A woman's risk of diabetes are increased during pregnancy. Diabetes during pregnancy is known as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This also underlies the doctors suggest to every woman to check her blood at the beginning of pregnancy.
Specialist in diseases of the Endocrine Division of the Department of Metabolic Medicine Faculty of medicine / RSCM dr. Dyah Purnamasari, Sp.PD said, blood tests should be done by all women, regardless of high or low risk that they owned.
"DMG can be experienced by every woman, though no risk before pregnancy," he said in a media seminar titled "Diabetes in Women" in Jakarta, Monday (05/13/2013).
Increased risk of DMG, said Dyah, due to hormonal changes that occur in the body of a pregnant woman. Hormones such as progesterone, human placental lactogen, cortisol, and prolactin increases during pregnancy. Though these hormones have effects against insulin to convert blood sugar into muscle sugar. Thus, during pregnancy the mother's blood sugar tends to be higher.
Dyah said, when not pregnant, she ate only for themselves. If energy requirements are fulfilled, the blood sugar will be converted into muscle sugar. Unlike the current pregnancy, the fetus also needs nutrients, so blood sugar does not directly converted into sugar muscle, but remains a blood sugar that is easily passed to the fetus.
Blood tests in early pregnancy aims to determine how much risk women experience DMG. If the result is positive, then the specific measures needed to control their blood sugar levels.
"Efforts to tackle diabetes in pregnant women differ from treatment in general who use drugs. Antidiabetic drugs can affect the health of the fetus," said Dyah.
The first step to deal with DMG, he added, is by changing your diet and exercising more. But if you have not seen improvement, then insulin therapy should be done.
Insulin therapy will not have negative effects to the fetus during the insulin is human insulin used. Human insulin has a structure similar to amino acid produced by the body although made with genetic engineering techniques.
While if the evaluation is negative, it does not mean the mother is free from the risk of DMG. Dyah said, blood tests should be repeated on the eve of the third trimester of pregnancy, at the age of approximately 22 to 25 weeks gestation.
"It was the pregnancy hormones increase, thereby increasing the risk of DMG as well," said Dyah.