Glucose Challenge Test in Pg.

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Anyone have any info/links about this screening test for gest.

diabetes? My midwife is leaving the decision up to me (haven't

discussed it fully with her). I'm not sure what protocol she uses,

but I'm certainly not going to do it if it involves drinking a sugar

syrup (in lime, cola, or orange flavor!!!!!!).

My instinct is to decline the test, especially since I've been feeling

great and my diet is very good.

TIA,

[Guest guest]

-

>Anyone have any info/links about this screening test for gest.

>diabetes? My midwife is leaving the decision up to me (haven't

>discussed it fully with her). I'm not sure what protocol she uses,

>but I'm certainly not going to do it if it involves drinking a sugar

>syrup (in lime, cola, or orange flavor!!!!!!).

>

>My instinct is to decline the test, especially since I've been feeling

>great and my diet is very good.

My recommendation would be to avoid it like the plague.

Here's how

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/prenatalhealth/1483.html

describes it:

>>My practitioner says I need a glucose screen. Why?

>>Most practitioners routinely recommend a glucose screening test (also

>>called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between 24 and 28 weeks of

>>pregnancy to check for gestational diabetes, a high blood sugar condition

>>that some women get during pregnancy. Like any screening test, this one

>>is designed to cast a wide net and identify as many women as possible who

>>may have a problem. A positive result doesn't mean that you have

>>gestational diabetes; in fact, only about a third of women who test

>>positive on the glucose screen actually have this condition. To find out

>>if you're one of them, you'll have to undergo a longer, more definitive

>>exam called a glucose tolerance test (GTT).

>>

>>Between 2 and 7 percent of expectant mothers develop gestational

>>diabetes, making it one of the most common health problems during

>>pregnancy. And since the condition rarely causes any symptoms, testing is

>>the only way to find out if you have it. Your practitioner may want you

>>to be screened earlier than 24 weeks if a routine urine test showed a

>>high amount of sugar in the urine or if you're considered to be at high

>>risk. If the results are normal, you'll be screened again at 24 to 28

>>weeks. (Of course, if you've already been diagnosed with diabetes before

>>pregnancy, you won't need to be screened. Instead, you'll continue to

>>work with your practitioner to manage your condition during your pregnancy.)

>>

>>How is the screening test done?

>>When you arrive for the test, you'll be given a sugar solution that

>>contains 50 grams of glucose. The stuff tastes like a very sweet soda pop

>>(it comes in cola, orange, or lime flavor), and you have to get all of it

>>down in five minutes. Some centers keep it chilled or let you pour it

>>over ice and drink it cold. An hour later (bring a book or magazine!),

>>your practitioner or a technician will take a blood sample from your arm

>>to check your blood sugar level. (The idea is to see how efficiently your

>>body processes sugar.) The results should be available in a few days. If

>>the reading is abnormal (too high), which happens about 15 to 23 percent

>>of the time, your practitioner will have you come back for a three-hour

>>glucose tolerance test to see if you really do have gestational diabetes.

>>The good news is that most women whose screening test shows elevated

>>blood sugar won't turn out to have gestational diabetes.

If you're worried about your blood sugar for some reason, just measure it

directly, don't stress your system and your baby's with this sort of

poisonous nonsense.

-

[Guest guest]

Funny--that's the site I was reading right before I posted! I've

heard that some practitioners use fruit juice instead of the nasty

poison most doctors will make you take. I guess there's a wee worry

in my mind b/c a friend of mine was diagnosed with gest. diabetes and

she had zero symptoms. I don't know what her diet is like, though....

On 9/17/05, Idol <Idol@...> wrote:

> -

>

>

> >Anyone have any info/links about this screening test for gest.

> >diabetes? My midwife is leaving the decision up to me (haven't

> >discussed it fully with her). I'm not sure what protocol she uses,

> >but I'm certainly not going to do it if it involves drinking a sugar

> >syrup (in lime, cola, or orange flavor!!!!!!).

> >

> >My instinct is to decline the test, especially since I've been feeling

> >great and my diet is very good.

>

> My recommendation would be to avoid it like the plague.

>

> Here's how

> http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/prenatalhealth/1483.html

> describes it:

[Guest guest]

wrote:

>Hi all,

>

>Anyone have any info/links about this screening test for gest.

