Managing diabetes key to good pregnancy
By Nick Hytrek, Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, September 11, 2008
Dr. William Vereen talks about gestational diabetes in his office at Siouxland Women's Helath Care. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
Managing diabetes takes time and effort, a constant awareness of how your body is doing.
Add in a pregnancy and all the changes that causes in a body and the female diabetic can have an even harder time controlling her disease.
That's why it's important for women with diabetes to tell their physician immediately after finding out they're pregnant so that the doctor can begin monitoring the mother-to-be's health closely.
"Women who have diabetes and get pregnant, they're at a higher risk for all kinds of problems," said Dr. William Vereen of Siouxland Women's Health Care, 1000 Jackson St.
Among those risks: larger babies that are at higher risk for birth trauma, birth defects affecting the heart, miscarriage and still birth.
It's best for the female diabetic to plan her pregnancy, Vereen said, but that's obviously not always going to happen. His advice to women is to maintain control over the disease at all times so that once they're expecting, there will be fewer unexpected complications.
"If they're in poor control when they get pregnant, there's a higher risk for birth defects and miscarriages," Vereen said. "Most people who are diabetic know what they need to do."
In many cases, the disease can be easily controlled by the patient. She may just need to check her sugar levels more often or change her eating habits.
"Sometimes all it takes is your diet" to make sure everything goes OK, Vereen said.
Pregnant women also are subject to developing gestational diabetes, a form of diabetes that sets in with pregnancy and often disappears after giving birth. It happens when all the body's changes associated with pregnancy overwhelm the pancreas, which produces insulin.
"The stress and strain of pregnancy is too much for the pancreas to keep up with," Vereen said.
Vereen said his clinic screens all its patients at 28 weeks to check for diabetes. Many women aren't aware they've developed the disease because many of the same symptoms -- frequent thirst, hunger and urinating -- are common to pregnant women, diabetic or not.
No matter if the diabetes was present before pregnancy or during it, most women can reduce their chances of a high-risk pregnancy simply by following their doctors' orders and managing their disease properly.
"They can reasonably anticipate a good pregnancy, I can't say a normal pregnancy because it's not. They've got a problem," Vereen said.
A problem, however, that can be greatly reduced with a little extra vigilance.
Add in a pregnancy and all the changes that causes in a body and the female diabetic can have an even harder time controlling her disease.
That's why it's important for women with diabetes to tell their physician immediately after finding out they're pregnant so that the doctor can begin monitoring the mother-to-be's health closely.
"Women who have diabetes and get pregnant, they're at a higher risk for all kinds of problems," said Dr. William Vereen of Siouxland Women's Health Care, 1000 Jackson St.
Among those risks: larger babies that are at higher risk for birth trauma, birth defects affecting the heart, miscarriage and still birth.
It's best for the female diabetic to plan her pregnancy, Vereen said, but that's obviously not always going to happen. His advice to women is to maintain control over the disease at all times so that once they're expecting, there will be fewer unexpected complications.
"If they're in poor control when they get pregnant, there's a higher risk for birth defects and miscarriages," Vereen said. "Most people who are diabetic know what they need to do."
In many cases, the disease can be easily controlled by the patient. She may just need to check her sugar levels more often or change her eating habits.
"Sometimes all it takes is your diet" to make sure everything goes OK, Vereen said.
Pregnant women also are subject to developing gestational diabetes, a form of diabetes that sets in with pregnancy and often disappears after giving birth. It happens when all the body's changes associated with pregnancy overwhelm the pancreas, which produces insulin.
"The stress and strain of pregnancy is too much for the pancreas to keep up with," Vereen said.
Vereen said his clinic screens all its patients at 28 weeks to check for diabetes. Many women aren't aware they've developed the disease because many of the same symptoms -- frequent thirst, hunger and urinating -- are common to pregnant women, diabetic or not.
No matter if the diabetes was present before pregnancy or during it, most women can reduce their chances of a high-risk pregnancy simply by following their doctors' orders and managing their disease properly.
"They can reasonably anticipate a good pregnancy, I can't say a normal pregnancy because it's not. They've got a problem," Vereen said.
A problem, however, that can be greatly reduced with a little extra vigilance.
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 1 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
I had it wrote on Sep 11, 2008 12:57 PM: