Failed my one-hour glucose screen - anyone else????

[Anonymous]

I failed my one-hour glucose screen. My doctor uses the cutoff of 130 - and I scored a 130. Now i'm going in for the 3-hour test. I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who has been through this second test, and if you were ultimately diagnosed with GD, what your dr. is doing to manage the condition. TIA

[Anonymous]

My doc also used the 130 cutoff and I got a 135 or something like that. I took the test late in the day and tried not to eat sugary foods, but still failed.

I did the 3-hour test and passed with flying colors.

If you search for glucose on this board you'll see some other comments -- sounded to me like a lot of people fail the 1-hour and pass the 3-hour.

[Anonymous]

I also "Failed" the test with a 131 out of 130. After doing some research about how the standard was 140...and that some doctors have lowered it to catch more cases, I discussed the test with my doctor's office. They agreed that since it was such a low deviation that I didn't need to do the 3 hour test.

If I were you, I would tell them you don't want to do it. The cutoff used to be 140...a 130 seems to me to be unnecessary testing to rack up costs!

[Anonymous]

I had the same experience as one of the PPs. I scored in the low 130s and was really upset about taking the 3 hour test, esp when reading that they only recently bumped the limit from 140 down to 130. If you read the stats, the percentage of women who end up with GD who score in the 130s is so tiny. I talked to my OB about it, and even she admitted that she thought testing at 130 was overkill, but she said this is what the labs recommend now. (Go figure, the labs get the extra $$$ from the extra testing.) Anyway, after conversations with my OB, she agreed to let me skip the 3 hour. (Note: I had no other signs/symptoms to cause concern-- if I had been measuring "big" she might not have agreed to let me skip.) So, I would definitely talk to your OB about it and whether the 3 hour test is really necessary.

[Anonymous]

I was diagnosed with GD at my 7th month checkup. I was given a special diet to follow and I had to check my level of sugar by poking my finger 3 times a day. It was annoying to do but gave me the chance to eat better (less carbohydrates). I testes negative after giving birth.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had this info a year ago.

I failed the 1 hour. To begin with for the 1 hour I was not given any guidancce on what to eat / not eat prior and I think the bananna before the appt may have had something to do with the failure. Like others, I had a score in the low 130's and I had no other indicators - but I did not know what this meant and should have discussed it more before doing yet another test.

Anyway - did the 3 hour and passed w flying colors.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Not to digress from the post, but is there anything you can do early on in the pregnancy to avoid this ...like should I start curbing my sugar/carb intake NOW (13 weeks preg - just finished the nauseating first trimester and it's so tempting to now indulge in all the meals I missed out on... )?

[Anonymous]

No offense PP - but maybe this isn't the best thread in which to post your question. My only advice is to maybe eat lean protein. I'm sure the last thing the OP wants to read is a list of things she could have done to prevent this. Speaking from experience - getting a high glucose reading sucks, even if it turns out to be a false positive. It's probably not good judgment to pose questions that make the OP think this is her fault. It's not. A lot of us are very cautious throughout our pregnancy and still get crappy test results.

[Anonymous]

I am still throwing up daily (even on zofran) and I am DREADING the 1hr glucose test next week. With pg #1, I passed the 1hr test, but I now look back and think I may have taken the drink wrong (instead of drinking in 5mins, I may have drank it over an hr!). I just can't remember.

Anyways, what advice do you have for eating before hand? The receptionist just called to reschedule my appt to later in the day so I will need to eat at least 2x before I go and I am worried based on the comments here about skewing the test and having to take the 3hr. I am worried about just drinkning and keeping the drink down, expecially without a bagel or soemthing substantial in my stomach.

Also, I had a big baby last time (almost 10lbs) and I only gained 24lbs (I'm not a large person to begin with). So, with the comment about measuring big makes me believe I may not be able to talk my way out of the 3hr test if I'm borderline.

Help! Stressing out!!

[Anonymous]

To answer PP's question, there's nothing you can do to prevent it. It's simply the actions of the hormones that your placenta produces. Actually, one of the major risk factors is maternal age over TWENTY-FIVE, so most of us are "higher risk" for Gestational Diabetes. And as far as taking the test later in the day, I would try to limit how much carb you have earlier in the day before drinking the stuff--I would probably not have any carbs (but protein should be fine) for at least 2 hrs before you drink the stuff.

Good luck to all!

[Anonymous]

I failed the 1 hr with a glucose reading of 173! I was freaked out and had access to testing equipment and started testing my own sugar leading up to the 3 hr test. It was always within normal range.

I was given a "carb-loading" diet to follow for three days before taking the 3 hr and I passed. The idea behind carb loading is that if your system is not used to producing large amounts of insulin, it will take a little longer to bring the numbers down after a 75g or 100g of sugar intake. During carb loading, I found it difficult to load 50g carbs into every meal. Consuming 100g of sugar in 3 minutes is just not something that would happen under normal conditions. The test is designed to be cautious.

[Anonymous]

Can you give us any more details on the carb loading diet? Is it just 50g carb 3 meals a day in the days leading up to the 3 hr test?

[Anonymous]

It is a minimum of 150g of carbs per day in the three days leading up to the test. They insisted that I come in and get a list of foods and eat one item from each column at every meal. The first column was starchy carbs (potatoes, rice, bread, etc), the second was fruits and juices (8oz juice or an apple AND an orange) and the third were milk things (ice cream, milk, yogurt). I think the minimum of 50g per meal was because they wanted it to be a burst of sugar rather than a drawn out all day.
It was hard to eat what they had listed and some protein and veggies. That was a lot of food and I had sugar crashes after every meal. I was so tired.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I scored a 135 on mine, and my OB (at Georgetown) was not concerned, and did not make me take the 3 hour. I guess maybe their cutoff is 140. In any event, I had my baby, and all was fine.

[Anonymous]

The receptionist at my dr.'s office insisted that there was no requirement for carb loading and that all I needed to do was not eat after midnight. The lab that will be performing the test said the same thing. I was finally permitted to speak with a nurse, who gave me guidelines similar to those mentioned by other posters (150-200g carbs per day for three days). Can't believe I had to work so hard to get the info! Apparently they don't think it's critical to the accuracy of the test?