What happens in Gestational Diabetes?

In Gestational Diabetes or Diabetes Type 3, a woman who has never been diagnosed with diabetes starts having high blood sugar levels during the time of her pregnancy. However, after the delivery, the blood sugar levels of most women come back to normal. You may also have a high risk of being diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes in future pregnancies. Moreover, you can also have any other type of diabetes in your life if you are diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes during pregnancy once.

Causes of Gestational Diabetes

For all those who imagine about what causes Gestational Diabetes, you must know that there is no single cause of this type. Let’s see some of the most common Gestational Diabetes causes:

• You are already obese before you become pregnant.
• Suffering from high blood pressure or other similar medical problems.
• Someone from your family suffered from diabetes.
• Your age is more than 30 when you become pregnant.

Signs and Symptoms of Gestational Diabetes

It is always better to know the diabetes symptoms which can help you to detect the disease in case your body shows any such signs. You will be surprised to know that there are no signs and symptoms of Gestational Diabetes during pregnancy. Although a woman goes through a lot of bodily changes during the time, the biggest disadvantage of the disease is that you will not find a single Gestational Diabetes signs and symptoms.

Due to such reasons, all the pregnant women are asked to go through a blood sugar level test to diagnose whether they are suffering from the disease or not. Most probably, the tests are conducted between the 24^th and 28^th week of pregnancy. If you are expecting a baby, it is highly necessary that you check yourself for your body sugar level. Even though Gestational Diabetes symptoms are absent, you should ensure tests to be on a safer side.

Gestational Diabetes Complications

The reason why a lot of doctors insist on getting checked yourself for Gestational Diabetes is that if you don’t treat it, the disease can create a lot of medical complications for your baby. Some of them are listed below:

• Your baby may grow too large inside your womb which can be very problematic.
• During delivery, there can be injuries to limbs, shoulders, and nerves due to the baby’s big size.
• You may have to go through a cesarean delivery because a normal delivery won’t be feasible.
• Just after the birth, your baby may suffer from low blood sugar levels which would have to be treated.
• Your newborn baby will have a higher risk of developing jaundice and may also have breathing problems.

Prevention of Gestational Diabetes

Although there is very little what you can do for Gestational Diabetes prevention but there are a few changes in your lifestyle that you can bring which are as follows:

• Completely quit smoking if you have a habit of smoking.
• Indulge in a moderate physical exercise which is said to have some effects on preventing Gestational Diabetes.
• Being fit and maintaining an active lifestyle will also help in keeping your blood sugar levels in check.

Treatment of Gestational Diabetes

Just like all the other types of diabetes, Gestational Diabetes treatment is possible with proper medical and health care. Below are the things you can do for treatment of Gestational Diabetes.

• Follow a Gestational Diabetes diet which your dietician or doctor may guide you with.
• You must keep monitoring your blood sugar level on a frequent basis to ensure better treatment through medication.
• In case diet or normal medications don’t seem to work, you may have to go for insulin therapy which is effective for Type 3 Diabetes treatment.

Home Remedies of Gestational Diabetes

Since there are no signs and symptoms of Type 3 Diabetes mellitus, you may have a high chance of being diagnosed with it. But you must not worry as along with medication there are many home remedies which can be effective in treating Gestational Diabetes. They are as follows:

• The best way to take care of yourself would be to consume regular meals at the same intervals every day.
• Stop consuming carbohydrates that don’t have proteins or fats in them.
• Indulge in moderate amounts of exercise at least 30 minutes for each day. It can be as simple as walking with a normal speed.

The different types of diabetes are –

1. Type 1 Diabetes is caused because of pancreatic failure to produce enough insulin.
2. Type 2 Diabetes begins with insulin resistance. It is a condition where body’s cells fail to respond to insulin properly.
3. Type 3 Diabetes, also called as Gestational Diabetes mellitus occurs when pregnant women without previous history of diabetes develop high blood sugar level.

Signs and Symptoms

Many wonder about what are the first signs of diabetes to detect whether they are suffering from it because it is quite important to know about the early signs of diabetes and to recognize the symptoms of Diabetes correctly.

