I’m T1 and 15 weeks pregnant with my second child. My son was born preterm, so my OB is recommending I get progesterone injections starting next week until week 36 to keep this baby from coming early. (P17 or hydroxyprogesterone caproate injections)
Have any of you done this? If so, how did it affect your insulin requirements or blood sugar control? I’m already struggling this time around to keep my numbers good and I’m really concerned about adding this extra variable!!
Replying to my own post in case it's helpful to someone. My endocrinologist and maternal fetal medicine specialist (OB) have not had patients with T1D who have had these injections and so both couldn't tell me how my blood sugar was likely to be affected. They say progesterone is what causes the insulin resistance rise during pregnancy, and so it makes sense that since they are giving me extra progesterone my insulin resistance would go up.
Long story short, I'm two weeks in now and I haven't noticed any changes to either my insulin resistance or blood sugar control. So for those of you who might do this in the future to prevent preterm labor (treatment has only been around a couple of years, but it seems to work according to research), I would think that diabetes is a reason to stay away from it.
Thanks for raising this question, Laura. I’m also T1 and currently in the 2 week wait to find out if I’m pregnant following an IUI. I’ve been prescribed progesterone, but so far I haven’t noticed any impact on my blood sugars. I’ll continue to keep a close eye on it.
I know I'm answering late to this reply but I thought I'd add in case someone looks this up in the future.
I was on progesterone injections for a big part of my pregnancy, also to prevent premature labor and to assist with a healthy placenta.
I did not find any effect on my blood glucose levels either. I truly found during pregnancy that my blood glucose levels were easier to manage... due to the hormones rising at a steady and predictable rate.
I'm also currently on the P17 shots as well. Besides the fact they hurt, I haven't noticed an issue with my blood sugars to a point but I'm also starting to go insulin resistant. They actually started my injections a little earlier than they were supposed to. I started them 3 weeks ago this past Friday but my ultrasound shows I'm 17 weeks 6 days as of today.
