Cloudnine expert, Dr. Poornima gives us an absolute confirmation on how Gestationbal Diabetes is a fast disappering issue, after pregnancy. To know more, visit www.cloudninecare.com. #C9HealthTalk #CloudnineHospitals

Cloudnine expert, Dr. Poornima tells us about the two medications used to treat Gestational Diabetes. To know more, visit www.cloudninecare.com. #C9HealthTalk #CloudnineHospitals

"This is the commonest question asked by all the patients, the answer is no, gestational diabetes is the diabetes appearing the first time in pregnancy and most of them will disappear after pregnancy. It disappears so fast that the day after delivery their sugars crash back to normal. After the delivery what we do is we allow the patients to have a normal diet and we check their sugars 6 weeks after delivery by doing the oral glucose challenge test and if the oral glucose challenge test is abnormal that is the value is more than 140 mg per decilitre then we tell them that they remain diabetes, but the chances of gestational diabetes turning not diabetes immediately after delivery, the chances are very low, having said this there are occasional where the gestational diabetes who have been out in high dose of insulin or oral hypoglycaemic agents they have the chance to remain diabetic even after delivery but their requirement of insulin or oral hypoglycaemic agents will come down. For patients who have not been found to be diabetic about 6 weeks after delivery, however we advise that they may turn diabetic later in their life, maybe about 5 to 10 years later. So to prevent that do lifestyle modification, as in follow the diet. Go for regular exercises, watch their weight and that way they can avoid becoming diabetic for the rest of their life or they can postpone the onset of diabetes or if they get diabetes atleast they can avoid taking medications like insulin oral hypoglycaemic agents and if at all they require insulin or oral hypoglycaemic agents the dose would be very small"

"The medications are given for gestational diabetes are two, one is insulin and the other is oral hypoglycaemic agents that is oral medications. Before insulin was the and stay of treatment for gestational diabetes, there was no other options apart from exercise and diet, we used to give insulin. But now plenty of studies have been conducted and they have proved that there are about 2 to 3 oral hypoglycaemic agents that are used for gestational diabetes. Infact this is a welcome studies for the patient because they can avoid taking injections everyday and the different medications that are available for treating gestational diabetes metformin that is commonly used and the other or glipizide"

""Sugars during pregnancy can be lowered naturally that is without even medications, are by exercise or diabetic diet. Exercise consist of walking, the main thing is walking about 2 times a day, one in the morning, and one after dinner just before you sleep and walking and the speed of walking depends on the comfort level of the patients. Some patients who don’t have too much of pain, they usually manage some amount of brisk walking, whereas patients who gain lot of weight they would usually like to have a light stroll. There are some exercises called as isometric exercises, wherein 1 kg weight is grasped on both the hands, that is dumbbells and if dumbbells are not available what she could do is fill the 1 litre water bottle and fill water in that and keep water in each hand and start flexing her upper limb at the elbow up and down, about 3 to 4 sets in a day and each set will be stopped when the patient has got shortness of breath and she feels tired and these type of exercises will bring the sugar down, the second type of way how she can lower her sugars is the diabetic diet. In the diabetic diet the whole meal has to be divided into 6 portions, that is 3 major meals, that is breakfast lunch and dinner and snacks in between that and may be a midnight snack because gestational diabetes patient generally feel a little more hungry than the rest of the population mainly because they are exercising and following some kind of a diet. Direct sugars like sugars and bakery items and pastries, cakes and ice-cream, milkshakes, in fruits, fruits like pineapple, chikoo, big banana will have to be avoided, brown bread has to be taken, rice has to be avoided, wheat and ragi to be encouraged, raw vegetables and ofcourse they can have light non-vegetarian food"

"Blood sugar during pregnancy is controlled in 3 ways, one is exercise diet and third is meditation. Usually diet and exercise are the first tried, if the blood sugars do not come under control with these two, then only medications are started. When we come to exercises exercise, as in she needs to go for half an hour to 45 minutes of walking everyday and the speed of the walk it depends on the comfort of the patient and there is something known as isometric exercise . Isometric exercises are done in the sitting posture at home. Here one kg weight are grasped in both the hands and there is flexion of the arm at the elbow joint, flexion and extension are continuous movements about 3 to 4 sets are done each set is topped when the patient is tired and when she has some amount of shortness of breath. These are isometric exercise and any other form of exercise can be performed like yoga she can go for swimming and some amount of light dancing can be done. Coming to diet, diet she has to follow a diabetic diet, she has to take regular frequent meals, she has to keep up her time an these meals are divided into 6 portions, one is breakfast lunch and dinner, and in between breakfast and lunch, and in between lunch and dinner and late midnight snack, here the carbohydrate should constitute about 50 to 55% and proteins about 20 to 25% and fat about 15% and in between snacks should consist about whole-wheat bread and some biscuits devoid of sugar and direct sweets to be avoided and pastries, cakes, chocolates, ice creams to be avoided and sugar has to be brought down, rice content to be brought down, and she needs to eat more of wheat and ragi and after every meal if she can do some amount of light walking, that would very very helpful and the last would be medications. Medications would be oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin. Insulin is given for all diabetic patients. But now oral hypoglycaemic agents like metformin and glipizide are used and the doses of these are adjusted according to the sugar of the patient"