• The first signs of diabetes can be identified by weight loss, an increase in urination, thirst, and even hunger. But these symptoms usually develop slowly and can be absent in Type 2 Diabetes.
• Several other signs and symptoms in addition to the above ones include blurry vision, headache, fatigue, slow healing of cuts and itchy skin.

Diabetes Categorization – A Complete Guide

There are three major types of Diabetes with varying symptoms, effects and treatment methods. The two types of diabetes along with gestational diabetes mellitus (Type 3) are explained in detail below so that you have a sufficient knowledge about all of them.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes results from the failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin. This type of diabetes is due to loss of the insulin-producing beta cells of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, leading to insulin deficiency. It can be further classified as immune-mediated or idiopathic. Most affected people are quite healthy when the first symptoms occur.

Type 1 Diabetes can affect both children and adults equally. It was traditionally called as “juvenile diabetes” because the majority of Type 1 Diabetes were found only in children. Signs of juvenile diabetes must be tracked and immediately acted upon for cure. These are some of the most prevalent diabetes symptoms in children.

One should know about symptoms of diabetes in children to take preventive measures before it strikes. Type 1 Diabetes can be accompanied by irregular and unpredictable high blood sugar levels, frequently with ketosis and sometimes low sugar levels. It is basically incurable but insulin injections will help in survival.

Signs of Type 1 Diabetes: Increased thirst, frequent urination, hunger, fatigue and blurred vision.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance, a condition where body cells fail to respond to insulin properly. The insulin receptor is believed to be involved in defective responsiveness of body tissue to insulin. Type 2 Diabetes is said to be the most common type of Diabetes mellitus. Major causes of Type 2 Diabetes are lifestyle factors and usually genetics. Obesity, lack of physical activity, poor diet, stress, and urbanization are known to be the developing factors for Type 2 Diabetes.

Excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and saturated fats are responsible for this type of diabetes. Cutting down on white rice can also help in the prevention. The difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes is that former one can occur at a young age whereas the latter one can strike in adulthood, the first signs start to develop mostly after the age 30.

Signs of Type 2 Diabetes: Excessive hunger, fatigue, or increased thirst, blurred vision, frequent urination, poor wound healing, or weight gain

Type 3 Diabetes

Type 3 Diabetes, also called as Gestational Diabetes mellitus (GDM) is when a woman without any history of diabetes develops high blood sugar level during pregnancy. Type 3 Diabetes occurs to 2-10% of pregnant women and may improve or disappear after delivery. Gestational Diabetes mellitus is fully treatable but it requires careful medical treatment and supervision throughout the tenure of pregnancy. If left untreated, it can cause severe and even fatal consequences.

Born babies to mother with poorly treated gestational diabetes are at a higher risk of being overweight, low blood sugar levels and jaundice. It can also result in stillbirth at times. In the long run, born babies can develop Type 2 Diabetes as well. Gestational Diabetes mellitus is majorly caused by insufficient insulin in setting insulin resistance. Type 3 Diabetes can be prevented by maintaining a healthy diet and regular moderate exercise.

Signs of Type 3 Diabetes: Memory loss, dementia, and confusion. There may be no symptoms at early stages but the causes of diabetes for this type can be devastating.

Uncommon Types of Diabetes

Along with these 3 types, there are various other types of diabetes as well.

• Prediabetes indicates a condition that occurs when a person’s blood glucose levels are higher than normal but is not high enough for a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes.
• Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA) is a condition in which Type 1 Diabetes develops in adults. Some cases of diabetes are also noted where body’s tissue receptors do not respond to insulin even when insulin levels are normal, which is what separates it from Type 2 Diabetes. This form of diabetes is quite uncommon.
• Different forms of Diabetes mellitus also includes Congenital Diabetes, which is due to genetic defects of insulin secretion, cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, steroid diabetes induced by high doses of glucocorticoids, and some forms of monogenic diabetes.
• A Type 4 Diabetes is proposed which has not received an official status yet.

One should know all about diabetes and even the major diabetes signs which will help in taking preventive measures in future.