[Pmdc3]

I am new here! I'm 27 weeks pregnant and have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I have been reading and reading and you are all a great source for information! I am only on day 4 of my "new" diet and so far I'm doing ok with the food changes. Not too bad. My doctor will see my glucose readings and food intake on Tuesday to decide if I need meds or insulin. Here is my problem. My fasting sugar is too high. They want them below 95. I'm about 120 every morning. After my first meal, my 2 hour is 140. They want the 2 hour below 120. I will cut out my carb at breakfast and hopefully that will improve. BUT....how do I get better fasting glucose? What can I eat before bed to lower that? I am so new to this I feel a bit overwhelmed. Thank you!!
Amy

 

[Shanny]

Hello Amy . . . thank you for joining us! It's overwhelming to everybody at first. I hope we can help you feel more confident.

Controlling our fasting levels is one of the toughest things we challenge, but a bedtime snack does work sometimes. I would choose something with more protein/fats like cheese, but others here incorporate a few more carbs & that seems to help too. Your carb intake at suppertime can have an effect too . . . curbing the carb intake can help all the way around!

 

[Pmdc3]

Thank you for your help. I have a long way to go!

 

[wdmama]

Congrats on your pregnancy! I'm 31 weeks pregnant and this is my third diabetic pregnancy. I am on glyburide and have been since 6 weeks.

It took me a while to figure out how to get my fasting under control. I have to eat 8-9 hours before I wake up and test. I usually have 30g carbs and 1 serving of protein. If I eat sooner or sleep in later my number goes higher. Not sure if it works for everyone, but that seems to be my sweet spot.

You'll want to make sure your carbs are slower acting carbs - so whole grains and high in fiber, and you want to pair it with a protein... I usually do whole grain crackers and cheese.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

Welcome Amy Congrats on your pregnancy. I agree with everyone else... a snack before bed works best for most people. You may be getting higher BGLs in the morning due to liver dumping during the night perhaps? The liver dump is common and that's what makes it challenging for all of us to keep our fasting BGLs under control. I am type 2 on insulin. Personally I do my fasting BGL test the same time every morning. If I need more sleep, then I go back to sleep after breakfast (if I can do that on weekends). Also I try and keep my meals at same times throughout the day as I find that helps. If I have a day where I'm out of routine... boy I suffer with my BGLs... they swing like crazy. But sometimes life is unpredictable and we just have to deal with what comes. I'm dealing with crazy BGLs at the moment due to illness. But I'm trying my best to keep them controlled. Look forward to hearing your experiences.

 

[jwags]

Good luck and congrats on your pregnancy. As others have said the morning numbers for a lot of us tend to be the hardest to control. A lot of this is due to production of stress hormones in the early morning hours. It takes a lot of trial and error and timing of eating and right types of food. If I eat too early my numbers seem to rise. I find if I eat anything past 9 pm my fasting bgs goes up. So the late night snack doesn't work for me. I eat a fairly low carb diet and do moderate exercise and that seems to work best.

 

[Pmdc3]

Thank you all for your input. My fasting today was 123. I have been doing the bedtime snack. I think I will skip it tonight and see what that does. I did a 2am check as well and it was 131. I'm obviously spiking at night and in the morning. My lunch and supper glucose levels are "normal". Question::::: I didn't eat carbs last night hoping that would help improve my morning glucose level. This obviously didn't work. Am I wrong in my thinking?

 

[wdmama]

I tried it all... carbs, no carbs, snack, no snack... it didn't make a difference until I figured out the timing. I noticed when my husband ran out late at night and grabbed us something that my number was much lower in the mornings. So I tried eating my snack later and it worked.

I think it just depends person to person.

What time did you eat your snack? The 131 at 2am does seem like you might need medication b/c if you were going low at night, you could probably circumvent it with snacks / timing. But if it's 131 at 2am and slowly going down to 123 in the morning, I don't know that it can be fixed in the same way.

Maybe try exercising after that snack?

 

[Pmdc3]

My 2 hour was 140 again. I guess I will have to start some sort of medication.

 

[Pmdc3]

I tried it all... carbs, no carbs, snack, no snack... it didn't make a difference until I figured out the timing. I noticed when my husband ran out late at night and grabbed us something that my number was much lower in the mornings. So I tried eating my snack later and it worked.

I think it just depends person to person.

What time did you eat your snack? The 131 at 2am does seem like you might need medication b/c if you were going low at night, you could probably circumvent it with snacks / timing. But if it's 131 at 2am and slowly going down to 123 in the morning, I don't know that it can be fixed in the same way.

Maybe try exercising after that snack?

I ate my snack at 11:30 pm. I will play with the snack and see. Every day seems to have worse BG than the day before. I'm 38 years old and Tuesday I will be 27 weeks. I go to my doctor Tuesday with my first week of numbers with my diet. I really appreciate your help!!! Thank you so much

 

[jwags]

I've had diabetes for 4 years. For 3 of those years my morning fastings were above 120. I tried everything and every combination of things. I also found when I woke up high, my bgs all day were high. I finally asked my doctor to increase my metformin to 2550. I now take 3 pills a day. I take one pill right before bed. That along with a natural low carb diet seemed to do the trick. But I have to stick to the low carb diet. Yesterday we went out to dinner and although I ordered my cheese burger without the bun and swapped roasted veggies for fries, I did sneak 4 or 5 of my husbands fries. That was enough to raise my morning numbers 12 points. It is wierd I can handle a serving of sweet potatoes but regular potatoes sends me high.

 

[wdmama]

Some people have high fastings b/c they go too low at night and the body dumps glucose into the system... or the hormones that wake you up cause it to rise....

But the 2am is 2.5 hours...so your number is probbably staying high after your snack and not going down by morning, which I would say your doctor will probably want to put you on medication.

Sorry I've been on the diet since I got my positive test, and on glyburide since I was 6wks pregnant, and it's not that bad. Some doctors prefer insulin. It just depends, and of course you can let them know your preference.