Diabetes Information

Many post menopausal women suffer from hot flushes, dryness of vagina and painful sexual intercourse. Moreover, they are at an increased risk of brittleness of bones and unfavorable changes in blood lipids. An increasing number of such women are being started on replacement oestrogen or oestrogen-progestin hormone treatment both as prevention and treatment. In the absence of other contraindications, in diabetic women, diabetes by itself is not a contraindication for starting such a treatment.
It has been estimated that during pregnancy 3 out of 1,000 women have diabetes. Around 15 to 20 per 1,000 pregnant women develop impaired glucose tolerance called gestational diabetes.
There is delay in the exchange of glucose between the blood and the tissue during pregnancy. Higher concentration of glucose are found in the blood. This in part is due to increased oestrogen and progesterone which may oppose the glucose lowering effect of insulin. In pregnancy, reduced carbohydrate is associated with an increased secretion of insulin. The placenta has an active insulin degrading system, which increases as pregnancy advances. Insulin resistance and carbohydrate intolerance increase as delivery approaches. Women who are diabetic during pregnancy have more possibility to become diabetic in future.
The dose of insulin required to control diabetes varies in women related to the menstrual cycle. Such women become more sensitive to insulin during the previous week of menstruation and she may probably require more insulin than at other times. What they have to do is to make suitable adjustments in their insulin dose.

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Filed under: Diabetes in Woman