What is gestational diabetes? This condition is an endocrine and metabolic illness where pregnant women are the ones at risk. These gestational diabetes symptoms manifest when hormones during pregnancy also run amok. However, though all pregnant women may be at risk of suffering from gestational diabetes not all will fall in this condition.
Understanding gestational diabetes
Generally, gestational diabetes happens because of an unusual metabolic activity while pregnant. Medical research has determined four general reasons for pregnant women to have this condition. These are:
- Being severely overweight while pregnant
- Getting pregnant at thirty-five years old or older
- The mother is expecting twins or more, and
- Gestational diabetes runs in the family
Having a family history for gestational diabetes has been proven to be the most common factor for women with this condition.
When do gestational diabetes symptoms manifest?
Although the reasons for pregnant women having gestational diabetes are just clues as to why they fall into this condition, the metabolic process of how this illness occurs is already determined. We all know that it is the placenta that nourishes the baby while in the womb. The hormone that nourishes the baby is the Human Placental Lactogen which at the same time also counteracts the mother’s ability to produce insulin. The body senses this decrease and reacts by producing more insulin to compensate the need.
Unfortunately, some expectant mothers are unable to produce and consume all the insulin in her body. With the lack of insulin, glucose is not broken down thus it is also not converted to energy. Sugar then builds up in the blood resulting to hyperglycemia and this is when gestational diabetes symptoms manifest.
What are the gestational diabetes symptoms?
These are the symptoms to be looked at when looking for signs of gestational diabetes.
- Blurry or hazy vision
- Feeling very tired all the time
- Being prone to infection especially in the bladder, vagina, and the skin
- An unusually frequent need to urinate
- Strangely thirsty and hungry all the time
Do not ignore gestational diabetes symptoms
Gestational diabetes will harm the baby at any stage of the pregnancy. At the early stage, this condition may result to birth defects especially affecting the brain and the heart or at worse will result to miscarriage.
During the latter stage of the pregnancy, diabetes will result to an overweight baby even while inside the womb. This could lead to complication in giving birth. Aside from that, the baby is also at risk of becoming obese and developing diabetes while growing up.
These are among the reasons why extra care should be taken during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes is manageable if detected early. That is why it is very important for an expectant mother to see her OBGyn regularly. As always prevention is better than cure therefore it is best never to wait for gestational diabetes symptoms to manifest before seeing your doctor or living a healthy lifestyle especially for expectant mothers.
