Expert Article: Diabetes And Pregnancy

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Diabetes leads to uncontrolled blood glucose levels in the body. With the change in lifestyle and other factors, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled.

Diagnosing gestational diabetes (diabetes that develops during pregnancy) in time is extremely crucial for the safe and healthy birth of a child. It can be checked by GTT (GlucoseTolerance Test) during pregnancy and is more common in women who are obese or have a family history of Diabetes. Common symptoms are frequent urination and fatigue.

If not controlled timely, diabetes (gestational or type 1/type 2) can lead to miscarriage or premature birth, overweight baby, stillbirth, intensive neonatal care, birth defects and greater risk for the baby to develop type 2 diabetes or obesity in life.

Pregnancy demands some extra care and concern. If you are a diabetic pregnant woman, you have to be more cautious. Diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy is called gestational diabetes. This will put your pregnancy into the risk category due to chances of miscarriage, birth defect, stillbirth, premature birth and an oversized baby. Gestational diabetes is divided into two classes, Class A1 (which can be controlled through diet alone) and Class A2 (requires insulin or oral medications to control the condition).

However, it is to be noted that most of the symptoms that are associated with gestational diabetes are very common and are seen in most pregnant women. These include symptoms like fatigue, increased thirst, nausea and vomiting. Because of the sheer nature of the symptoms, they may go unnoticed, putting both the mother as well as the child at risk.

It is usually seen that gestational diabetes goes away after delivery, however, such women have a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes later. Hence, it is important for mothers to eat healthily, exercise with caution, keep track of blood sugar levels and monitor baby's growth during pregnancy.