Uncontrolled Gestational Diabetes Help!

QUESTION: My sister is 33 weeks pregnant and just diagnosed with gestational diabetes. She has tried with diet, exercise (without going to extreme), but with no success.

Her doctor put her on insulin shots. At the beginning my sister didn't take her insulin shots, but, with the passing of time, he blood sugar didn't go down.

She has been several times in hospital for very high blood sugar levels, and her doctor forced her to take insulin, otherwise her baby and here life will be threatened.

I am very worried, and want to know what else she can do for her uncontrolled gestational diabetes? She feels very tired, and weak and we are all worried for her health and her baby.


ANSWER: Hi there,

In purpose to tell you what to do, I have to remind you what the cause of gestational diabetes is.

This type of diabetes is also known as Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GTM) and it is appearing in pregnant women around the third trimester as in the case of your sister - the 33th week.

This condition is appearing because the body of the mother, in this case your sister, is not producing enough insulin which is needed from the mother’s organism and from the baby’s organism.

This is leading to an elevation of the blood glucose level, which sometimes can reach terrible values. As you probably know, the normal blood glucose level is between 3.6-5.8mmol/l and 64.8-104.4 mg/dl in the other unit.

As women with GTM are more prone to develop type 2 diabetes in the future, they are recommended to follow a strict and healthy diet, even after the end of the pregnancy.

The doctor is right when saying that if your sister is not controlling her blood glucose level very well, this can very dangerous for her and for her baby.

In general, this condition may cause the birth of a large baby because of the elevated blood glucose level in the mother, which is causing the elevation of the blood glucose in the baby.

As you probably know, babies are requiring a lot of glucose, respectively energy, and when more glucose is observed in their blood, they are starting to grow faster.

However, the large size of these babies is causing severe complications during pregnancy and they have to be delivered with

caesarean section. This operation is having its virtues, but in some cases, this is exposing the mother to a danger of internal bleeding although this remains a rare complication.

In purpose to prevent the development of all these consequences, your sister has to take the insulin shots according to the doctor’s prescription. You have to know that this is obligatory in every woman who is having GDM.

It is important that your sister can do other stuff related with the blood lowering process along with the insulin shots.

First of all, she has to control her blood glucose strictly and when she sees something abnormal, she has to inform her doctor immediately.

You need to inform her that it is normal to have slight elevation of the blood glucose 1-2 hours after having a meal. This control of the blood glucose level is necessary because in some cases, the reduction of the insulin secretion progresses.
This, on the other hand, is requiring an elevation of the dose of insulin taken per day.

Besides this, she has to follow a healthy diabetic diet, in which, the use of carbohydrates is limited. As a consequence, the possibilities of the blood glucose level to reach the peaks are reduced, which may alter the insulin treatment.

This diet has to provide enough proteins, cholesterol, fat acids, vitamins and glucose in limited amounts.

Third very good thing about her is to do moderated exercise every single day for about 2 hours. These exercises are improving the circulation of the mother and the baby.

Besides this, the exercises are helping the insulin to improve the metabolic changes in the organism of the mother, while she is pregnant.

It is good for you to know that your sister may use herbs, which are improving the glucose metabolism. However these herbs are supposed to be used along with insulin in patients with GDM.

The most popular of them is Cinnamon and if you are eating only one spoon of it in the morning your blood glucose is going to be absolutely fine.

Other good choice is the Alpha-Lipoid Acids. This acid is reducing the symptoms of all the type of diabetes by reducing the post-prandial blood glucose.

In addition, both of the mentioned substances are not causing damages to the baby or to his/her mother.

Hope it helped! All the best!

Dr.Alba