Remember that the information presented here is not intended to replace the care of your own doctor. Before making any changes in the management of
your own illness, you should consult your physician or other qualified medical professionals.
Question
I was recently diagnosed with
pre-diabetes
and would like to know what the effects are on pregnancy. Should I
considered getting pregnant sooner rather than later to avoid the complications
associated with diabetes?
Answers
I am assuming that your doctor did a glucose challenge test that showed
some degree of
insulin resistance,
but not overt diabetes. Rather than giving a diagnosis of
prediabetes, I think it is better to say that you are at increased risk of
developing diabetes in the future. The follow-up would be
to determine ways to reduce that risk (diet, exercise, etc.).
The impact of pregnancy is difficult to determine. Since you do not have
hyperglycemia,
the risk of congenital abnormalities (birth defects) is the same as for
anyone else. However, you may be at risk for developing
gestational diabetes
which tends to appear later in pregnancy after embryo development. The
main consequence to the fetus is excessive growth. This can be controlled
with diet, oral hypoglycemic agents, and/or insulin. All pregnant women
are screened for gestational diabetes between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy.
Timing of pregnancy is dependent on how well your glucose is controlled.
If there is a significant risk factor that your doctor is concerned about,
then it would be wise to address that prior to getting pregnant.
