Is There A Cure For Diabetes During Pregnancy?

Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes, often want to hear that there is a cure for this disease. Since there is no known cause of gestational diabetes, there is really no cure. Instead of, looking for a cure for diabetes when pregnant, women should focus on proper medical treatment. This is a condition that can be managed, but should never be ignored.

Doctors will do a screening process on pregnant women. One of the tests performed in the screening is the glucose tolerance test. This test and others are designed to detect what the levels of glucose are in a pregnant woman’s blood. Therefore, blood samples will be drawn before administering the glucose tolerance test and others. Proper medical treatment for these women, can be considered a cure for diabetes when pregnant.

It is important, however, to understand just what gestational diabetes is. This is described as a condition that pregnant women develop. It is a form of diabetes diagnosed in women, who many times have never been diagnosed with diabetes. Gestational diabetes, however, is centralized to the pregnancy process. These women exhibit high blood glucose levels. Gestational diabetes is detected in 3 - 10% of all pregnancies.

Not only is there not a well-defined cause for this disease, many women do not experience symptoms. In these cases, diagnosis is extremely paramount. This is where the screening process plays its most important role, and where the glucose tolerance test comes in. The glucose tolerance test, or the oral glucose tolerance test, is one of several typically performed on pregnant women who are at risk for diabetes.

The prime time to perform a glucose tolerance test is in the morning. Generally this would be after the pregnant woman has fasted. It is optimum to have her fast between eight and fourteen hours, before performing this test. The test itself involves drinking a solution, which contains a certain amount of glucose. This drink is often described as a thick, sweet, cola like concoction.

After this liquid is drunk, blood will be drawn from the woman. This will be done in order to measure glucose levels. These measurements will be done at the start, and at specific intervals after the drink has been consumed. The fasting number, of a pregnant woman’s glucose should be less than 95mg. An hour after drinking the solution, her number should be less than 180mg. And two hours afterwards it should be less than 155mg. A final reading will be done after three hours have passed. This reading should be less than 140mg.

When the screening process goes smoothly, a diagnosis is easy to determine. However, this is not the case for all women who drink the solution. Somewhere between 10 -15% of women, who drink this liquid, vomit. This delays, if not postpones the test. When a test isn’t performed, a woman cannot be diagnosed properly.

Many doctors have now begun to use jelly beans to test the glucose instead of the liquid. The jelly beans have become a good alternative.

Article Source: http://www.parentingarticlelibrary.com

You can find helpful information about glucose tolerance test and everything you need to know about cure for diabetes when pregnant at Aha! Baby.

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