Gestational diabetes

Overview

Gestational diabetes is when a woman develops diabetes during pregnancy but doesn’t have pre-existing diabetes. A hormone produced by the placenta interferes with the body’s ability to use insulin, resulting in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Instead of being absorbed by the cells, glucose builds up in the blood. Gestational diabetes alters how the cells utilize sugar (glucose). High blood sugar levels brought on by gestational diabetes can harm both the mother and the baby.

Management of gestational management could ensure a good health for the mother and the child, and decrease the risk of challenging birth. Healthy foods, exercise (recommendation from the doctor), and taking prescribed medication could help manage gestational diabetes.

Gestational diabetes could return to normal after birth. However, type 2 diabetes is more likely to impact someone who has had gestational diabetes. Blood sugar levels will need to be checked more frequently.

Symptoms

Commonly gestational diabetes has no symptoms. Doctor may suspect that the patient may have gestational diabetes based on your medical history and blood test.

As part of the prenatal care once the patient become pregnant, the doctor will screen for gestational diabetes.

Frequent medical checkup is required if the mother developed gestational diabetes. These are most likely to happen during the last three months of pregnancy, when the doctor will be evaluating on both the mother and the child’s health.

Causes

It is still unknown why some women develop gestational diabetes while others do not. Pregnancy-related weight gain is frequently a factor.

A growing fetus receives nutrition and water from the placenta, which also creates a number of hormones to keep the pregnancy going. Estrogen, cortisol, and human placental lactogen are a few of the hormones that can block the action of insulin. This condition, known as the contra-insulin effect, often starts between weeks 20 and 24 of pregnancy.

The likelihood of developing insulin resistance increases as the placenta develops and more of these hormones are generated. Normally, the pancreas can produce extra insulin to combat insulin resistance, but gestational diabetes develops when there is insufficient insulin produced to counteract the impact of the placental hormones.

Risk factors

Despite the fact that any pregnant woman has the potential to develop gestational diabetes, the following factors may increase the likelihood.

• History: a family member who have history of diabetes increases the risk of having the condition. If the mother had previously been diagnosed from the previous pregnancy. Previously delivered an infant that weighs more than 9 pounds.
• Weight: The mothers body mass index is categorize as overweigh or obesity, and not physically active
• Other diseases: Polycystic ovary syndrome increase the risk of the condition. Prediabetes also known as impaired glucose tolerance.