A friend of mine has had diabetes since she was four years old. While the condition is totally manageable with the help of modern technology and food science, it is still a major inconvenience in her life. What’s more, she has had many emergencies in her forty years of life where she came strikingly close to a coma. She has always told me she wouldn’t wish it on her worst enemy because so few people realize the severity of the condition. Since it doesn’t cause death all the time, there is a perception that it is not serious. While most people get
type 1 diabetes for reasons unbeknownst to doctors, a recent study shows that there might be a prescription medication that, when taken during pregnancy, causes the disease.
The results of the study showed that women who took corticosteroids during their pregnancy were more likely to give birth to babies with type 1 diabetes from birth. In other words, prenatal exposure to the steroid could cause diabetes. If you are prescribed a corticosteroid during your pregnancy, talk to your doctor about seeking an alternative treatment. Corticosteroids might be prescribed for a number of reasons, from arthritis to allergic reactions.
People with diabetes must spend their entire lives monitoring their blood glucose levels. By exceeding or dropping below a certain amount, they could fall into a coma that might become fatal if not treated immediately. Clearly, this is a condition you wouldn’t want your child to be born with, so preventing it by avoiding corticosteroids is wise.
Always check with your doctor, because taking any medications during your pregnancy may cause serious side effects that could negatively affect your child’s development or health for the rest of his or her life. Even treatments considered “healthy” or “organic” can be extremely dangerous, so monitor your lifestyle closely.
It can be difficult to give up so many treatments, foods, activities, and drinks for a whole nine months during your pregnancy. In many cases, it will force you to change your daily routine or deal with pain and inflammation without prescribed relief. However, the suffering you face now will pay off in the end. When your baby is born completely healthy without any serious developmental problems or growth defects, you will forget about all the sacrifices you made and focus only on your new bundle of joy.
Source: Naomi Greene Et Al: Prenatal Prescription Corticosteroids And Offspring Diabetes: A National Cohort Study. International Journal of Epidemiology Volume 41 Issue 6 February 2013