My friend Emily is pregnant and, like myself, is on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). She recently went through the routine gestational diabetes (GD) testing that all pregnant ladies are "required" to undergo. What she found was that being on the SCD, which is pretty close to a GD diet anyhow, can really skew the test results. Here is Emily's story:

"When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2007 I discovered the Specific Carbohydrate Diet towards the end of my pregnancy. I didn't need to navigate the whole 'what to do about the gestational diabetes testing.' This time around (after almost a year and a half break from SCD), my ulcerative colitis has not been behaving. So at 24 weeks pregnant I started back on the SCD. I felt immediately better. But I knew that the gestational diabetes test was coming up. I asked my regular OB, and they said there was no alternative. I scoured the Internet, and the only alternative I could find was jelly beans. And while they are far more delicious than the nasty orange drink, it didn't help my case.

"After finding no answers I decided to just suck it up and take the test. This was quite possibly the worst idea ever. Yes it messed up my stomach a bit, but I failed the test, though barely, with a number of 156. I couldn't believe it. I thought I would be able to know if I had GD! And I had been feeling quite great! So they told me that I needed to do the 3 hour test. I called my high risk OB at that point because I had begun to wonder if being on the SCD had changed the way my body processed things. I was unable to get a hold of her, so foolishly I decided to go through with the 3 hour test the next day. I knew I didn't have GD. I guess I just wanted to prove them wrong. So I went in and drank an even more nasty concoction of orange drink and wasted 4 hours of my time. I passed, though barely.

"Still skeptical about whether this test was really accurate for me, I decided to do a more thorough search of the Internet. I found a few places in which they revealed that the sweetener in the drink is not pure glucose. It is corn based, and the typical body breaks down the more complex sugars into glucose. So I felt like I had my answer. I do not eat corn or any other starch for that matter. Wouldn't my body be confused as to how to break it down and what to do with it? Wouldn't it take longer to convert to glucose and then show an inaccurate reading in my blood? And the answer is yes. I finally got a hold of my high risk OB. She specializes in diabetic patients (in addition to a few of us with IBD's). And she was absolutely frustrated that I had been given this test. She said that the diet I am on would definitely interfere with the test and that I should not have taken it. She must have apologized 10 times!

"So lesson learned. SCD and the standard gestational diabetes testing do not mix. Now I do not know what the alternative would be. Amy's OB let her eat a "sugary" SCD breakfast instead. So perhaps that is something that can be brought up with your OB well in advance of the testing. And I hope that some of you can avoid the hassle, worry, frustration and discomfort that I experienced!"

Thanks, Emily, for the details of your experience. If any readers are looking for related information, check out my SCD Pregnancy Tips and SCD & Breastfeeding. And you can find some great SCD recipes to fulfill those pregnancy cravings at bethsblog.

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Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is one of the veru good diet plan for gestational diabetes (GD). But at the same time Gestational Diabetes Diet is also one of the most effective diet plan for gestational diabetes (GD). Along with tasting you can find the very good changes if you follow this diet plan.

I found this post through your interview with Jordan and Steve and I wanted to share my experience. When I was pregnant with my first child, I was eating an SCD style diet. I was not very strict, but definitely focused on SCD legal foods. I had a very low risk for GD, but I failed the test (both 1 hour and 3 hour) with flying colors. That drink was so different than anything I ever ate or drank. They even made me prep for the 3 hour test by loading up on carbs (I asked if I can replace the bread/starch carbs with fruit and other natural carbs b/c of my diet and they said yes). My Dr. was shocked when I failed, but even more baffled when week after week of testing my blood sugar upon wake up and after meals, I almost never had a high number. He just didn't understand. Even when I ate pizza (I started slipping with the diet) there were no issues.

For my second pregnancy, when it came time to do the test, I asked if I could forgo the test and just test my blood sugar a few times and make sure I was eating properly. He was fine with that and I never had a high number. That was my alternative to drinking that horrible stuff which is so the opposite of anything we should be exposing our unborn babies to.

So maybe other Drs. would be willing to let SCD patients check their blood sugar in the morning a few times and after a couple of high carb meals in lieu of the test. Or maybe talk to the GD nutritionist about the diet and let him/her be involved in the decision of if/when/how to get tested.

WOW Thank you for this post. I have searched all over the internet for info on this. I went through a similar thing with my first pregnancy. Diagnosed as having GD but all of my daily readings came back as low. I was convinced that I was wrongly diagnosed because I'm allergic to corn and would never consume something like that on my own volition. Now I'm following a paleo diet plan, very similar to SCD, and pregnant with my second child. I have refused the standard test. My OB is sending me straight to the diabetes clinic to see if there is any other sort of test I can do. I'm going to print this blog post out and bring it with me tomorrow. I knew other people must be going through the same thing as me! But the nurses last time all looked at me like I was nuts. lol. Thank you again!!!

Gestational diabetes is the most common problem faced by women during pregnancy. It is generally diagnosed in the later stages of pregnancy and it arises due to hormonal changes. All pregnant women are generally screened for gestational diabetes during the pregnancy time as it might have certain risk factors. This problem can result in birth defects and even sometime miscarriage situations too, hence it need essential diagnostics at early stage, so that they can deliver a healthy baby.

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