Pregnant women who have never shown earlier signs of diabetes will sometimes develop high blood sugar levels. This leads to a health condition called gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes can happen to up to 10 percent of all pregnant women. Gestational diabetes risks are serious enough that any woman who becomes pregnant should make sure she is aware of the symptoms and has proper screening done by her doctor. Once a diagnosis is made, your doctor will recommend an appropriate diabetes treatment plan for you. The problem is that the symptoms of gestational diabetes are very similar to those of pregnancy itself. That’s why the condition is most often discovered as a result of a screening that takes place during a prenatal checkup, involving a simple blood test.
There are gestational diabetes risk factors that make a woman more inclined to develop the condition, and all pregnant women should be aware of them.
* If you have experienced gestational diabetes in an earlier pregnancy, you are more likely to acquire it in your current one.
* If you have family members with type 2 diabetes, you are more liable to get gestational diabetes. Of course, this risk factor isn’t something you can control, but you should certainly be aware of it.
* A pregnant woman who is over 35 years old is more prone to developing the condition.
* Obesity is another risk factor.
* There are elevated gestational diabetes risks for women who have earlier had a baby that weighed in the ninetieth percentile, meaning it was quite large.
* Ethnic background also has a role in gestational diabetes risks. If you are from one of the following races your chances of developing the condition are increased: Hispanic, African-American, Pacific Islander, Native American, African-Caribbean, or Indian.
* Women who smoke are at a higher risk for gestational diabetes. Indeed, they experience more than twice as many cases of the disease than anyone else.
* Another risk factor is polycystic ovarian syndrome, although the research isn’t definitive on this to date.
Combined, these risk factors represent 40 to 60 percent of women who develop gestational diabetes. The remainder don’t have any of the obvious risk factors. That’s why it’s essential for each and every pregnant woman to be tested for gestational diabetes during her pregnancy.
The symptoms of this form of diabetes include excessive thirst, extreme tiredness, increased frequency of urination, vomiting, nausea, yeast and bladder infections, and blurred vision. Since most of these symptoms are a normal part of pregnancy for many women, it’s critical that you be screened in order to detect the gestational diabetes risks for your particular condition.