Gestational diabetes is important to detect so that you can take control.

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The symptoms of gestational diabetes as well as type 1 and 2 diabetes can vary from person to person. The symptoms show up in different forms and you may not realise that you are a diabetic as the signs may not appear for weeks or months. When you fall pregnant, whether you have any symptoms or not, your doctor will organise a glucose tolerance test to check and make sure that you are not diabetic. If your test comes back negative this does not mean that you could possibly develop gestational diabetes later into the pregnancy.

In most cases gestational diabetes has no significant symptoms, so this is why a glucose tolerance test is necessary.

The symptoms of gestational diabetes consists of increased thirst, blurred vision, increased urine output, tiredness, skin infections and cuts that won’t heal, weight loss and always feeling hungry. These symptoms are also used to diagnose type 1 and 2 diabetes.

In most cases with women, once the baby is born her blood glucose levels return to normal and the gestational diabetes disappears. Although, if you do develop gestational diabetes during your pregnancy you are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. This can be avoided through eating a healthy well balanced diet, regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight.

Gestational diabetes can be managed effectively so that you can avoid developing type 2 diabetes.

When you are pregnant, your insulin needs are 2 to 3 times more than the normal needs and if you are overweight this is a lot worse. If a woman’s body cannot produce enough insulin to help overcome the insulin resistance then her blood glucose levels increase above normal.

If gestational diabetes is not detected properly and treated accordingly, it places the baby at a high risk of growing big inside the womb. which of course can cause a difficult birth. This also places the baby at a higher risk of health complications like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. So it is highly recommended that you make sure you are tested for glucose tolerance between 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy, as mentioned above, it may need to be tested again further into the pregnancy as well.

Watch closely for the symptoms of gestational diabetes and let your doctor know so that it can be treated immediately, this way you can avoid further complications later on.