.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve consulted a rheumatologist but that was for my back problems not my autoimmune problems.
That said, the endo and gyno ran an enormous amount of tests and although my igg anti-phospholipids were at 15 (<10) none of the other blood clotting tests were positive so they didn’t diagnose me with it. They do however prescribe me baby aspirine which I need to take every day during pregnancy.
Hi @JoSiBe84, I’m so sorry for your losses! Miscarriages can be so heartbreaking, and I know for me at least, the way time drags on during that period of “trying” and repeatedly losing pregnancies, it really does feel like you will never have a baby at the end of it.
After my second miscarriage I read a book called “Coming to Term” by Jon Cohen, which did give me hope that even with 5,6, or even 10 miscarriages, many women do go on to have a healthy baby. I am a moderator for another group related to fertility issues and I hear stories on the daily of women who were misdiagnosed, had repeat (and often really tragic) miscarriages (one woman had 8), got diagnosed, and then went on to have at least one and often many kids. So there is hope.
It’s great that your LADA and thyroid issues are diagnosed. With our workup the doctor also looked for balanced translocations (a genetic issue), uterine anomalies (such as a uterine septum, bicornate uterus or uterus didelphys) and antiphospholipid syndrome. They also checked ovarian reserve and egg quality, but I’m guessing they’ve already done that for you. Those are some of other potential causes for repeat losses. Your doctors probably already did those tests but just wanted to throw that out there.
The other thing I’d say is that there are many women on here who have used insulin to keep their numbers in check during pregnancy and have managed to control their BGs astonishingly well during pregnancy. Many have had healthy pregnancies.
