Pregnancy is a happy but also somewhat stressful time for a woman. There are lots of worries and anxieties that come along with it, and making sure that you look after the health of both yourself and the unborn baby is something that most women who are expecting do their best to do.
One of the problems which can arise during this time is gestational diabetes. During pregnancy, hormones can change quite a lot and cause all sorts of effects. One of these hormones, insulin is what is responsible for making sure that the body absorbs glucose through the cells.
When the body cannot produce enough of this hormone to do the job properly it is called gestational diabetes. There is a lot of research being done into diabetes – companies like Trials 4 Us run paid clinical trials to look into it further and come up with ways to treat it.
Gestational diabetes can be managed with the help of a doctor, but there are some women who are more at risk of developing it that others. Women who have diabetes in the family, women who are overweight and women who have previously had a large baby (over 4.5kg) are some of the people who are more at risk of developing this during their pregnancy.
Because of the fact that many women who develop this during their pregnancy have no obvious symptoms, there is a screening service at around 25 weeks where a doctor will check you for this illness – but if you are concerned you may have it, do speak to your doctor.