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calvingirl's Pregnancy
My Due Date: I suffered a pregnancy lossAge: 48 years old
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26 wks - Surviving the 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test (barely) UPDATE:
By calvingirl » Posted Sep. 25, 2018 10:04pm - 515 views - 9 comments
Well today was interesting. I had failed the 1hr screening test by 4pts and didn't have any side effects when I did it, so I thought the worst part of today's test was the fasting and the fact I couldn't have my one cup of coffee for three days before. I had a 2 day long caffeine withdrawal headache on Sunday and Monday, so I was eager to get this over with. I even brought my laptop to get some work done - I figured the worst part would be the blood draws and the long wait.
Boy, was I wrong.
I did the initial fasting blood draw and drank the 100mg glucose solution on an empty stomach as instructed. It was way grosser than the screening one was, but I choked it down in time. They put me back out in the lobby and I was fine - playing candy crush on my phone for about 10 minutes when suddenly I got really nauseous, broke out in a cold sweat and couldn't talk...I knew I was going to faint. The lobby was empty and I tried to cry out to the nurse behind the counter but she didn't see me waving her down and I literally couldn't make any sound. I croaked out...help!! Then I went down. I felt the tunnel vision coming on fast, so just lowered myself down to the ground as quickly as I could (I'm a fainter, so I know the fall is the most dangerous part) and put my feet up on the chair...then passed out.
I woke up with my head in some strange woman's lap (not a nurse - a fellow patient apparently who said she works emergency room and she saw me go down and got to me first) and three nurses around me asking me if I hit my head. I said no, I tried to flag you down because I knew I was going to faint, so just got down on the floor so I wouldn't hit my head. By then I had a crowd around me and it was humiliating. One nurse commented to another "All this and it's only 930am - its gonna be one of those days", like I ruined her day already because she had to work. I felt fine afterwards (I often do. It's like getting the best nap ever) and they slowly got me into a wheelchair and into a room with an exam bed so I could lay down for the rest of the 3 hrs.
My hubby had to leave work early and come get me because I couldn't drive. I felt dizzy and nauseous the rest of the time, but not like I was going to faint. I certainly didn't get any work done. Apparently all that sugar hitting my system at once was too much. My blood pressure is already low and as I said, I'm a veteran fainter even when I'm not pregnant.
I had the luxury of refusing this test with my last two pregnancies and choosing to have my A1C checked instead, but now I'm high risk...I say yes to everything. But I see why a lot of healthgivers object to this stress test because it IS hard on your body, there are a lot of false positives and there are different ways to assess gestational diabetes. Well, everything is an experience.
SO...I finished it. Wouldn't be surprised if I failed it. I'll update when I get the results.
UPDATE:
Yep, failed it. I have GD. My fasting number was fine - 80, but I failed all three draws at 200, 175 and 155. So about 15-20 pts over where the limit was on all three draws. Not too bad. They are having the MFM specialist contact me about diet and a monitor. I've been really uncharacteristically laying into the sweets this pregnancy, so I'll cut that out. Just last night, I had lobster ravioli and just felt awful afterwards! Nauseous, headache, sick - thought it was bad food. An hour later I was fine. I think that was the pasta and my sugars got too high. All the headaches I've been having are probably from too much carbs. If changing my diet makes me feel better, then this could be good news.
Bad news is that I have this "label" and my underweight baby needs to keep growing, so that's a tightrope I have to walk.
My Journal
26 wks - Surviving the 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test (barely) UPDATE:
By calvingirl » Posted Sep. 25, 2018 10:04pm - 515 views - 9 comments
Well today was interesting. I had failed the 1hr screening test by 4pts and didn't have any side effects when I did it, so I thought the worst part of today's test was the fasting and the fact I couldn't have my one cup of coffee for three days before. I had a 2 day long caffeine withdrawal headache on Sunday and Monday, so I was eager to get this over with. I even brought my laptop to get some work done - I figured the worst part would be the blood draws and the long wait.
Boy, was I wrong.
I did the initial fasting blood draw and drank the 100mg glucose solution on an empty stomach as instructed. It was way grosser than the screening one was, but I choked it down in time. They put me back out in the lobby and I was fine - playing candy crush on my phone for about 10 minutes when suddenly I got really nauseous, broke out in a cold sweat and couldn't talk...I knew I was going to faint. The lobby was empty and I tried to cry out to the nurse behind the counter but she didn't see me waving her down and I literally couldn't make any sound. I croaked out...help!! Then I went down. I felt the tunnel vision coming on fast, so just lowered myself down to the ground as quickly as I could (I'm a fainter, so I know the fall is the most dangerous part) and put my feet up on the chair...then passed out.
I woke up with my head in some strange woman's lap (not a nurse - a fellow patient apparently who said she works emergency room and she saw me go down and got to me first) and three nurses around me asking me if I hit my head. I said no, I tried to flag you down because I knew I was going to faint, so just got down on the floor so I wouldn't hit my head. By then I had a crowd around me and it was humiliating. One nurse commented to another "All this and it's only 930am - its gonna be one of those days", like I ruined her day already because she had to work. I felt fine afterwards (I often do. It's like getting the best nap ever) and they slowly got me into a wheelchair and into a room with an exam bed so I could lay down for the rest of the 3 hrs.
