Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes occurs when pregnancy hormones and weight gain block a woman’s body's ability to use insulin properly. This type of diabetes can effect women who have never had diabetes. Gestational diabetes may affect as many as 7% of pregnant women.¹ This type of diabetes usually goes away after the baby is born.

Gestational diabetes can lead to high blood pressure for the mother and high birth weight for the baby. There is also an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes for both you and your baby in the future. Your baby may also be at higher risk of childhood obesity.² You can reduce these risks by maintaining a reasonable weight, staying physically active and making healthy food choices. Breast-feeding may lower your baby’s risk for type 2 diabetes as well. See your healthcare professional to create a management plan that is right for you and your baby.

Hyperglycemia

Hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, occurs when blood sugar rises above your recommended range. Your healthcare professional will determine the proper healthy blood sugar range for you.

High blood sugar can be caused by many things, including:

• Eating too much food
• Little or no physical activity
• Not taking medications
• Stress, infection or illness
• Bad or spoiled insulin

High blood sugar can cause serious problems and a major cause of long-term diabetes complications.Warning signs of high blood sugar include:

• Tiredness or fatigue
• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Blurred vision
• Dry mouth or skin
• Slow-healing cuts and sores
• Unexplained weight loss

It is important to keep your blood sugar level within your target range. Checking your blood sugar often may help you avoid hyperglycemia.

Hypoglycemia

Hypoglycemia occurs when your blood sugar drops too low.

The body responds to low blood sugar with warning signs that may be different in each person. Some warning signs of low blood sugar are feeling:

• Weak
• Shaky
• Irritable or confused.

Low blood sugar may occur if your meal or snack is delayed or missed, after vigorous physical activity, or if too much insulin is given. In a person without diabetes, the pancreas will stop producing insulin if the blood sugar level falls below normal. In a person with diabetes, the insulin they inject or pump keeps working, even when the blood sugar level is low.

Low blood sugar may be caused by the following:

• Not following your meal plan
• Too much exercise or exercising for a long time without eating a snack
• Too much medication or a change in the time you take your medication
• Stress
• Side effects from other medications
• Alcohol intake, especially without food

Regular testing may help you avoid hypoglycemia. It is important to check your blood sugar often. If untreated, hypoglycemia can cause serious effects, such as seizures or fainting.

Someone who is having seizures or who has passed out will need help from others. People at this severe stage will need an immediate glucagon injection. A healthcare professional must prescribe glucagon and show you and your loved ones how to prepare and inject glucagon.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes represents more than 90% of all diabetes cases.¹ In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas may make enough insulin, but the body cannot effectively use the insulin it creates. This is known as insulin resistance. Eventually, the pancreas may stop producing insulin altogether.

Type 2 diabetes traditionally affects people later in life, but can affect people at any age. Additional risk factors or characteristics for type 2 diabetes include:

• Family history of diabetes
• History of gestational diabetes
• Obesity
• Race/Ethnicity such as African American, Mexican American, Pacific Islander or Native American background though little research has been conducted outside of the United States regarding predisposition based on race or ethnicity.³

Because type 2 diabetes develops slowly and is often hard to detect, many people are not diagnosed until various complications appear. One-third of all people with diabetes may be undiagnosed.²

Depending on its severity, type 2 diabetes can be managed through diet and physical activity alone, oral medications, or insulin injections, though a combination of these therapies are ideal for most cases. Self-monitoring of your blood sugar can help measure the success of your therapy.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children or young adults, although it can occur at any age. Approximately 10-15% of all people with diabetes in Australia are diagnosed with Type 1.¹

The onset of type 1 diabetes is often sudden and can include the following symptoms:

• Abnormal thirst and a dry mouth
• Frequent urination
• Extreme tiredness/lack of energy
• Sudden weight loss
• Slow-healing wounds
• Recurrent infections
• Blurred vision

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body’s immune system destroys the beta cells found in the pancreas—the cells that create insulin. As a result, the body makes very little or no insulin of its own.

A person with type 1 diabetes supplies their body with insulin in one of the following ways:

• Insulin pump
• Insulin pen
• Injections with a syringe

Insulin therapy along with following a healthy meal-plan, regular physical activity and frequent blood glucose testing are important in the management of type 1 diabetes.