# A question for diabetics. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 26, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105 "2010-07-26T21:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/21 "2010-07-27T13:50:18Z")
I had an insulin pump during two of my three pregnancies. It was the bomb and I would be happy to talk about it at length. 🙂 Edit: Note to any TSA employees reading this: NOT ACTUALLY A BOMB. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/22 "2010-07-27T14:04:37Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I had an insulin pump during two of my three pregnancies. It was the bomb and I would be happy to talk about it at length. 🙂 > > Edit: Note to any TSA employees reading this: NOT ACTUALLY A BOMB. Thanks for my first real LOL of the day! I started the thread here in IMHO and would love it if you shared your experience. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/23 "2010-07-27T17:08:41Z")
> [@Q.N.Jones](#): > > Because anxiety causes dramatic but _brief_ bouts of hypertension. If you’re in the hospital, you’ve gotten past the big anxiety rush and your blood pressure goes back down. Oh, this was all within a few minutes of me getting there. I was never actually admitted; I left after a couple doses of morphine, an ultrasound, a bolus of fluid, and a “_shrug_ Follow up with your OB, everything here looks fine.” Fasting was fine, the tech said my one hour was good, and the two hour was “just a little higher than we like”. So it’s all hinging on the three hour draw, I guess. I should hear back by the end of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/24 "2010-07-28T02:14:07Z")
> [@Silver\_Fire](#): > > Oh, this was all within a few minutes of me getting there. I was never actually admitted; I left after a couple doses of morphine, an ultrasound, a bolus of fluid, and a “_shrug_ Follow up with your OB, everything here looks fine.” Huh. Well, is the same person always taking your pressure at the OB? Because I once had a nurse who was _terrible_ at taking blood pressure readings. Maybe you just have an ignoramus for a nurse? > [@](#): > > Fasting was fine, the tech said my one hour was good, and the two hour was “just a little higher than we like”. So it’s all hinging on the three hour draw, I guess. I should hear back by the end of the day. Even if you do have a mild case of gestational diabetes, you may not need to do anything more than watch your diet and test your blood sugars regularly. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/25 "2010-07-28T02:18:57Z")
> [@Q.N.Jones](#): > > Huh. Well, is the same person always taking your pressure at the OB? Yes, same nurse but the doctor always rechecks it when he sees how high it is. I asked for a nurse to come at me today after I’d been sitting a while, hoping since it wasn’t an actual “doctor appointment” that she could get a decent readout so my doctor doesn’t have to rely on my word that my mother knows what she’s doing. It was still nearly 140 over, umm… high 70s, I think? But better than it usually is when I go there. > [@](#): > > Good luck! Thanks. I didn’t hear anything today and there isn’t anything posted on my online chart yet. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/26 "2010-07-28T02:20:24Z")
Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/27 "2010-07-28T03:48:06Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > … > > How’s your fasting numbers? I think the true test of diabetes is \>126 in the morning before eating. Have you tried that? The standard for the one-hour test during pregnancy, however, doesn’t look at the fasting glucose. They look at how well your glucose _drops_ after ingesting that nasty stuff. Why they don’t compare the two, I don’t know. I too had the 3 hour test after being a bit high on the 1-hour version. So lucky me, I got to drink _twice_ the amount of the stuff (think Sprite, with about 4 times the sugar and the consistency of maple syrup). And I got my blood tested 4 times… once fasting, and once each hour after that. To add insult to injury, the nurse had trouble getting blood from any vein except my “good” one. So I got stuck in the same place 4 times. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/28 "2010-07-28T04:28:38Z")
Oh, I forgot all about that! They didn’t even take venous draws after the initial test! I had two different lab techs. The first one took my fasting draw from my arm and said it’s more accurate than a finger poke so that’s how we’d be doing it all day. The tech who took my post-glucose blood was like “No, we don’t have to take it from a vein” and took the three subsequent samples out of various fingers. For the one hour, 50 gram test, I picked orange flavor. The tech who took my fasting sample suggested the lemon lime because I complained that the orange was hard to drink and even harder to keep down. Honestly, it barely tasted sweeter than 7up to me, which is disgusting and horribly sweet but still at least semi-palatable, and I was able to drink it quickly and keep it down. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/29 "2010-07-28T05:25:55Z")
