What To Do When Your Blood Sugar Is High During Pregnancy
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Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates the bodys metabolism of fats and carbs and helps the body turn sugar into energy.
What to do when your blood sugar is high during pregnancy. Whether you have diabetes before you become pregnant or you develop gestational diabetes it is important to control your blood sugar levels during pregnancy. Tight control will help you avoid complications and long term health problems for both you and your baby. How to cut risk of high blood sugar when youre pregnant there are steps you can take when youre pregnant to help control blood sugar levels and ensure a healthy pregnancy. Blood sugar levels for pregnant women with diabetes.
Insulin is a hormone that moves glucose or blood sugar from the blood into the bodys cells where its then stored or used for energy. To have low blood sugar. During pregnancy your body produces more insulin to help your baby grow. At the same time pregnancy can also make you more resistant to insulin.
Those at high risk for this problem should be tested as soon as possible for gestational diabetes but most other women can be screened during the 24th week. Babies born to women with even slightly higher than normal blood sugar levels are at increased risk for a range of pregnancy and delivery related complications findings from an international. If diet and exercise cant bring your blood glucose levels under control on their own your doctor may prescribe medication such as metformin or insulin injections. The test will involve drinking a sweetened liquid and having the blood sugar checked at regular intervals.
Working closely with your medical team you should use proper diet and moderate exercise to help keep your blood sugar levels in check. Whether you had diabetes before you got pregnant or you developed diabetes during your pregnancy youll need to keep a close eye on your blood sugar levels. High blood sugar in pregnancy puts baby at risk. Gestational diabetes is when hormones from the placenta block insulin preventing the body from regulating the increased blood sugar of pregnancy effectively.
It is also called temporary diabetes and it occurs when the blood glucose levels in the mother increases beyond normal limits. Find out more. The risk factors for gestational diabetes include. High blood sugar can lead to complications for both the mother and the baby.
Being diagnosed with diabetes during pregnancy and given stricter diet advice or medication to lower blood sugar. However if the pancreas fails to respond effectively the blood sugar escalates resulting in gestational diabetes which is a high blood sugar during pregnancy. This triggers the pancreas to produce more insulin to remedy the situation in order to avoid gestational diabetes.