3 hour glucose test stats?

"Zucca4" wrote in message
...
How many people percentage wise would you say fail the
one hour screening test
but go on to pass the 3 hour fasting test?

Just found out my blood sugar was 179, cutoff was 140, and that I have
to take
the three hour after my vacation next week.

Do you think I should follow a strict diabetic diet whilst on holiday?

Hi Lisa,

I had this same question when I flunked the 1 hour. Babycenter says
only about 15% of women who have to take the 3 hour test actually have
GD
(http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pre...alth/1483.html).
I found another reference that said 8% but can't find the link now;
either way it's pretty low. I found info by googling: gestational
diabetes glucose tolerance. Almost every source says about 2 - 5% of
pregnant women develop GD so your odds are probably good.

That said, I did eliminate sugar entirely (including honey and
high-sugar fruits) and watch my white carbs very closely until I got the
results. I have a mega sweet tooth and was concerned that if I did have
GD I'd been forcing the baby to overproduce insulin without knowing it,
so figured the sooner I got on track if I did have GD, the better for
her.

Also, did you fast before the 1 hour test? My docs said I didn't need
to, and I didn't. I didn't have sugar that day but I did have bread and
other carbs, so there would've been sugar from those. The phlebotomist
who did the 3 hour with me said she suspects that one of the reasons so
many people flunk the 1 hour test is because they aren't told to fast
first.

Jen

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message

If this is purely
gestational diabetes and your glucose metabolism is
normal when not pregnant, research doesn't show much
effect from diet or insulin treatment, which suggests
that it doesn't matter all that much what you eat now

Ericka, font of all knowlege :-), can you tell me where you got this
particular bit of info from? I'd love to have a look at it. My 3 hour
GTT came back fine, but one of my OB's suggested that since I failed
the1 hour I should still be careful with my carb/simple sugar intake.
If diet truly doesn't have an impact on this *particular* issue if I
process sugar normally when not pregnant, that may be something I want
to know about when deciding whether to reach for that Oreo.

Jen

Zucca4 wrote:

How many people percentage wise would you say fail the one hour screening test
but go on to pass the 3 hour fasting test?

Just found out my blood sugar was 179, cutoff was 140, and that I have to take
the three hour after my vacation next week.

Do you think I should follow a strict diabetic diet whilst on holiday?


I don't know the exact number who fail the one hour
but pass the 3 hour, but the one hour *is* a screening test,
which means that it usually identifies quite a few people
as being at higher risk who actually don't have the problem.
On the other hand, it's not like you just missed the cutoff,
which would increase the risk that you'd fail the 3 hour.

As far as whether you should immediately start
following the diet, doing so probably won't affect the
results of your 3 hour test (though your diet in the
few days prior to the test can). So the question is
whether you ought to start following the diet to benefit
your baby. Research doesn't give a clear answer to
this. If you are an undiagnosed true diabetic, then
diet management is important. If this is purely
gestational diabetes and your glucose metabolism is
normal when not pregnant, research doesn't show much
effect from diet or insulin treatment, which suggests
that it doesn't matter all that much what you eat now
(and begs the question of why all the testing anyway).
But some people think it's important for the baby anyway,
so it's your judgement call based on what you believe.

Best wishes,
Ericka

Jennifer Rasmussen wrote:


Also, did you fast before the 1 hour test? My docs said I didn't need
to, and I didn't. I didn't have sugar that day but I did have bread and
other carbs, so there would've been sugar from those. The phlebotomist
who did the 3 hour with me said she suspects that one of the reasons so
many people flunk the 1 hour test is because they aren't told to fast
first.

Jen

This was my experience too, I think. I "failed" the 1-hour test that I
took immediately after a breakfast of eggs, toast, and milk. My number
was something like 155. My friend who is diabetic calculated that I
probably had a pretty carb/sugar heavy meal going into the test and it
may have been enough to squew the result. I look the 3-hour test
Saturday AM and have not heard back. I've not had time yet this week to
call the doctor's office myself, but since they were so prompt in
calling with the 1-hour results, I figure they'd have called by now with
the 3-hours results had they been anything to worry about.

Good luck!
Valerie

Jennifer Rasmussen wrote:

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message


If this is purely
gestational diabetes and your glucose metabolism is
normal when not pregnant, research doesn't show much
effect from diet or insulin treatment, which suggests
that it doesn't matter all that much what you eat now


Ericka, font of all knowlege :-), can you tell me where you got this
particular bit of info from? I'd love to have a look at it. My 3 hour
GTT came back fine, but one of my OB's suggested that since I failed
the1 hour I should still be careful with my carb/simple sugar intake.
If diet truly doesn't have an impact on this *particular* issue if I
process sugar normally when not pregnant, that may be something I want
to know about when deciding whether to reach for that Oreo.


It's mostly from looking at a bunch of studies, though
Henci Goer has a good chapter in _Obstetric Myths vs. Research
Realities_. Also, in Enkins et al.'s _Guide to Effective
Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth_ they say that treatment
with diet has not been shown to be effective and treatment
with insulin even less so (they actually state that in
some areas of medicine, treating with insulin based on
such flimsy evidence would be considered unethical).

Here's one study that'll get you started, and then you
can start clicking on "related studies" to find mo

http://tinyurl.com/knmq
Santini DL and Ales KL, 1990

They looked at 533 women who were not screened for GD and
774 women who were screened (with the assumption that those
who were screened, and presumeably treated, would have lower
rates of complications). They found that there were no
significant differences in the percentages of babies over 4000g,
babies over 4500g, or in large-for-gestational age babies
as calculated by one of two methods. Using the other method
for calculating LGA babies, the *screened* group had a
significantly higher percentage of LGA babies. There were
also no significant differences in perinatal mortality,
perinatal mortality adjusted for nonviable infants, birth
injuries, hypoglycemia, hypocalcemia, hyperbilirubinemia,
polycythemia, respiratory complications, or intracerebral
hemorrhage. On the other hand, primary c-sections were
higher in the screened group, as were more prenatal visits,
more tests, and more prenatal hospitalizations.

There are a few studies that show improved outcomes, but
in most cases, if you dig a little further you find that
they didn't control for maternal weight (which may well be
more significant than GD status) or that the study was
poorly designed or whatever.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
...

a whole lot of useful stuff, including references to studies I had
asked about

THANK YOU ERICKA, once again, for so often taking the time to inform and
enlighten like this. You're a woman who makes a difference.

Jen

I failed my 1 hour test and passed my 3 hr with flying colors! Turns out
that taking Terbutaline skews the results of the first one. So anyone out
there that's taking it (I was on pre-term labor bed rest) should be aware of
that...
"Zucca4" wrote in message
...
How many people percentage wise would you say fail the one hour screening
test
but go on to pass the 3 hour fasting test?

Just found out my blood sugar was 179, cutoff was 140, and that I have to
take
the three hour after my vacation next week.

Do you think I should follow a strict diabetic diet whilst on holiday?

Thanks,
Lisa