I had a number in the 180s on the one-hour test, and my doctor didn’t even bother with a 3-hour test and put me straight onto a GD regimen (I was already hospitalized for placenta previa with bleeding - I don’t know if that affected the decision). I had no trouble whatsoever with keeping all my postprandial sugars in line just with diet (no exercise permitted because of the previa), but the fasting one was a killer. I ended up on something like 70 units of “slow” insulin at bedtime. They tested me in the middle of the night for a few nights to make sure I wasn’t going too low from all that insulin, but it was fine. For what it’s worth, I had a C-section at 36w6d (early because of the previa), and the baby was immense (9 lbs 2 oz and 21"), but probably not because of the diabetes. The perinatologist and the neonatologist agreed that GD causes fat babies, not freakishly tall, proportional babies like mine. He had “wimpy white boy” syndrome - breathing problems that kept him in the hospital for a week - but he is a healthy, happy 2-year-old now (still huge but proportional - at his 2-year checkup, he was 36 lbs and 38.25"). The bottom line is that even if you have gestational diabetes, your baby will probably be just fine. It’s just annoying not to be able to eat the cake at your own baby shower. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/30 "2010-07-28T05:35:00Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > It’s just annoying not to be able to eat the cake at your own baby shower. Oh, I didn’t even think of this. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/31 "2010-07-28T05:35:47Z")
Get someone to freeze a piece for you for afterward. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/32 "2010-07-28T11:04:09Z")
> [@Silver\_Fire](#): > > The tech who took my post-glucose blood was like “No, we don’t have to take it from a vein” and took the three subsequent samples out of various fingers. Did you wash your hands before they did the finger-pokes? I’ve trained myself to always wash my hands before checking because of the amazing difference I’ve seen before and after washing. (and trust me, when you’re doing it 8-10 times a day every single day, washing your hands before every time is a huge hassle AND my hands get all chapped in the winter. But I simply don’t trust unwashed fingers. I’ve seen 50 point differences too many times.) ---
**Author:** ![corvidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@corvidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corvidae)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/33 "2010-07-28T13:36:01Z")
> [@Q.N.Jones](#): > > Even if you do have a mild case of gestational diabetes, you may not need to do anything more than watch your diet and test your blood sugars regularly. > > Good luck! I had mild gestational diabetes (I flunked the 1 hr GTT and had one slightly high value on the 3 hr GTT) and all I had to do was watch my diet. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/34 "2010-07-28T14:05:41Z")
I didn’t have a cake at my baby shower! My very awesome mom and sister went with diabetic-friendly foods instead. I think there was a shrimp tray and a selection of cheeses. I was very happy. And yes, your classic “untreated diabetic mom” baby has a lot of fat packed on to the abdomen and torso, and underdeveloped lungs (even at full term). ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/35 "2010-07-28T14:31:36Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Did you wash your hands before they did the finger-pokes? No, nobody said anything about that. The tech just used alcohol wipes, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/36 "2010-07-28T14:33:21Z")
Your tech was dumb. They tell you not to use alcohol wipes for finger-prick tests because if you get even a tiny bit of alcohol residue in the blood sample, it can jack your numbers up. You are just supposed to wash with soap and water. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/37 "2010-07-28T14:52:04Z")
In fact, if you fail the 3-hour, I would point this out and demand a retest, along with retraining for the dumb tech. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/38 "2010-07-28T15:10:31Z")
I test every morning when I’m home and every other morning at work (I work on the road and I eat better at work), my Doctor uses WHO numbers and considers fasting BS over 99 and A1C over 6.5 too high. Most mornings at work my fasting BS average is ~84, at home it’s 104. When I was first diagnosed my fasting BS was 312 and my A1C was 11.7. Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/39 "2010-07-28T15:33:41Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > In fact, if you fail the 3-hour, I would point this out and demand a retest, along with retraining for the dumb tech. And do it AGAIN?! I suppose it is better to actually know. Not like the diagnosis and treatment (watching my diet, how bad can that be?) will hurt me if they’re wrong, but I read somewhere that having GD increases your risk of developing Type II diabetes 75% over eight years so, for somebody who already has a huge family history (father, uncle (died in May at 57 years), grandmother, my sister will have it eventually, etc. all with Type II), it’s better to not have to worry so much about that, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105/40 "2010-07-28T15:36:26Z")
With a family history like that, you’ll want to keep an eye on things regardless of your GD status. Did you ever hear back about the final result on your 3-hour GTT? The initial results you got sounded pretty good so I’d be pretty surprised if you wound up failing the final one. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-diabetics/548105.md?page=3)