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Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy. Like other types of diabetes, gestational diabetes affects how your cells use sugar (glucose). Gestational diabetes causes high blood sugar that can affect your pregnancy and your baby's health.

Any and all the complications of gestational diabetes can be controlled and prevented by the Pregnant women itself,but she must be ready to put some effort.  Expectant women can help control gestational diabetes by eating healthy foods, exercising and, if necessary, taking medication. Controlling blood sugar can prevent a difficult birth and keep you and your baby healthy.

In gestational diabetes, blood sugar usually returns to normal soon after delivery. But if you've had gestational diabetes, you're at risk for type 2 diabetes.

Risk factors

Any woman can develop gestational diabetes, but some women are at greater risk.

Risk factors for gestational diabetes include:

1. Age greater than 25 -Women older than age 25 are more likely to develop gestational diabetes.

2. Family or personal health history. Your risk of developing gestational diabetes increases if you have prediabetes — slightly elevated blood sugar that may be a precursor to type -2 diabetes — or if a close family member, such as a parent or sibling, has type -2 diabetes. You're also more likely to develop gestational diabetes if you had it during a previous pregnancy, if you delivered a baby who weighed more than 4.1 kilograms or if you had an unexplained stillbirth.

3. Excess weight. You're more likely to develop gestational diabetes if you're significantly overweight with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.

4. Non white race. For reasons that aren't clear, women who are black, Hispanic, American Indian or Asian are at higher risk to develop gestational diabetes.

Complications that affect the baby

1. Excessive birth weight :- This can cause your baby to grow too large (macrosomia). Very large babies — those that weigh 4 kg  or more — are more likely to become obstructed in the birth canal, sustain birth injuries or require a C-section birth.

2. Early (preterm) birth and respiratory distress syndrome.A mother's high blood sugar may increase her risk of early labor and delivering her baby before the baby's due date. Or her doctor may recommend early delivery because the baby is large.

Babies born early may experience respiratory distress syndrome .

3. Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Sometimes babies of mothers with gestational diabetes develop low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) shortly after birth . Severe episodes of hypoglycemia may provoke seizures in the baby. Prompt feedings ( feed the baby immediately afterbirth) and sometimes an intravenous glucose solution can return the baby's blood sugar level to normal.

4.Type 2 diabetes later in life.Babies of mothers who have gestational diabetes have a higher risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life.

Complications affecting the mother

1. High blood pressure and preeclampsia.

2. Diabetes in later life.

Preventive and general measures

1. Eat healthy foods:

Always remember some points.

A. Eating too much at one time can cause your sugar levels to rise too much.Make it 6 instead of 3.It is very important that do not skip the meals.

B. Can drink one cup of milk a day as its a good source of calcium.But drinking too much milk can raise your sugar levels.

C.Limit fruit portions and avoid fruit juices :-

Fruit is a healthy food, but it is high in natural sugars. You may eat one to three portions of fruit per day, but only eat one at a time. A portion of fruit is either one very small piece of fruit, half of a large piece of fruit, or about one-half cup of mixed fruit. Do not eat fruit that has been canned in syrup.

It takes several fruits to make a glass of juice. Juice is a concentrated source of carbohydrate. Because it is liquid, juice can raise blood sugar quickly.

D. Avoid sweets and desserts like cakes,cookies,pastries and ice creams.Avoid junk foods and canned foods.

E. Avoid carbonated drinks, sodas and sweetened beverages.

F. Stay away from added sugars:- Don't add sugar, honey, jaggery and syrup to your food.

G. Limit intake of tubers like tapioca, sweet potato ,potato etc. as they are rich in starch.

H. Limit intake of rice, can eat once in a day.White rice is better than brown rice as the glycemic index of white rice is lower than that of brown.

I. Can eat wheat or wheat products once in a day.Eventhough wheat and rice has almost same glycemic index, wheat makes easy satiety and less quantity will make us feel full.Eating chappathi will helps us to get correct quantitative analysis like 3/meal which we cannot do while eating rice .

J. Few healthy foods that can be eaten:-

Fresh or frozen vegetables, especially ones that are steamed.Limit carrot, beet root and potato.Use lot of onions and leafy vegetables.

Eggs or egg whites.

Oatmeal , barley,  pulses.

Limited quantity of fresh fruits.Avoid mango,jack fruit.

Skinless chicken breasts,baked fish are good.

Air-popped popcorn. 

Yoghurt, boiled laban are good.

2. Keep active and do regular excercises:

Walking 40 minutes a day ,split it to 20mints in morning and 20 in evening, do brisk walk.Whenever you feel weakness and back ache, stop walking and take rest.

Other excercises are swimming, yoga .

3. Lose excess of weight before pregnancy :- Don't forget," prevention is better than cure"

 Homoeopathic management

  Homoeopathy treats the patient, not the disease. So individualistic or constitutional approach is very much necessary.

Homoeopathy can very well manage gestational diabetes and prevent it's complications.

 Some important medicines are Lycopodium, Phosphorus, phosphoric acid,plumbum met, Bovista,Tarentula, Terebinth, Uranium nitricum , Medorhinum, Nitric acid ,Silicea and Sulphur according to the mental and physical characteristics of the patient.

- If there is severe debility , Acetic acid, carcinocin and phosphoric acid, Insulin.

- With diarhoea _  Ars alb

- Melancholic nature, emaciation, thirst and restlessness with _ Helonias.

- Itching of skin and pimples with _ Syzygium.

- Gestational diabetes as a result of some mental depressions or unexpected conception_ Phos, Phos acid, Ignatia, Calc carb, Aur met, Ars.

- Important biochemics that can supplement during gestational diabetes are NS 6x, CP 6x, Fp 6x, Nm 6x and Silicea 6x.

- Important mother tinctures are Helonias Q, Syzygium Q, Cephalandra Q.

Dr.Dhanya Deepak. B.H.M.S, MSc(Psychology).

E-mail: [email protected]