Gestational Diabetes Symptoms
Generally, gestational diabetes might not cause any symptoms, but the pregnant woman may experience a large gain of weight, extreme hunger and thirst, excessive urination or recurrent vaginal infections.
The list of possible symptoms includes:
- Frequent urination
- Extreme hunger
- Excessive thirst
- Unusual weight loss
- Irritability
- Increased fatigue
- Blurry vision
When a woman is experiencing any of these symptoms, she should seek medical attention early. In fact, a woman should seek medical attention when she begins to think about becoming pregnant. The doctor will address gestational diabetes when the woman gets pregnant as part of her regular prenatal care.
Gestational diabetes is detected through a glucose tolerance test, which is taken from week 24 thru week 28 of the pregnancy. But if the woman is considered at risk, the doctor may test as early as 13 weeks.
With gestational diabetes, a woman is more likely to need to have a caesarean delivery than women who do not have diabetes.
The woman can also develop gestational diabetes with any new pregnancies and is at a risk of being diagnosed as having Type 2 diabetes later in life.
There are risks to the baby. If a mother has high blood glucose level, the baby can grow to be unusually large. This is caused because the baby needs to make more insulin to manage the enlarged blood glucose which is the reason for developing more tissue and fat to be stored. This often makes for a difficult delivery.
After birth, the baby may continue to produce excessive insulin causing the baby’s blood glucose level to be low. Therefore it is recommended that the mother breastfeed the baby within 30 minutes of the delivery to keep the baby’s blood glucose levels at a safe number. Or the baby can be given a sugar solution thru an IV drip.
The baby can also be at risk of a condition known as jaundice which is yellowing of the white of the eyes as well as of the skin. This normally fades without any medical treatment. But, there are cases where treatment with an ultraviolet light may be necessary after birth.
There is also a slightly higher risk of the baby being born having a birth defect. Often babies will be born with “respiratory distress syndrome” where the baby has problems breathing because the lungs have not fully developed. This will clear up with time, but it might mean the baby needs to be ventilated with a machine for awhile.
There is also a risk of the baby becoming obese in childhood which also increases the risk of the child developing diabetes disease during this period of life.
To make certain that the blood glucose level returns to normal after the baby is born, the mother will need to have blood glucose checked often right after delivery and again in 6 weeks. But in most cases the problem will clear up after delivery.
