Well. Today I had quite the experience. I'm 24 weeks along and because I developed gestational diabetes with my twins that later became Type 2, I'm high risk for gestational diabetes again. My tiny little med clinic here wanted to test me today and I figured it couldn't be much different than it was with my other two pregnancies.

I did have a one hour test done early (around 13 weeks) to make sure I didn't have diabetes, because it only went into remission post-sleeve. I did the small glucola drink and while I felt awful for that entire hour I did fine and my sugars came up perfectly normal.

Well, they gave me the big bottle of glucola today (that orange flavor, which while awful really is the easiest one to drink) and after thirty minutes I was sick. And I mean sick. Sick like you'd expect from a person that just drank an entire bottle of vodka and sick like I can't remember being since my 21st birthday. OH MY GOSH it was the most miserable experience.

Because the glucola had 30 minutes to absorb they went ahead and did the tests anyway. My numbers were actually lower than I expected. I haven't been testing my sugars since four to six months post op. Back then, my numbers stuck around 80-90 all day long, only ever getting as high as maybe 110 after a meal. This time, my fasting blood sugar was 79 (and I admit, I forgot I was doing the test this morning and ate one tiny homemade kolaczek/kolaczki pastry before leaving the house), my one hour was 103 and my two hour was a low 67.

I even developed abdominal cramping this evening due to the violent vomiting episodes earlier in the day. As in, the nurse thinks I pulled muscles in my abdomen from the experience! Think of how awful those leg cramps are...this was the same feeling, only across the entire top of my tummy from directly under my bra to an inch or two above my belly button. It completely freaked me out, and the clinic as well, because now I'm supposed to be extra vigilant about watching for signs of preterm labor or call immediately if the cramping moves lower or into my back. What a disaster.

My concern is that they want to repeat the test in two weeks. I think that's just cruel and unusual, right there. If my numbers had come up even borderline I'd agree there might be a risk. But I'm reluctant to intentionally put myself through that again just to the doc can check a box on the lists of completed tests. I know, I know, all the horror stories about babies with low blood sugar after birth, etc. I went through all of that with my twins, watching them get their tiny feet stuck several times a day for testing. I honestly don't think I'll be able to say no to having the test done because of how my medical care works over here (the med clinic can simply have me med-evac'd back to the states if I refuse to cooperate) so I'm sure I'll wind up having it done again.

But I wondered if I'm the only one to experience such a crazy reaction post-sleeve.

And I also wonder when I should get concerned about my blood sugars being so low. I won't be back in the states if all goes well until the end of January, and at that point I can talk to a real doctor and have tests run if necessary. I'm just curious what any of you have heard. When I was diabetic, any number under 70 was cause for concern. Now that I'm not testing regularly (and don't even own a home monitor anymore) I'm concerned that this happens more often than I realize.

Does anyone have any input or experience to share?

~Cheri

I know ive seen other posters refuse because of the possibility of dumping... i would ask them if i can get out of it... maybe u could get a home monitor n test instead for say 2wks... i believe thats what she did... id tell them ur OBVIOUSLY not in gestational diabetes! And have done 2 that should be sufficient...

Also i wouldnt worry too much about the 67... hopefully if u get a monitor, you'll have it to be safe... but it sounds like reactive hypoglycemia... i assume u dont eat a lot of carbs, being a sleever... so all that sugar in the drink (esp on top of a pastry ) just threw ur system for a loop n it got over excited and made too much insulin... id think the WORST thing u could do is go shock it again! Try explaining that to them n see what they say... i wouldnt risk ur job but if they understood more maybe theyd b satisfied

In the mean time... no carb binges for u! Lol

Good luck!!!

o_0 .... oe vey.

Maybe you can start testing on daily basis again and watch your glucose levels. Maybe in consult with the docs there and post pone the test as much as possible. When is your baby due?

I had my repeat screening done.

Instead of drinking the glucola in 5 minutes, they let me sip it slowly over 15 minutes.

I still experienced the dizziness, nausea and upset stomach. However, I was able to avoid the vomiting and diarrhea this time around.

I was given a room and rested in the clinic the entire time and was actually able to nap between my blood tests, and I think this helped immensely.

My blood sugars came back a little higher than last time but still very good. I was 67 fasting, 158 at one hour and back at 67 at two hours. It appears my sugars just run a little lower than they used to, but the only complication this appears to have given me is immediate side effects like shaking or dizziness if I skip a meal when I shouldn't, so it doesn't appear to be a real concern.

And of course I'm relieved that I do not have gestational diabetes. If anything, having my sleeve to help control my diabetes was an excellent choice and I have no real worries about my type 2 coming back any time soon.

~Cheri

This is so exciting! Happy to hear your doing well! CONGRATS! HUGS!