Gestational Diabetes Diagnosis
When you become pregnant, your physician will check your blood glucose level as one of the normal battery of tests done with any care during pregnancy. If you are in a risk group and your test results are not normal, your doctor will sent you for one or more of the below listed tests.
Fasting Blood Glucose
You will be instructed to fast for this test which means nothing to eat or drink except water for at least 8 hours. A blood sample will then be taken for the lab to measure the amount of glucose in your blood.
Random Blood Glucose Test
This is the same test but not fasting and can be checked at any time of the day.
These two tests will find gestational diabetes in some women but your doctor will need to do some other tests to be sure diabetes is not missed.
Screening Glucose Challenge Test
With this test, you will be asked to drink a bottle of sugary beverage or glucose. After an hour, you blood sugar level will be checked. This test can be done at any time of the day. If the results are above normal, further tests will need to be done.
Oral Glucose Tolerance Test
For this test, your doctor will issue you special instructions to follow. For 3 days before the test, you will be advised to eat normally. Then for 8 hours you will be asked to fast with nothing to eat or drink before the test. The lab will then check your blood glucose level before the test. After that you will drink a bottle of glucose or other sugary beverage. The lab will then check your blood sugar levels at 1, 2 and 3 hours interval. If twice during the test, your levels are above normal, you will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The above normal results are:
- Fasting – 95 or higher
- At 1 hour – 180 or higher
- At 2 hours – 150 or higher
- At 3 hours – 140 or higher
(Note: some labs use other numbers for this test. These numbers are for a test using a drink with 100 grams of glucose)
Your doctor will decide on your treatment depending on your glucose levels and your glucose levels will need to be monitored regular through the remainder of your pregnancy. If your glucose level becomes too high, you may have to give yourself insulin injections.
Normally with gestational diabetes your blood glucose levels will quickly return to normal after you deliver your baby. But you may be at a higher risk for developing gestational diabetes with any further pregnancies as well as a higher risk for type-2 diabetes later in life.
