Gestational Diabetes Stress

[bunnyjadwiga]

Apologies for dumping this on your friendslist, but I want this quote out there:

"Clinicians must consider the impact on women's lives of stressors such as the diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes mellitus. The addition of careful diet planning, blood glucose monitoring, as many as three to four injections of insulin per day, additional visits to the health care provider, and increased fetal assessment may overburden some women who already experiencing stress. In developing a mutually agreed upon plan of care with women with gestational diabetes mellitus, clinicians must assess other stressors in the women's lives, their support systems, and their other responsibilities. Women must be offered understanding, professional support in their attempts to adhere to the treatment plan."

[Emphasis mine]
Cynthia Armstrong Persily, RN, Phd. "Relationships between the Percieved Impact of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Treatment Adherence." Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing, Sept. 1996, 25:7 (601-607) p. 606.

Comments

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

One would think that this would have been relatively easy to understand when that article was published... and that was *twelve years ago*... plenty of time for folks to put it into practice even if they hadn't figured it out before '96. Le heavy sigh.

**hugs**

another study

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

A subsequent study, in 1989, found "No difference between [68] women with gestational diabetes and 50 non-diabetic pregnant controls, matched for gestational age, were found on the Profile of Mood States..." BUT the part that is hidden in that article is that a) they only looked at the Mood reponses in one interview, AND the women being studied had their blood glucose measurements taken ONLY weekly or, in the case of women on insulin, once daily. (I've written to one of the authors to be sure of this.) I'm wondering if the disruption to one's schedule caused by a 4x daily testing may be related to more stress, and whether the mood situation is influenced by when the mood profile is done in comparison to the date of diagnosis. (Also whether diagnosis at earlier gestational age is associated with poorer mood outcomes and higher stress.)