• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

A woman's body experiences several changes over the duration of pregnancy, particularly if she has diabetes and must balance controlling her blood sugar levels for taking care of her growing unborn child. Therefore, it is crucial that you monitor your blood glucose levels throughout this time. Maintaining a particular diet and modifying insulin dosages are ongoing responsibilities that can be mentally and physically exhausting.

In fact, it can be rather difficult to juggle all the requirements of managing diabetes along with the normal discomforts or adjustments that come with being pregnant. So here Dr. Anuradha Kapur, who is a Senior Director and Head of Unit (Institute of Obs & Gynae), Obstetrics and Gynecology, Robotic Surgery at Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital in Saket, exclusively told Jagran English about the challenges for individuals with diabetes during pregnancy.

Do you know that it is very important that you monitor your blood glucose levels throughout pregnancy? (Image Credit: Canva)

Dr. Anuradha said, "There are many challenges in managing diabetes during pregnancy."

The first challenge is that there are a lot of different guidelines for when to start screening; some say that you should start screening at 24 weeks, but in India, because this is so prevalent that we say that you should start screening at the first antenatal visit, then which protocol to follow? Either it could be that blood sugar is fasting BP, or it could be that what we say is 75 grams of glucose and then one hour later should be less than 140. So, there are different guidelines and different protocols. That's why that is one big challenge.

Also Read: 5 Amazing Benefits Of Eating Eggs In Breakfast

The second big challenge is physician awareness that they should know that they have to screen at the first antenatal visit in India because diabetes in India is very, very common.

The third challenge is patient awareness; the patient should know that she has to get her sugar checked. And if she's diabetic, she should report as early as a preconception test. For the doctor to control her blood sugar's before she starts planning a pregnancy.

A woman's body experiences several changes over the duration of pregnancy, particularly if she has diabetes. (Image Credit: Canva)

Dr. Anuradha further said, "Then self-monitoring is very important. So patients have to have a lot of discipline and self-monitoring and be in diet control and regular exercise for diabetes and pregnancy to be managed optimally. Diabetes during pregnancy can cause a lot of issues. First of all, it can increase your chances of miscarriage; it can increase your chances of pre-term birth, preeclampsia, and hypertension in pregnancy; it can also cause macrosomic babies."

Also Read: 5 Health Benefits Of Drinking Carrot And Beetroot Juice

Further, she added that "severe infection rates can increase; they can be sudden stillbirths, which means that suddenly, you will find that the heartbeat is no longer heard. It can also increase the chances of congenital anomalies if the blood sugars are not controlled when the patient is planning it in the first few weeks of pregnancy. The other problem is that diabetes and pregnancy can also mean that the patient is going to develop diabetes 5 to 10 years later, and the offspring of a patient who has the GDM will have increased chances of developing diabetes and obesity during childhood."

And at last she said, "So it is very important to control diabetes during pregnancy, and that can be optimally done. If we are aware of the guidelines and the protocols, and they screen them at the first antenatal visit, and patients are also aware of the importance of managing diabetes and pregnancy, controlling the blood sugars, and lifestyle management from the beginning of pregnancy."