Symptoms Of Gestational Diabetes
Affecting around 3-10% of the pregnancies, gestational diabetes is a condition in which women without previously diagnosed diabetes start to exhibit high blood glucose levels, markedly around the third trimester of pregnancy.
Symptomatically, gestational diabetes has very few symptoms and it is most commonly diagnosed during routine antenatal screenings. It must also be known that women who are suffering from gestational diabetes are generally diagnosed with the help of the risk factors that they are presenting.
Most of the women with gestational diabetes often present no symptoms at all. In the early stages of the disease, with the help of symptoms, they can never be diagnosed because there is a presentation of almost none of the symptoms. In the later stages of disease, the symptoms start appearing as increased thirst and urination.
This is because due to high blood sugar levels, the sugar acts like a sponge to pull out water from the tissues to excrete it. This increases the frequency of urination and the body sends signals to the brain to increase the blood volume, which does so by sending a stimulus to drink more water.
Another symptom that can be very prominent in gestational diabetes is the stimulus of extreme hunger felt by a woman. This is because glucose is unable to get absorbed by the muscle cells as a result of which the body suffers from a deficit of energy. This deficit is translated in the form of extreme hunger and fatigue. Also, despite eating more, the body starts to lose lots of weight because it starts to break down protein and fats in order to cover up the deficit for energy. Nausea may also be a vague symptom but many women tend to mix it up with morning sickness and hence ignore it.
Associated with gestational diabetes is also irritability. This is also because the brain is not receiving adequate amounts of energy and as a result, the woman starts to get irritated. Sometimes, in later or more advanced stages of gestational diabetes, the patient starts to see blurring in her vision. This also signifies that there is an increase in the blood volume, which is causing swelling of the lenses of the eyes.
Apart from these, sometimes, the body sugar levels are so low that a woman may notice a hypoglycemic (low sugar) episode. Here, the patient might notice sweating, nervousness, trembling, weakness, palpitation, and trouble in speaking. In this case, a woman is required to urgently have a glass of juice or one or two sweets.
Apart from all these symptoms, gestational diabetes may be present with almost no symptoms. The diagnosis is mainly clinical based on the presence of risk factors and the blood sugar levels after an oral glucose tolerance test. It is advised to give anti-diabetic medications as soon as gestational diabetes is diagnosed, in order to save the mother and the baby from any further complications.
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