Gestational Diabetes Testing:
Confirms Early Symptoms
Of Diabetes

Gestational diabetes testing is now a routine screening procedure carried out around the 5th or 6th month on all women during regular prenatal testing. If the early symptoms of diabetes are found, the proper treatment protocol can be set up early enough to prevent undue complications in the next few months. Occasionally though, women at high risk (already a diagnosed diabetic or with a family history of diabetes) will be checked and monitored even earlier to ward off any upcoming complications.

As with every rule in life though there are always exceptions. Many doctors believe if you are in a low risk group, with some of the following traits, testing really would not be necessary without further cause.

• under 25 years of age

• normal weight already

• no family history of diabetes

• any previous pregnancies had no complications

All of these factors together negate the necessity of doing advance screenings for gestational diabetic testing.

Usually around the 24th to 28th week, a routine screening test is done at your doctor's office. There is no advance preparation needed. The doctor will ask you to drink a solution (glucose) which tastes like sugar water - wait one hour and a blood sample gets drawn. Any result less than 140 is considered normal. If the results are greater than 140 a second run of the test is done just for verification purposes.

The second part of this test is usually quite enjoyable for most people. The doctor will send you home with instructions for several days to "pig out" on an abundance of foods high in carbohydrates. After these few days, return to the doctor's office and the glucose syrup test will be run again. This time the blood samples will be drawn every hour for several hours to check if your blood sugar levels stabilize and within what amount of time. With this information, the doctor can offer a diagnosis.

So, unless you are in a high risk group for diabetes (screening then is done in the 2nd to 3rd month), gestational diabetes testing is an easy safety procedure normally done at a routine visit to verify the safety of you and your baby.

Return to "What Is Diabetes" from "Gestational Diabetes Testing".