As per the AAD (American Association of Diabetes) there are two types of diabetes known to afflict people and they are Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes. Type-1 diabetes normally affects children and adolescents and where as type-2 diabetes will affect grown up people who are over weight.



One of the extreme cases of diabetes is also known to affect people who have genetic problems.
But, when it comes to diabetes and pregnancy, one may wonder about the chances of the expectant mother acquiring diabetes during pregnancy.

There are many questions such as relation between diabetes and pregnancy and whether diabetic woman can get pregnant, etc. However, a woman who is suffering from diabetes should consider many facts before getting pregnant, as there are so many related risks involved.

Is it a Third Type of Diabetes



Besides Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes, there is one more kind of diabetes known to afflict pregnant woman during the later part of the pregnancy cycle. This kind of diabetes in known as gestational diabetes and is known to affect prospective mothers.

In majority of the cases the gestational diabetes will cease to exist once the child is born, but such mothers will be highly prone to develop type-2 diabetes in the later part of their life.

Hence, there has been a wide spread belief linking diabetes and pregnancy that necessitates prospective mothers to be careful during their pregnancy period.




The gestational diabetes is almost very much similar to type-2 diabetes in resisting insulin secretion and where as the related symptoms are bit different from that of type-2 diabetes.

An expectant mother suffering from gestational diabetes may gain weight abnormally due to the increased urination of the fetus that has a higher level of blood glucose. It is strongly advised for the pregnant women to under go tests during their 24th and 28th week of pregnancy so as to rule out the presence of diabetes.

The occurrence of gestational diabetes is very rare and is known to affect only 2 or 3 percent of the total pregnant women. For better management of the gestational diabetes, it is better if one can understand few related factors.

For example, pregnant women are more prone to acquire gestational diabetes if they are over weight, or if they have a history of type-2 diabetes in the family, or if the age of the pregnant women is beyond the recommended productive age, or if the mother have had gestational diabetes in her earlier pregnancy, and if the mother has delivered a baby weighing around 10 pounds in her earlier delivery.

What is to be done in case Diabetes and Pregnancy simultaneously occur

Various studies reveal that majority of the women who has had gestational diabetes during their pregnancy developed type-2 diabetes in their later part of the life and this normally occurs within a period of 5 o 10 years after delivery of child.

Hence, if you had been diagnosed with such type of complications, it is better to consult you doctor and follow all the prescription without fail. Though there is a possibility of leading a normal life with type-2 diabetes, it will be always better to avoid contracting the disease itself through a series of precautionary measures.

[tags]Diabetes, Pregnancy[/tags]