Gestational diabetes: causes, symptoms, treatment

What is diabetes, many know. This disease is associated with an increase in blood glucose levels, caused in most cases by a decrease in the function of insulin producing the pancreas. Sometimes diabetes mellitus is diagnosed in pregnant women who have never had any problems with the level of sugar in their blood. This disease is called gestational diabetes and it is associated with a violation of carbohydrate metabolism and insulin suppression in the body. The main cause of this pathology in previously healthy women is not established.

Gestational diabetes Manifested, as a rule, at 5 months of pregnancy and has the following characteristic symptoms: loss of appetite, a constant sense of thirst, rapid weight gain, separation from the body of a large amount of urine or polyuria, a decrease in physical activity.

Some scientists are inclined to assume that a placenta that connects the fetus with the mother and produces special hormones that can suppress the hormone insulin plays a big role in the onset of this disease. However, the placenta is present in the body of every pregnant woman, so why is gestational diabetes mellitus Is it only for some of them? The factors predisposing to its development include: overweight, the appearance of which some women associate specifically with the development of the fetus, the first birth after 35 years or childbirth at a very mature age, the presence of a severe pregnancy in the past with the carrying of a large child (more than 4 kg), spontaneous interruptions Pregnancy and the birth of a dead infant in the past, the presence of congenital malformations in previous children. In addition, a number of women have a genetic predisposition to the onset of this disease.

Gestational diabetes is considered a complication of pregnancy. This pathology presents a real threat only to the mother's body. For the fetus, in some ways, it is safe, because it develops in later terms and in no way can contribute to the emergence of the vices of its physical and mental development. The disease passes by itself right after delivery in most women. In the event that the level of glucose in the blood does not normalize in the first weeks after the birth of a child, the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes.

Gestational diabetes is treated in a complex way. It should immediately be stipulated that the therapy of expectant mothers is rather difficult, since they are contraindicated in most medications. As a basic therapy, they can be prescribed a special diet, and in some cases - and insulin injections. The introduction of insulin into the body is necessary for those women who before pregnancy were diagnosed with "type 2 diabetes" and took special medicines with a pancreatic hormone in the form of tablets.

Correctly selected diet in a number of cases can eliminate the disease and prevent its serious consequences without the use of injections. Gestational diabetes involves the rejection of the use of certain foods, in particular, all sweet, floury, buttery, fatty and rich in easily digestible carbohydrates. In this case, malnutrition with a sharp restriction of fats and carbohydrates can lead to a directly opposite to diabetes - hypoglycemia - accompanied by a sharp drop in blood glucose levels and also requiring close attention from the specialist.

All pregnant women with a diagnosis of "gestational diabetes" become registered with the endocrinologist, their body is subject to a thorough examination both before and after childbirth. In the event that the disease manifested itself during the gestation of a child, and after it was born on its own, the probability of its occurrence with repeated childbirth is great.