If you have gestational diabetes, you are able to find women who face the same problem willing to give you emotional and practical support.
Knowing that you have gestational diabetes gives you additional stress during your pregnancy. Most women discover that those women who have had gestational diabetes give the best support by giving practical advice and comfort.
Eleven years ago, Julie C. from Colorado had gestational diabetes during her first pregnancy. During the next two pregnancies she had the same condition and after the birth of her third child, she had type 2 diabetes. Julie, who is pregnant with her fourth baby, says that it is necessary to know about the experiences of others as it helps to know you are not alone with this problem.
Indiana’s Tiffany Silitonga, who is now pregnant with her second baby, had gestational diabetes during her previous pregnancy. She goes online to meet women who delivered healthy babies despite suffering from gestational diabetes. She finds comfort from being told that the babies of these women were healthy at birth.
Practical Advice from Gestational Diabetes Support
According to Julie, your healthcare team can provide you with only general guideline on managing your gestational diabetes but the women from the forums she went to could give more specific information that certainly helps. From such a forum she gets practical tips such as knowing the yogurt which has the lowest carbohydrate content. Such practical everyday advice is useful and this is where even your doctor has not the time or the knowledge to go into, she said.
Using an insulin pump during gestational diabetes is unusual but that was what Julie did during her third pregnancy. She claims she got the idea from an online source. She was even given advice on how she could get insurance coverage for her pump; how forms filled by her doctors made the insurance company accept her claim.
Perspective from Gestational Diabetes Support
Perspective is what you get when you communicate with other women for gestational diabetes support. You get to know when you should get emotional about it. There are diabetes educators who can make you frightened even though your blood glucose level has been high only once. The women on gestational diabetes support will let you know when you ought to freak out and when to stay cool.
Similar ideas on perspective were given by Silitonga. She knows how frightened she is when the chances of getting gestational diabetes are high. She also expects doctors to inform of the worst that can happen. So, it is comforting to hear from women who had also been told that but the worst did not occur to them.
Although such exchange of information from other women can be comforting, it must always be remembered that no matter how good the advice can be ot cannot overrule your own doctor’s advice and knowledge. Should there be any doubt concerning what is given through the internet, always seek a diabetes educator’s or a doctor’s views on the matter.
Caring for Women with Gestational Diabetes – Video Guide
Emotional Support from Gestational Diabetes Support
Many women with gestational diabetes can have their blood glucose under control with just exercise and diet. So, Silitonga was unhappy to be told that insulin injections would be necessary. She was frightened and believed that she had failed to control her blood glucose.
Fortunately for her, the support group on the internet got her to understand that insulin has its importance in the control of blood glucose, that its use did not mean that she had not done her part, and her fears about the pain from the injection were removed.
Online Options for Gestational Diabetes Support
Many online sites are available. So, just hunt around for a site which suits your purpose.
- Women suffering from gestational diabetes can go to a message board which the ADA (American Diabetes Association) puts up for them.
- MySpace and Facebook are two social networking sites which have many gestational diabetes groups for you to join in order to post questions and receive comments.
- There is a group which gives attention to gestational diabetes at Everyday Health.
Should there be no group which impresses you sufficiently, you can even start one of your own. You can also put your question on a health or parenting site of your choice. Members or visitors to the site can put in their comments.
Online vs. Live for Gestational Diabetes Support
Live groups cannot be found easily. Silitonga and Julie were unable to locate any live support group in their respective areas. Fortunately, online support were easily found.
- You can benefit from the experiences of other women when you are in contact with an online group.
Silitonga whose chances of gestational diabetes is much greater than most in all her pregnancies wonder whether a local live group would have sufficient experiences and knowledge to understand her situation or offer good enough advice. She may find herself the only expecting mother to need insulin.
- Online may not be good enough.
According to Julie, she has been able to get good support from the forums online. However, she feels that other women may not agree with her. The emotional factor is lacking when there is no live contact which is more reassuring.
When you get gestational diabetes, there are always people who can help with information and advice. You will certainly feel better if you can talk to someone about your fears. Furthermore, such forums and groups are easily available for you to contact.