Failed 1 hour Glucose Tolerance Test page 2

[gottaluvalab]

Maba - Dr. Eades says if you normally eat low carb, you will probably fail a GTT. He recommends eating higher carbs for a few days before the test, since our bodies need some time to produce the enzymes to handle them.

I've read the above in a couple different sources.

You might want to bring a food log to your doctor and let him or her know you generally do not eat many carbohydrates and you feel this may effect a GTT.

[LessofMimi]

Those tests make no sense to me. They test your ability to handle sugar intake - so what if you don't eat sugar!?
Ask for a fasting insulin test, maybe an A1C. Definitely stick to Primal. Do not do the sugar-drink. I have heard they will sometimes allow a person to do a meal test if the grams of carbs are the same.
Ask about your options. Primal is so healthy. Yuck on that darn GTT. So outdated. Just avoid the glucose and you should be fine.

[scubasam]

The GTT makes sense for pregnant women because a woman's ability to metabolize any sort of carbohydrate can become compromised during pregnancy and that could affect the baby and the mom and cause issues down the line. I ate a very low carb diet during my pregnancies, yet I still needed a LOT of insulin to keep my fasting levels under control during my 2nd and 3rd pregnancies.

It had nothing to do with what I ate. Even today, I still have high fasting levels in the mornings and I am pretty primal overall. Having an A1C will help the docs know what the OP's glucose levels have been doing over the past 3 months, but in pregnancy, are not a good indicator what the body will do for the next three months because all women become more insulin resistant as the pregnancy goes on. GD typically only sets in from 26-28 weeks of pregnancy as well, so these tests are very important IMO. Eating an equivalent amount of carbs over drinking the sugar is fine too though.

[soror]

I agree w/ the previous posters if you are already eating lc then it will jack w/ your results. Personally, I don't do the tests I have no indicators and keep a lc diet that is already compatible w/ a GD diet anyway. This was fine w/ both my OB and MW both of my last 2 pregnancies.

[maba]

Thank you all for the valuable information and the support. I haven't been very low carb but I imagine I eat less carbs than the general population that this test is designed for. Unfortunately, there's no other alternative for the disgusting glucola drink. I asked around for the 1 hour test and looks like they all do only the sugar solution and some may do jelly beans. I asked my midwife about not doing the 3-hour test and sticking to a low-carb/diabetic diet but he said it's not as simple as that as there would be other things that need to be monitored if I truly had GD and unfortunately this is the only standardized screening test available. More than the test and the result, I'm worried about subjecting my baby to this horrible drink and 100g of sugar in one go.

I've scheduled the test for tomorrow and so far today, I've had primal meals. As some of you mentioned, do I need to eat carbs tonight to prepare my body for more carbs tomorrow or can I eat a primal meal?

[Katie82]

I would eat carbs tonight for sure but don't overdo it. Maybe a sweet potato with dinner and after dinner a little bit of a favorite sweet dessert This will prime your body for releasing enough insulin to handle a sugar binge (like the glucose solution). It sucks that you have to do it again because drinking that stuff is not fun and waiting 3 hrs to drink water is the worst part but you'll get through it. Even if your blood sugar does go high it won't hurt your baby, it's only when the bs is routinely high for most of the pregnancy that a baby can develop problems from it and that is rare so don't worry! Good luck tomorrow!

[soror]

As I said I was lucky to have practitioners that agreed w/ me that routine gd testing was not useful- however if I somehow was in a position that I had to do testing I would definitely do some carbo loading- not crazy but a bit as Katie said. Hopefully, you will sail through it fairly effortlessly.

[maba]

I carbed up last night and went for my test this morning. God, that drink made me nauseous and light-headed. I was told that the test would be stopped if I threw up and I would have to go back again and do the test all over again. Thankfully, I didn't throw up. But I had to take the rest of the day off from work as I was felling really light-headed and didn't want to drive 20 miles to work. Came home and had a fatty, protein-rich meal. I hope the test results are negative.

[maba]

My midwife just called, he got the results and he said the numbers are perfect (62, 149, 149, 99). Woohoo! I'm so relieved. Thank you all so much for your advice on this thread.