Help! Please

Low-carbing and Glucophage for insulin resistance jump-started a 20 year-old batch of inovulatory ovaries to start pumping out eggs. I'm 41, boldly gray, and delightfully pregnant. (12 weeks today) Very much a miracle, considering my history of infertility. Now, I'm researching my brains away trying to find solid research to support or negate how my carb-intake and nutrition should be now that i'M PREGNANT.

I do not tolerate sugar in any form any more. Since the pregnancy I have been SICK! Thinking morning sickness, perhaps, until my perinatologist had me start running my sugars 8 times a day. I was quite surprised to discover that my morning sickness was actually bouts of severe hypoglycemia.

DOctors response was to eliminate Glucophage. Although I must admit I am feeling better without it, I now am back to 25gms a day 0r< of carbs and am worried if that is enough to feed a growing fetus??? If I add more carbs I suffer bursts of pain which I believe is an insulin rush, then I become lethargic and fall asleep only to wake up with severe hunger pangs and low blood sugar even though I ate less that 2 hours ago. That is a cycle I feel I must avoid at all cost.

Another concern. I utilize artificial sweetners and have learned to survive my sweet tooth creatively. It has been recommended that I eliminate artificial sweetners, but the known evil alternative is sugar. Which is the better evil for the pregnant?

If there are any other 40+ women out there who concieved due to low-carbing life-style. I'd appreciate some insights. I'm simply amazed at how your body turns into a volcano spouting daily changes. I want my pregnancy to be uncomplicated and healthy, but I just can't philosophize that giving up the life-style that led to the pregnacy is appropriate even though standard maternity guidelines recommend increasing carb intake.

Hi! I'm only 30 but I have a 5 month old daughter. I attempted some lower carbing/trying for maintenance during my pregnancy, but I got severly addicted to carbs again.

You can read all about it in my journal.

Atkins reccomends that you use maintenance levels during pregnancy...maybe 60 carbs? I couldn't find my maintenance level.


I've heard that low carb diets can be used to treat infertility and PCOS.

I tried to avoid aspertame during pregnancy, I used Splenda some.

You can't go wrong with green veggies! Try upping those with your fat and protein. I found the extra protein, when I could make myself eat it, kept me on a more even keel all day. That and sea-bands!

BTW, I did quite low carb (25 maybe) a few weeks before my daughter was born...some of her hair fell out and then started to grow back in. She looked like Einstein with long, sticking-out hair on the sides and short hair on top. It's all growing nicely now.



HTH

Beth

I would suggest doing what I did - eating carbs but making sure they are low on the glycemic index, so they don't spike your blood sugars.

While in a prenatal visit my sugars tested in the high range of normal. Fearing that I might end up with gestational diabetes, I bought my own blood testing kit and started taking multiple daily readings at home. What I found was that I felt best eating carbs that didn't have a lot of white flour and sugar. Veggies and mos fruits were okay, and whole wheat bread was also great.

Sometimes I'd cheat and have a cup of something that didn't seem that bad, like cocoa, and WOOOO, up the sugar readings would go.

You can find various lists of foods with their glycemic index placement many places online, just do a search on Google.

Eating this way while pregnant was a pretty amazing change for me, previously I'd been a very hi-carb eater. But then when I changed my habits I just felt wonderful, and I lost all forty pounds of pregnancy weight within 12 days of Miles's birth! It was pretty shocking, and it led me to read more about low-carb diets. Now I'm hoping to lose all the extra weight I started with.

Congrats to you!!!

There is a yahoo group for low-carb preggies... Atkids or something like that. I am sure a search would produce more.

Good luck to you!!!