Hi everyone. I am currently 25 weeks pregnant. Yay :) I have, until now, had the perfect pregnancy. No morning sickness and very good blood sugars. I see my OBGYN and my endo BOTH once a month. My A1C has been under 6.3 since I found out I was pregnant. Now, I think I am hitting insulin resistance :( This upsets me terribly because I usually have such good control over my diabetes (never an A1C over 7!), and now I feel so out of control. I hate it. And, to make it worse, I know it is only going to get worse from here. I had to move my endo appt up 2 weeks earlier because I have been having so many highs. It makes me so nervous to think of what my high blood sugars are or could be doing to my baby. And I mean HIGH, I just checked my bs and it is 306 post meal :( all I had was soup!! Any advice, suggestions, or "i've been theres" at this point would be awesome. I'm just afraid it's going to be a very LONG 15 weeks :(
Hi! I am also 25 weeks pregnant! I too had a great pregnancy till now. My AC1 under 6.0 and not highs at all...till now as i said : ....I also have many highs now and i'm only eating salads and stuff. I also feel out of control but i believe that we should stay calm and talk to our doctors! I read that it is normal to have insulin resistance now. I am trying to keep my blood sugar under control by checking it 7-8 times a day and correcting it. I'm also very afraid because i want my baby to be healthy! You are not alone! :) But i believe that everything is going to be fine in the end! Yesterday i ate salad at night (my doctor put me on Humalog Mix25 and Humalog Kwikpen since the beginning of my pregnancy), i checked my blood sugar later and it was 83 and after an hour i checked again and it was 170, without eating ANYTHING!!! It was really frustrating! grrrrr!
Don't get too worked up about it. I hate to say this but it's going to get much worse. My A1C was in the 5's my whole pregnancy, and I was very obscessed about my BG's. Once the 3rd trimester hit I had to try and relax when I would hit 200+ readings after breakfast. You are going to take crazy amounts of insulin and you wont have perfect BG's until you deliver...just be prepared for that. Try to take it in stride and just think of how wonderful it will be once your little bundle of joy arrives!! Just keep close tabs with your doctor/OBGYN/endo and modify inulin dosages when needed. Keep your head up and keep things in perspective. You will do fine =)
I will be 25 weeks this thursday! And i have just noticed that my normal of 70-100 have become 110-130. I email my endo everyother day with updates of whats going on with my blood sugars. My advice to you is to talk to your doctors and see if you can bump your insulin up around meals. For example, I used to take 6 units in the morning og humalog along with my 7 units of levimir. Now im taking 8 units of humalog and 8 units of levimir in the morning and intaking no more than 30 carbs with that. I've only been on this for about two weeks and already see a big difference, Talk to your doctor and see of thats something you can do. Stay positive:) things will work out!!
Hi Tara! I've been T1 for a very long time and hope I can help you out a little. I don't know you so please forgive me if what I am asking or suggesting is redundent or irrelevant. So here goes.
Are you on a pump and/or CGM? I did not have a CGM when I was pregnant but now that I am on one - I know it would've been very helpful. And my pump was great during pregnancy (and even now) since I could increase basal rates at times when I knew my BS would likely be going up higher than I wanted. If you aren't using either - maybe take a look?
Either way - are you waiting (at least 15-20 minutes) after injection or bolus to eat? I found that even if my pre meal BS was normal/low, waiting for the humalog to really kick in helped keep post prandials in better control.
Another thought - are you making sure to include a good amount of protein in every meal or snack? That can really help level off the rising bloodsugars. Also, not a bad idea to keep an eye on the sugar alcohol values on the nutrition labels. I'm not a nutrionist - but I know those levels can make carb counting a little tricky. And speaking of nutrionists, are you seeing one? They can evaluate what you are eating to provide "official" recommendations.
I hope I am not sounding preachy. But when I read your post I felt compelled to reach out to you with some ideas. I know you are worried about that sweet little peanut and I am sure you will both be just fine ! I also know from years and years of experience how tricky managing blood sugars can be. Please feel free to contact me if you want!
Prayers to you and your little one to be!
Hi Tara,
I am going into my 34th week of pregnancy and I am just now really experiencing insulin resistance its driving me crazy too. (I've been in the 6's the entire pregnancy). I was already adjusted twice last week and it was still high over the weekend. Although I am freaking out (like you) I am just checking and correcting, checking and correcting as much as I can till I get feedback from the doctor about adjustments. At this point I don't even know if it is the basal rate or boluses.
I noticed for myself that for a couple of days I range higher then get adjustments I am fine for a while and then the insulin resistance comes back.
It helps if your doctor is willing to email you, or have you send in numbers frequently for him to check before your next appointment. I know not all doctors are into that. Luckily mine are very on top of me during the entire pregnancy which always makes me feel so much better.
Don't quote me on this, you should definitely ask your doctor, but, I think if your sugars are higher for long periods of time the risk is poses is that the baby can be much bigger causing you to need a c-section and earlier delivery.
I feel out of control too, and so ready to see my little man! Try to relax, although I know that is extremely impossible haha
Feel free to inbox me if you want to know more!
Hi,
Here are some things that have helped:
1) bolusing ahead for meals (sometimes up to 30 mins. ahead - ONLY WHEN IT'S SAFE AND YOU'RE NOT DRIVING), and even then, still eat the food very slowly.
2) no more than 30g carbs at a time, make sure to include protein (I DON'T eat fatty carbs though (fries, for example), because they give me crazy unpredictable, and often delayed spikes that I never see coming
3) the CGM helps me tremendously. YOU HAVE TO CALIBRATE IT WHEN YOUR SUGARS HAVE BEEN FLAT/STABLE OR IT'S WRONG, but otherwise, I rely on those lines tremendously to catch spikes as they are happening
4) if I check after a meal and it's creeping up, and I have plenty of insulin on board, I will take a walk because the exercise will get it down faster. BE CAREFUL THOUGH - try to walk with someone, or at least carry a snack and your cell phone ... or maybe even some type of indoor physical activity to get ahead of the spike
5) if I'm starving and my sugars are high, I never eat carbs until they come down ... so I'll snack on peanuts, cheese, eggs so I can get my stomach to stop growling but not mess up my sugar even more
Hope this helps. Try to keep your mind off of it, read a book, call a friend to talk about something else, whatever you can do to not stress.
Good luck! :)