The types of diabetes that most people know of are type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Today, we are going to look into another "not so popular" but a common type of diabetes for pregnant mothers - gestational diabetes. Apart from explaining briefly what gestational diabetes is all about, we are going to dive into gestational diabetes symptoms as well.

Gestational Diabetes Overview

It occurs when a pregnant mother's body forms insulin resistance due to the higher production rate of hormones like estrogen and cortisol. Under a normal situation, the amount of insulin produced by a pregnant mother will be much higher than a normal person in order to counter the resistance.

In the case of a gestational diabetes, the amount of insulin produced by the mother is not enough to combat the overwhelming hormone production. Pregnant mothers have a high risk of contracting the disease during the 19th to 24th week of pregnancy. Gestational diabetes is manageable through various glucose levels monitoring.

For the baby, however, something called macrosomia will develop. The baby will have a larger size compared to others due to the high glucose level that prompts the fetus to produce its own insulin that turns the excess glucose into fat. Hypoglycemia is also very likely to happen to the baby but all these are manageable if gestational diabetes symptoms are spotted early on.

Gestational Diabetes Symptoms

The symptoms faced by these mothers are usually same as those face by a diabetes patient. Some of the common symptoms include frequent urination, fatigue, extreme weight loss even with nutritional menu, vision problems and nausea. However, since this type of diabetes is not as serious as type 1 and type 2, the symptoms are not as significant and patients might not even have any symptoms.

Spotting the Symptoms of Gestational Diabetes

Since the symptoms may be vague, doctors will have to depend on the accuracy of blood glucose tests. These tests are normally carried out in the 23rd to 26th week during pregnancy. If the results are positive, doctors will put the mother under monitoring and will do their best to lower the glucose level.

Some women have a very low risk of contracting the disease. Women who are younger than 25 years old, have a normal weight prior to pregnancy, with no genetic traits of diabetes and no history of excessive glucose levels are normally free from the clutches of the disease and glucose level tests are not required.



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