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What Is Gestational Diabetes?
Gestational diabetes is a condition that occurs to a woman during pregnancy. It can manifest symptoms of both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Gestational diabetes does not usually occur in all pregnancy cases, just in less than 5% of all pregnancies. The condition usually disappears or show signs of improvement after the woman have given birth although in almost half of the cases, the woman ultimately develops type 2 diabetes later on. Gestational diabetes occurs in women who has not experienced any form of diabetes in their lives before.
The Dangers Of Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes may be just for a limited amount of time but it can affect the health of the fetus or the mother if left unmanaged. The fetus may develop anomalies in the central nervous system, anomalies in the cardiac system, have a higher or lower birth weight and malformations in the skeletal and muscular systems. The fetus may also experience respiratory distress syndrome, inhibit the production of fetal surfactant and destruction of red blood cells.
Gestational diabetes may sometimes manifests symptoms like a feeling of excessive thirst which will result to drinking of a lot of fluids and frequent urination. These symptoms are similar to type1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. In most cases, gestational diabetes is not noticeable for most pregnant women which can be dangerous. Medical practitioners need to constantly monitor pregnant women especially after their 5th or 6th month for any signs of gestational diabetes.
Treating Gestational Diabetes
Actually, gestational diabetes will disappear or will lessen several weeks after the woman has given birth. The pregnancy related hormones that were being produced during pregnancy will have been cleared by then. There is a risk of the woman contracting type 2 diabetes later in life after she has developed gestational diabetes. This is most likely due to her genes or her lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle can prevent someone prone to diabetes from developing it. Smoking is also a factor in some types of diabetes and can be dangerous for the fetus and should be avoided.
Many medical practitioners recommend controlling weight gain and carbohydrate intake during pregnancy to help defray gestational diabetes. Expectant mothers should be extra careful regarding their conditions especially if they come from a family prone to diabetes. Genetics plays a vital role in diabetes of any type or kind. If you suspect that you may be susceptible to gestational diabetes, do not hesitate to consult your obstetrician regarding tests about this.
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