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Q: Gestational Diabetes Testing & BP Symptoms
Dr. Phelps, I have suffered from bipolor disorder for over ten years
and am now 21 and expecting my first baby in February. Things have been very
tense at home and i am, in fact, sepirated from my boyfriend as we try to work
though some things related to my PBD and his depression. I've had an eppisode
recently and now my doctor says he wants to give me a glucose test to screen
for Gestational Diabites. I believe it's simply routine at this public hospital
because of the large numbers of young mothers and high risk patients even
though it only developes in 3 percent of all pregnancies. The doctors i've seen
have said nothing to suggest that i may have tis problem except that my baby
seems a bit large. I am afraid that the large dose of sugar may trigger annoter
eppisode, something that could be quite dangerouse right now. Would you
reccomend i refuse the test?
Dear Lauren --
That's an interesting thought, the idea that a big bunch of sugar could trigger
symptoms. We certainly have become much more aware of blood glucose lately, but
more because several medications we use for bipolar disorder can cause
increased blood sugar levels. It's not routine to worry about big doses of
sugar triggering symptoms. For example, we routinely warn not to use alcohol,
but I haven't heard people warning about milk shakes! The sugar dose you'd get
from this test is rather like the milk shake. So unless you've seen obvious
symptoms triggered by milk shakes and the like, in the past, it would seem that
this test does not pose much risk.
However, everyone is different. You may have
figured out something here, at least in your case. You could ask the doctor if
there's any other way to look for gestational diabetes, and explain your
concern. I would imagine everybody's "concern level" is pretty high
right now for many different reasons, including how to treat your bipolar
disorder during this pregnancy and afterward. So it might feel like people are
having a hard time responding to your concern about the sugar dose one time for
this test. Good luck to you.
Dr. Phelps
Published December, 2003
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