July 26, 2000
Gestational Diabetes
Question from a US Military Facility in Germany:
I am 34 years old and have just found out that I am eight or nine weeks pregnant. I have a six year old son. I developed diabetes with in my last trimester of that pregnancy, but did not have to inject insulin. I was hospitalized for four days because my blood sugars were running in the low 200s mg/dl (11.1 mmol/dl). I now inject insulin twice daily; in the am, 17 units of R and 10 units of NPH and, before dinner, 15 units of R. I monitor my blood sugar five times daily and they have been running anywhere from 70s to 130s mg/dl (3.8 to 7.2 mmol/dl) now. My doctors state the numbers look okay. Being that my numbers are okay, why do I show sugar in my urine during my doctors visits? What does glucose in the urine indicate? Is this something I need to worry about?
Answer:
During pregnancy, there is increased blood flow to the kidney and the threshold for spilling glucose is lowered. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see glucose in the urine even in women who do not have diabetes. If you have sugar in your urine, you may want to check your blood sugar at the same time to see what the value. Overall, it looks like your glucose control is good.
OWJ
