Diabetes Basics

Diabetes type 2
Getting the News: Now What?
Take a deep breath.
Preparing your mind for your journey with diabetes is one of the best first steps to take.
Being told you have diabetes, or that there is a problem with your blood sugar level can cause quite a bit of stress — and rightly so.
Diabetes is scary.
Denial, Guilt, Anger
You may have read headlines about what can go wrong or witnessed firsthand the negative effects of uncontrolled diabetes.
Maybe you have been in denial that anything is wrong. That's OK. Denial protects and buffers you from difficult or shocking information.
Do you feel guilty? Like you caused diabetes?
If so, your first assignment is to stop the blame game and get on your own side.
Anger, too, is a common reaction and is often the first sign that you acknowledge that something is wrong. It is never too late to jumpstart your diabetes self-management program.
The key is to be gentle with yourself because you are your best resource for managing your diabetes.
Diabetes is never convenient, but with some effort and help from the experts, it is manageable. It is important that you acknowledge this. How you perceive this diagnosis will greatly effect how successfully your diabetes is managed.
Learn to Laugh
As strange as it sounds, learning to laugh can help.
Your thoughts and feelings have an enormous impact on your body. Positive thoughts do have positive physical effects.
Humor is a useful tool in helping manage diabetes by adding perspective—not that there is anything funny about having diabetes. But a little humor may help you see from a different perspective. Humor can help you build the confidence to know that you can deal with diabetes. Plus, laughing lowers glucose levels!
Focus on Positives
Let's focus on something positive about your diabetes diagnosis. Feel free to repeat the following to yourself:
• "I can follow my dreams and passions."
• "Diabetes stinks, but I can manage it."
• "I am not alone. Millions of people are dealing with diabetes and thousands of health care professionals are fighting to make a difference in my life and the lives of others."
• "The feelings I have about diabetes—be it anger, depression, fear, eagerness to learn, or relief at finding out—are typical. I have the strength to do something about my diabetes."
You Are More Than Diabetes
Diabetes does not define you; it's just a small part of your complex being. When it comes to diabetes, your treatment plan starts with being mentally prepared.


What is Gestational Diabetes?
Pregnant women who have never had diabetes before but who have high blood sugar (glucose) levels during pregnancy are said to have gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of all pregnant women - about 135,000 cases of gestational diabetes in the United States each year.
We don't know what causes gestational diabetes, but we have some clues. The placenta supports the baby as it grows. Hormones from the placenta help the baby develop. But these hormones also block the action of the mother's insulin in her body. This problem is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance makes it hard for the mother's body to use insulin. She may need up to three times as much insulin.
Gestational diabetes starts when your body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs for pregnancy. Without enough insulin, glucose cannot leave the blood and be changed to energy. Glucose builds up in the blood to high levels. This is called hyperglycemia.
How gestational diabetes can affect your baby
Gestational diabetes affects the mother in late pregnancy, after the baby's body has been formed, but while the baby is busy growing. Because of this, gestational diabetes does not cause the kinds of birth defects sometimes seen in babies whose mothers had diabetes before pregnancy.
However, untreated or poorly controlled gestational diabetes can hurt your baby. When you have gestational diabetes, your pancreas works overtime to produce insulin, but the insulin does not lower your blood glucose levels. Although insulin does not cross the placenta, glucose and other nutrients do. So extra blood glucose goes through the placenta, giving the baby high blood glucose levels. This causes the baby's pancreas to make extra insulin to get rid of the blood glucose. Since the baby is getting more energy than it needs to grow and develop, the extra energy is stored as fat.
This can lead to macrosomia, or a "fat" baby. Babies with macrosomia face health problems of their own, including damage to their shoulders during birth. Because of the extra insulin made by the baby's pancreas, newborns may have very low blood glucose levels at birth and are also at higher risk for breathing problems. Babies with excess insulin become children who are at risk for obesity and adults who are at risk for type 2 diabetes.