Gestational Diabetes Is A Serious Condition

You have enough to worry about when you discover you are pregnant, but you need to pay attention if you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  This is a serious condition, but not a hopeless condition.  With regular check ups, treatment, regular exercise and a healthy and varied diet, you should be able to get through your pregnancy with gestational diabetes.  But it is vital that you get to see a doctor or obstetrician as soon as you know you are pregnant to get tested for conditions like gestational diabetes.

Who Is At Risk

Basically, all pregnant women can theoretically get gestational diabetes, but some women are more at risk than others.  When you’re over 25, you’re at risk.  If any woman in your immediate family had gestational diabetes, then you’re at risk.  If you’re overweight, you’re at risk.If you are Native American, black, or of Asian or Spanish origin, you are also more prone to getting gestational diabetes.  You do not have to be diabetic in order to get gestational diabetes.


With gestational diabetes, you can’t just take medication and cross your fingers.  You need to manage the condition through multiple means.  First off, take any medication if you are prescribed it.  These include blood sugar injections and a pill made of glyburide.  You also need to monitor your blood sugar levels several times a day, just like any other diabetic.

When you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes, food takes on an entirely new meaning.  You now have to look at food in the way it will affect your blood sugar levels.  You have to time when you eat and eat several smaller meals throughout the day.  You also need to need stay away from high fat, high calorie foods – like you should be doing anyway.

And you also need to exercise regularly.  This can be a bit problematic if your pregnancy gets even more complicated and you are confined to bed throughout it.  Even then, there sometimes can be stretches in bed that you can do.  But you must talk to your doctor or obstetrician first before you throw yourself into an exercise regimen.

For those having a normal pregnancy, except for gestational diabetes, then there are a lot of exercise options.  There are yoga routines specifically designed for pregnant women.  Walking is always a good option, as well as doing the garden, doing housework and swimming.  Exercise also can help reduce constipation and cramps associated with pregneancy.

Go here for more about diabetes symptoms and diabetic meal plan.