My hubby had to leave work early and come get me because I couldn't drive. I felt dizzy and nauseous the rest of the time, but not like I was going to faint. I certainly didn't get any work done. Apparently all that sugar hitting my system at once was too much. My blood pressure is already low and as I said, I'm a veteran fainter even when I'm not pregnant.
I had the luxury of refusing this test with my last two pregnancies and choosing to have my A1C checked instead, but now I'm high risk...I say yes to everything. But I see why a lot of healthgivers object to this stress test because it IS hard on your body, there are a lot of false positives and there are different ways to assess gestational diabetes. Well, everything is an experience.
SO...I finished it. Wouldn't be surprised if I failed it. I'll update when I get the results.
UPDATE:
Yep, failed it. I have GD. My fasting number was fine - 80, but I failed all three draws at 200, 175 and 155. So about 15-20 pts over where the limit was on all three draws. Not too bad. They are having the MFM specialist contact me about diet and a monitor. I've been really uncharacteristically laying into the sweets this pregnancy, so I'll cut that out. Just last night, I had lobster ravioli and just felt awful afterwards! Nauseous, headache, sick - thought it was bad food. An hour later I was fine. I think that was the pasta and my sugars got too high. All the headaches I've been having are probably from too much carbs. If changing my diet makes me feel better, then this could be good news.
Bad news is that I have this "label" and my underweight baby needs to keep growing, so that's a tightrope I have to walk.
Comments for this Journal Entry
 | Comment from snolie14 » Posted Oct. 11, 2018 1:37am Wow!! Crazy!! Sorry you have GD. I failed the 1st test with Hunter but passed with Avery... I'm hypoglycemic... I can tell when my sister gets too low. |
 | Comment from calvingirl » Posted Oct. 4, 2018 1:36pm Thanks for the support everybody! GD diet isn't going superb. It's really hard to eat enough while keeping carbs down to a reasonable amount. I'm losing weight, and don't know if that's water weight from carbs or what. They obviously aren't that concerned since they didn't schedule me with the GD specialist till the 10th, more than two weeks after diagnosis. I ordered a blood glucose monitor on amazon and that'll come today. I've been writing down everything I eat in an app, so I can show the specialist, so who knows? Maybe she'll tell me to eat more carbs, not less? I'll have almost a week of blood sugar data to give her though, so hopefully that'll help. |
| Comment from ericalee2 » Posted Oct. 3, 2018 2:38pm Ugh, what an ordeal. It's good that you got the GD diagnosed so you can get it under control, but it really sucks that this test is how they diagnose it. It can be so hard on the body!! How is the GD diet going so far?? |
 | Comment from rcorinne » Posted Oct. 3, 2018 4:21am Sorry about the GD and fainting. I thought of you all today for some reason and checked back in. Prayers for the health of you and your little girl on this journey. |
 | Comment from tmhess » Posted Sep. 27, 2018 12:08pm The 3 hour test is NO fun. I ended up failing my 3 hour test with my second and I did have GD that could not be controlled with diet alone. This time around I feel like if I fail the 1 hour test I would just rather be diagnosed with GD and followed instead of sitting through the 3 hour test. Not to mention with young children who don't attend school yet, it is rather difficult to find someone to watch them for half a day especially first thing in the morning. |
 | Comment from Kate461 » Posted Sep. 26, 2018 11:06pm Yikes! That was my biggest fear! I'm glad you are ok and hope you pass. That test IS hard on the body! |
| Comment from calvingirl » Posted Sep. 26, 2018 2:41pm @hopingforbfp - Thank you! That's very reassuring! Our baby is small right now - 25th percentile and I grow small babies. I have no problem maintaining a GD diet as that's my preferred one anyway, but I literally Want baby to get bigger! But not unhealthily - it's such a tightrope. I hope I don't have GD just so I don't have another factor to worry about, but Type 2 does run in my family and I'm overweight so I won't be surprised if I fail this time. That was really smart of you to sense something was off. They tested me at 7 wks too because of my family history but I passed that one. |
| Comment from hopingforbfp » Posted Sep. 26, 2018 3:51am That's horrible, sorry you had to go through that! If its ant comfort or peace of mind.... With DS #1, I got really sick during the 3 hour test (failed the 1 hour by 15 points)... I ended up NOT having gestational diabetes. With DS #2, I felt fine after the 3 hour test! Felt completely like myself. I failed all the draws....by A LOT! Like over 100 points! I ended up with GD. We found out only at 8 weeks pregnant that I had GD. I asked for an early test due to feeling off....and I figured it had something to do with glucose. I maintained my GD with dieting all the way till 35 weeks pregnant. Then the last 3 weeks I was put on medication 1.25mg because my resting/fasting sugar was always 88-90 (which they considered high!). But it went fairly well. Oh and they told me that since I had found GD so early on....they said I was probably diabetic to begin with. After giving birth, my sugar levels have been normal! No diabetes! |
