Gestational Diabetes Symptoms - How to Manage Gestational Diabetes during your Pregnancy

Unlike the symptoms in diabetes type 1 and 2, gestational diabetes symptoms are hardly recognized as signs of diabetes due to the pregnant condition of a woman. They are often manifested in the form of excessive thirst and frequency in urination, but are usually treated as part of the child-bearing stage. The main gestational diabetes symptom indicative of the disease is the elevation of the blood sugar levels. Hence, great care should be taken that high blood sugar levels should be treated with utmost urgency in order to avoid any complications that can affect the woman’s pregnant condition. The following information about gestational diabetes may be useful to any pregnant woman: nnThe Root Causes of Gestational Diabetes Pregnancy involves the active participation of your placenta as it produces hormones to sustain you and the developing baby in your womb. However, these hormones have the tendency to render your cells resistant to insulin. As you enter the second and third trimesters, the more hormones are secreted since your pregnant body demands it; this however makes it more difficult for the insulin to help your cells absorb glucose. The pancreas tries to help by producing more insulin to thwart the insulin resistance of the cells, however, there is now an over production of insulin, which was not successful in opening the cells to glucose absorption. Glucose in the blood increases, insulin level increases yet the body cells remain wanting in glucose supplement, due to its resistance to insulin. You may now experience excessive thirstiness and frequently urinate to pass the excess glucose out of your system. These now are the gestational diabetes symptoms taking place. nnWho are Prone to Gestational Diabetes? 1. Gestational diabetes may occur in any woman who is 25 years or older, but some women have greater risks in developing gestational diabetes. 2. Women with familial history of developing gestational diabetes from where she may have acquired the genetic deficiency. 3. Women who were pregnant before and likewise developed gestational diabetes during the previous pregnancy. Usually this is true among women whose baby weighed about 9 pounds upon delivery or those who experienced an unexplained stillbirth. 4. Pregnant women who were already overweight even before the onset of the pregnancy. 5. For unexplained reasons, statistics show that women who belonged to the following ethnicity: African, Hispanics, American Indian or Asian are prone to develop gestational diabetes during their pregnancies. nnManaging Gestational Diabetes during Pregnancy Address your pregnancy with more conce by making more trips to your health care provider for pre-natal checkups. This is very important particularly during the last three months of pregnancy for constant monitoring of your blood sugar level. Ask your health care provider for a referral, regarding other health professionals who can help you in managing your gestational diabetes during the term of your pregnancy. This may be an endocrinologist, a registered dietitian or a diabetes educator. In extreme cases, your health care provider may refer you to a doctor who specializes in high-risk pregnancies. These professionals can help you in all aspects of gestational diabetes to ensure that your diabetes disorder will not lead to any complications that may endanger your life and that of your baby’s. If you are among those women who have a high risk of developing gestational diabetes, do not wait for gestational diabetes symptoms to take place before taking the proper preventive courses of action.