| An Overview of Gestational Diabetes Vera M. Krainik; Stacy M. Ramga; Jessica Marie Roberts March 18, 2004 Print-friendly version
Email this article | Page 1 | What is gestational diabetes?
| | Page 2 | Who is at risk for developing gestational diabetes?
How is gestational diabetes detected?
| | Page 3 | Gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes
What is the likelihood of my child or myself developing a long-term form of diabetes?
How will a physician treat my gestational diabetes?
| | Page 4 | Blood Sugar Monitoring
Other Self Testing
| | Page 5 | Diet
| | Page 6 | Exercise
Insulin Therapy
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What is gestational diabetes?
Diabetes affects a great number of people in the general population. Combined, approximately 16 million people have type 1 or tpe 2 diabetes. Diabetes can also strike during pregnancy even if a woman has never had problems with her blood glucose levels before. The stress of the pregnancy can cause a woman's body to react differently as compared to when the woman is not pregnant. This can lead to gestational diabetes. It has been estimated that 3 to 5 percent of all pregnant women in the United States are diagnosed as having gestational diabetes. All types of diabetes deals with the fact that the body is unable to utilize the sugar from food appropriately. As a result individuals tend to have increased amounts of glucose in the blood. Under normal conditions glucose is utilized for energy but it can only be used efficiently with the help of insulin. This hormone delivers glucose from the blood to muscles and tissues to be used for energy. Without insulin to transport glucose into body cells to be used as fuel, glucose will accumulate in the body and some may even spill out into the urine through the kidneys. A confusing fact is that women with gestational diabetes have plenty of insulin and can actually have more insulin in their bodies than women who are not pregnant. So why do some pregnant women suffer from high blood glucose levels, or diabetes, if they have plenty of insulin? In women who develop gestational diabetes, the actions of insulin are impaired by an array of hormones produced by the placenta. This results in insulin resistance which usually begins about midway through the pregnancy at about 20 to 24 weeks. The larger the fetus gets, the more hormones are produced that have the potential to block the proper functions of insulin. In most women, the pancreas just produces more insulin to overcome the "canceling" effects of the placental hormones. This is not the case in women with gestational diabetes where the pancreas produces all the insulin it can and still this amount is not enough to regulate blood glucose levels.
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