You will be reassured after knowing that it is only temporary and goes away after you deliver your baby. You still need to manage this condition so as not to let it affect your or your baby’s health.
What Is Regular Diabetes?
Under regular diabetes, you may get either type 1 or type 2. When your immune system attacks the cells in your pancreas that are responsible for making insulin, it develops into type 1 diabetes. Your body cannot control blood sugar without insulin. It is usually diagnosed in childhood or early adulthood and lasts a lifetime.While type 2 diabetes is more common and develops later in life, it occurs when your body does not use insulin properly (insulin resistance) or does not make enough insulin. Your lifestyle, genetics, and weight issues cause it.
Regular diabetes is a chronic condition, which means it requires lifelong management, as it cannot be cured.
What Is Gestational Diabetes?
Gestational diabetes develops in the second or third trimester of pregnancy, when your hormones affect the way your body uses insulin.Your body focuses on producing all the necessary hormones to support your baby, but they can also make your cells resistant to insulin. Your blood sugar continues to rise if your pancreas does not produce enough insulin to counter the resistance. It leads to gestational diabetes, and it disappears after childbirth.
However, you have to follow strict measures to manage this condition during pregnancy.
How Symptoms Differ
Regular diabetes may lead you to experience frequent urination, extreme thirst, fatigue, and unexplained weight changes.On the other hand, gestational diabetes may not show obvious signs, making screening tests (like the glucose tolerance test during pregnancy) so crucial.
Many individuals may find out about gestational diabetes during their routine pregnancy checkups, and not because they were sick.
How They Are Diagnosed
Regular diabetes can be diagnosed through fasting blood sugar tests, HbA1c (a 3-month average of sugar levels), or an oral glucose tolerance test.Gestational diabetes requires diagnosis around 24–28 weeks of pregnancy, when your doctor tests how your body responds to sugar after drinking a glucose solution.
You may have normal sugar levels before pregnancy, but develop gestational diabetes later on as your pregnancy progresses.
Impact on the Baby
If you do not manage gestational diabetes, it may affect your baby as well in the following ways.- Your baby may grow too large, making delivery difficult.
- The risk of premature birth or the need for a C-section is higher.
- Your baby may have low blood sugar or breathing problems after birth.
Impact on You
The most critical aspect is that the risk of long-term complications, such as kidney disease, eye problems, and heart disease, is higher with regular diabetes.However, the risk from gestational diabetes is short-term complications during pregnancy and delivery. It may increase your chance of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
You may recover from gestational diabetes after delivery, but it may leave a lifetime risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
How Management Differs
Regular diabetes requires daily insulin injections in case of type 1. Your doctor may prescribe medications, lifestyle changes, and, in some cases, insulin for type 2 diabetes.You can manage gestational diabetes through diet, exercise, and checking your blood sugar levels at regular intervals. You may need insulin or medication, but only during pregnancy.
When it comes to managing gestational diabetes, the focus is to keep blood sugar under control to continue your pregnancy without complications and then lead to a safe delivery.
Does Gestational Diabetes Stay Forever?
Your blood sugar levels return to normal after delivery. The removal of the placenta means the hormones causing insulin resistance also leave your body.Your doctor may still suggest that you check your blood sugar 6–12 weeks after delivery and then once a year. It is essential to pay attention to your lifestyle to avoid the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later.
Gestational diabetes may sound similar to regular diabetes, but they cannot be more different from each other when it comes to their risks, diagnosis and management. Regular diabetes is lifelong and requires treatment to manage it better, but gestational diabetes is only temporary and disappears after delivery.
Diabetes requires proper medical attention and care, no matter its type. You can manage gestational diabetes with diet, exercise and advice from your doctor for a successful pregnancy.
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FAQs on How Gestational Diabetes Differs From Regular Diabetes
- Will gestational diabetes harm my baby?
Most people with gestational diabetes lead a healthy pregnancy and deliver a healthy baby. The risk of complications is higher when you ignore it. - If I get gestational diabetes once, will I always get it in future pregnancies?
Although the chances are higher, you can make lifestyle adjustments and maintain a healthy weight before your next pregnancy to reduce the risk. - Can gestational diabetes turn into regular diabetes after pregnancy?
Gestational diabetes goes away after delivery, but it leaves a higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes later on in life.