>diabetes? My midwife is leaving the decision up to me (haven't

>discussed it fully with her). I'm not sure what protocol she uses,

>but I'm certainly not going to do it if it involves drinking a sugar

>syrup (in lime, cola, or orange flavor!!!!!!).

>

>My instinct is to decline the test, especially since I've been feeling

>great and my diet is very good.

>

>

>

I went ahead and did these, but my midwife was amenable to doing

postprandial blood draw. It's been five years since I did this, but I

think the details were that I was to eat a specific time before the draw

and I was to eat a carb breakfast with no added sugars. If I remember

correctly, I had oatmeal with cream, but no sugar or honey added. This

would be a more representative result than chugging sugar syrup. The

only real downside to this is that some HCP's might not be comfortable

with the non-standardized parameters of this. My other midwife

preferred the expectant mom to eat something in the way of

processed/packaged food that had XYZ grams of sugar on the label so that

way she knew that the body had been exposed to the target amount of sugar.

Just some ideas to kick around with your m/w.....

--s

[Guest guest]

-

>I've

>heard that some practitioners use fruit juice instead of the nasty

>poison most doctors will make you take.

That's a particularly strange thing to do, since fruit juice won't cause

quite the same blood glucose spike (the fructose first has to be converted

by the liver) but will still do tons of harm.

-

[Guest guest]

I know a gal who was recently pregnant and was told that she tested

positive on the first glucose challenge test.

They put her on some kind of medication, which made her feel bad, and

she stopped taking it. She said that she had apparently had a cold

or something during the GCT, which she believed made her test results

unrepresentative of her true condition.

I believe she took the second test and came up negative.

So, if I were you and ended up taking the GCT, I might try not to

take it if I were fighting a cold or flu or some other significant

infection.

FWIW, there are some people who say that prenatal vitamins contain

too much iron and can actually bring on diabetes in women who take

them during pregnancy. So maybe they actually test all pregnant

women for gestational diabetes because they know that the excess iron

can cause it...?

> Hi all,

>

> Anyone have any info/links about this screening test for gest.

> diabetes? My midwife is leaving the decision up to me (haven't

> discussed it fully with her). I'm not sure what protocol she uses,

> but I'm certainly not going to do it if it involves drinking a sugar

> syrup (in lime, cola, or orange flavor!!!!!!).

>

> My instinct is to decline the test, especially since I've been

feeling

> great and my diet is very good.

>

> TIA,

>

>

[Guest guest]

Oy, this sounds sooooo typical of the non-care of women during

pg....I, of course, don't take a " prenatal " vitamin as they're pretty

much all pretty terrible.

>

> FWIW, there are some people who say that prenatal vitamins contain

> too much iron and can actually bring on diabetes in women who take

> them during pregnancy. So maybe they actually test all pregnant

> women for gestational diabetes because they know that the excess iron

> can cause it...?

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

This is a good discussion to read.

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gestdiab.html

I personally decline it, and recommend other mommas do the same.

KerryAnn , owner of NTOAMC

Batch and freezer cooking the NT way!

NTOAMC/

http://cookingnt.blogspot.com/

----- Original Message -----

>>Anyone have any info/links about this screening test for gest.

>>diabetes? My midwife is leaving the decision up to me (haven't

>>discussed it fully with her). I'm not sure what protocol she uses,

>>but I'm certainly not going to do it if it involves drinking a sugar

>>syrup (in lime, cola, or orange flavor!!!!!!).

[Guest guest]

,

This is a good place to start-

http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregnancy/pcomplications/0,,9z3m,00.html and

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gdhgoer.html and

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gestdiab.html

I personally decline it, and recommend other mommas do the same.

KerryAnn , owner of NTOAMC

Batch and freezer cooking the NT way!

NTOAMC/

http://cookingnt.blogspot.com/

----- Original Message -----

>>Anyone have any info/links about this screening test for gest.

>>diabetes? My midwife is leaving the decision up to me (haven't

>>discussed it fully with her). I'm not sure what protocol she uses,

>>but I'm certainly not going to do it if it involves drinking a sugar

>>syrup (in lime, cola, or orange flavor!!!!!!).