What is gestational diabetes and does it go away?
Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar first appearing in pregnancy, driven by placental hormones that block insulin. Screening between 24 and 28 weeks catches it, and treatment, diet first, insulin if needed, protects both mother and baby.
After delivery it usually resolves, but it is a preview, not a footnote: mothers carry a much higher lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes.
That means a sugar test four to twelve weeks after birth and then regular screening for life, plus the lifestyle habits that push risk back down. Managed well, outcomes are excellent.
Source: American Diabetes Association, Standards of Care in Diabetes
See a doctor promptly if
- Extreme thirst, frequent urination, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, rapid breathing or drowsiness. This can be a diabetic emergency, seek urgent care
- Unintentional weight loss with thirst and urination, especially in someone slim or young. This may be type 1 diabetes and needs same-day assessment
- A foot wound, ulcer or infection that is not healing, with known or suspected diabetes
- Sudden vision loss or new floaters in one or both eyes
- Confusion, sweating and shakiness that improve with sugar in someone using glucose-lowering medication
Work out what your blood sugar meansneeds a meter, free, nothing to install
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
If you are buying a meter
Any major-brand glucose meter is accurate enough for home tracking. The real cost is the strips, so compare strip prices before choosing the meter.
Buying through this link supports the free library with a small commission. It never changes a pick.
Have your own result?
Send the report. A doctor explains every value in writing within 3 days.
People also ask
Health education, not medical advice.