Gestational Diabetes Screening Test
Gestational diabetes is a condition of pregnancy in which the mother’s body acts diabetic only during her pregnancy. Identifying the disease will reduce the risk to both mother and baby.
A blood screening test has been developed to help identify those patients who have developed gestational diabetes. The test will be performed at approximately 28 weeks gestation on all pregnant patients. Having a screening test prevents all patients from completing a 3 hour glucose tolerance test which is both more expensive and time consuming. Those patients whose screening test comes back abnormally elevated will then need to do the more definitive 3 hour test.
In order to achieve accurate results, you must drink the entire bottle of glucose in 5 – 10 minutes and be in the laboratory having your blood drawn exactly one hour later. You do NOT need to be fasting before you drink the glucola. However, you should not eat or drink anything between the time you drink the glucose load and having your blood drawn. In addition, it is best to avoid a large sugar load (eg. Cola or candy) prior to drinking the glucola.