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What To Expect During My Glucose Test By Faithe Thomas

Gestational diabetes (diabetes in pregnant women) occurs when you have a high content of sugar in your blood. It is common practice for women to be tested for this condition at about 24-28 weeks into their pregnancies. You may be tested earlier if your routine urine samples contain high amounts of sugar. A woman who has already been diagnosed with diabetes before becoming pregnant will not have to take this test

The procedure is fairly simple

You will be given a sugar solution that will contain 50 grams of glucose. It will taste a lot like sweet soda. The nice thing is that it comes in cola, orange or lime flavors. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you have to drink it all within five minutes. Lots of places will keep some chilled, and even let you put it on ice if you need to, just to help you be able to drink it within your allotted time of five minutes. Be prepared for a really sweet drink. Also be prepared with something to do - you will then need to wait an hour before they test your blood.

Taking a blood sample

After your hour is up, either your doctor or a lab technician will draw some blood from you. This test is to see how fast your body processes sugar. You will then need to wait a few days for the results to come back. After the testing is over, you may experience a headache or a rush/jittery feeling - almost like eating too many candy bars. Be sure not to eat any more sugar for a while!

Some women may get nauseous

Some pregnant women will get nauseated after drinking the solution. A suggestion would be to eat something a few hours before the test. Keep in mind that if you get sick and throw up after you drink the solution, you will have to reschedule to come back again. Generally, most women get through the test the first time.

If the results of this test come back with an abnormal reading, it does not always mean that you have gestational diabetes. As a matter of fact, most women who have an abnormal reading from this test don’t end up with gestational diabetes at all. However, if you do have an abnormal reading of 13-140 milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood plasma or higher, you will need to go on the next phase of the test called glucose tolerance test, or GTT. This test will be a fasting test. You will need to drink another glucose solution and be tested every hour for three hours. In this case, bring something really entertaining!

If those results come back abnormal, then you and your doctor will decide where to go from there. Gestational diabetes will not harm you or your baby if it is regularly monitored and managed by your doctor.

(No medical advice should be construed from this article. Please make your own decisions.)

Articles source : www.womanhealthissues.com

Mrs. Kirk Thomas is a mom and loves it! She has additional resources available on her websites http://www.everythinghomeschool.info, http://www.diaper-coupon.com and http://www.breastfeedingsource.info