To understand and look for the symptoms of gestational diabetes first we must understand what diabetes is and how gestational diabetes is caused. Diabetes is a group of diseases called diabetes mellitus that affects how the body takes in and uses blood glucose (blood sugar). Glucose is necessary for health and optimum body function because it is the main source of energy the cells, muscles, and tissues use and need. If you have diabetes there is too much glucose in the blood which means the body is not getting the proper energy it needs to function. This energy is regulated by insulin the hormone produced in the pancreas (gland behind the stomach). Without proper diagnosis and treatment all forms of diabetes can be harmful.
Gestational diabetes occurs in pregnancy where the woman is producing too much vasopressin (hormone that affects the normal functioning of the kidneys and that is to produce and regulate urine) in the placenta thereby breaking down the antidiuretic hormone ADH resulting in gestational diabetes. This disease can develop in women who previously did not have diabetes. Two to seven out of every one hundred women will get gestational diabetes. Usually this form of diabetes will go away in most women after the baby is born however, in some women treatment is necessary for the mother as well as the baby.
It is generally in the second half of a woman’s pregnancy that gestational diabetes will surface. The symptoms may include some common symptoms all pregnant women have but they may increase dramatically as the disease progresses. Here are the symptoms with the common symptoms listed first and the more severe after. Like all forms of diabetes the person will suffer increased thirst. This is due to the hypothalamus in the brain telling the neurons that the person is always thirsty. Along with frequent thirst comes frequent urination. The woman spends a lot of time in the bathroom both day and night during her pregnancy. Fatigue is the result of the cells, muscles, and tissues of the body not receiving the energy they need to function. These three symptoms are common to pregnant women and most are not alarmed with these However, when increased appetite followed by dramatic weight loss, nausea, vomiting (frequent), and infections of the bladder, vagina, and skin along with blurred vision are included then there is good cause to believe the person has gestational diabetes.
Medical treatment is generally not necessary and if the woman changes her diet and exercises regularly after birth the diabetes will mostl likely go away. In extreme cases the woman will need insulin injections and monitoring.