GD FREE!!

I don't usually discuss personal medical details on here because I feel like its kind of private and I don't want to make people uncomfortable or talk about things that are supposed to be confidential. BUT, I'm kind of happy and proud of myself so I have to share my story. Plus I feel like I'm always explaining all or parts of this story. So here it is.

I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes when I was pregnant with Max. Surprise if you didn't know that! GD is basically higher than normal blood sugar when you're pregnant in an otherwise healthy woman who doesn't have diabetes before pregnancy. It usually goes away after the baby is born. Woman who have GD have a high chance of developing type II diabetes later in life. Its a whole process you have to go through to get diagnosed. If you have no risk factors, you're screened at the end of the second trimester. First you do the screening which is where you drink 50 grams of glucose at a random time of day. Then they test your blood an hour later and if you have a higher number than the cutoff, you have to take another test. I was screened around 28 weeks and failed the 1 hour test with a score of 157 (cutoff was 135). My doctor told me not to worry...that she has had plenty of girls who get in the 180s and still pass the 3 hour test which is more accurate. We were going to Florida the next week for our "babymoon". She told me to enjoy myself, eat what I wanted and not worry about it because I probably didn't have it. So I did just that.

The second test is a 3 hour test where you drink 100 grams of glucose in the morning after fasting and then are tested at fasting and then at hourly intervals for 3 hours after you drink the drink. If you score higher than the cutoff on any 2 of the 4 tests, you fail and are diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I took this test when I was around 29-30 weeks. They tell you to actually eat more carbs than normal in the days leading up to the test (now that I know what I know, I don't really get this). It wasn't a problem to eat more than usual because I was on vacation. I failed the fasting test with a 97 (cutoff was 95) and then got a 221 one hour after I drank 100 grams of sugar (cutoff was 180). So I was finished with the 3 hour test in 1 hour and was diagnosed with GD. The doctor I went to in Virginia did the test right there in the office so I didn't have to wait for any results. I was crying and they gave me a packet with information that didn't tell me much. The risks of GD are; having a bigger baby which increases the need for a c-section, high blood sugar in the baby after birth, premature birth, breathing problems in the baby, high blood pressure, and some others. The diet sounded horrible and one of the "risks" of GD that it listed was "your baby could die". I'm not kidding, it really said that. The packet also had a sample diet plan of what I should be eating, what I should be avoiding and I was supposed to get a call from a nutritionist to go over all of this and take a class to learn more.

Days went by and I didn't hear from this nutritionist. I remember having to call more than a few times to get an appointment and when I did they scheduled it for a few weeks later. I was furious saying that I needed to know what I should be doing and how would I know if the diet was working if I wasn't getting tested, etc. Somehow I got it moved up to that week I think. I went for the class and met with the nutritionist and a high risk doctor. It was all right across the street from where I worked since I worked for the hospital. The class was a group of girls, some with their husbands, all who had been diagnosed with GD. We watched a movie about the diet and the glucose meter and learned how to use the meter. I felt a little bit better after learning more about what I had to do. I had to test my blood sugar when I woke up and 1 hour after the start of every meal. So 4 times total in a day. I was supposed to be under 90 in the morning and under 120 after each meal. If you know anything about blood sugar, these are pretty strict guidelines. We were told how many carbs we were allowed at each meal and it didn't seem that bad. They were totally fine with using things with artificial sweeteners in them (splenda and equal) and they were even giving out packets of it in the folders they gave us. I'll get to more about the actual diet later.

The rest of my pregnancy was pretty uneventful. Having GD seemed like the end of the world at first but got easier as I got more used to it. The diet worked well for me and my blood sugar was completely under control. There were a few times it was a few points over the limit but nothing that was going to harm me or the baby. I walked after almost every meal and that also helped to keep everything under control. I had to check in with the nutritionist a few more times and get an extra ultrasound to estimate the size of the baby at 36 weeks. I had a completely normal delivery and Max was a normal size at full term; 7lbs 13oz. Many of my friends who didn't have GD had babies over 8 pounds. Max's blood sugar was fine when he was born. It was low later that day but I think that was because he wasn't nursing very well. Other than that he had no complications and neither did I. So I survived GD. My doctor didn't even test me to see if it went away. I of course tested myself and it was always normal.

Fast forward to September 16th 2008. What do you think the first thing I thought of was when I found out I was pregnant again? I decided I should follow the diet for a few reasons...if I didn't follow it and ended up having GD again I would always wonder if I could have made a difference by following the diet. If I did follow it and ended up having GD I would know that it wasn't my fault. And if I did follow it and ended up not having GD that would just be awesome. So I couldn't lose. My doctor agreed that it would be smart to follow the diet and she told me to test myself (I still have my meter from last time) once a day and if everything was normal I shouldn't worry about it. She told me to test 2 hours after a meal which was different than the 1 hour after that the nutritionist recommended. 2 hours is much more lenient! So thats what I did. I followed the diet starting at 5 weeks pregnant. Of course I wasn't as strict as I was when I was actually diagnosed last time but I was pretty good. I lost 5 pounds during my first trimester but my doctor was not concerned. She said as long as my numbers were fine I didn't have to get tested early and I could just get tested when they usually test...around 24-28 weeks.

So fast forward to now...everything has been fine. I've been cheating here and there but my numbers are always normal, especially when I wait 2 hours after a meal to test. I am so used to this diet that it doesn't even seem like a diet anymore. I feel like I eat all the time and its always good food. My 1 hour test was last week and I was prepared to fail. I figured even though I was being so good, it was pretty unlikely that I wouldn't fail the test when they give you 50 grams of sugar to drink. Its very unlikely to not have it the second time if you had it the first. I figured it didn't matter because I wouldn't change my habits much at this point anyway. Unlike my old doctor's office, my current doctor makes you go to a lab to get tested and its an actual blood draw rather than a finger prick like it was last time. The test was no big deal. I got in the car and had my meter with me so I tested and got a 126. I was happy because I thought I remembered the cutoff being 135 so that would mean I passed. but I didn't get too excited because I had to talk to my doctor when they got the real results in a few days. So today I called my doctor and asked for the results. The nurse put me on hold forever and came back and said "your glucose was fine" and then started talking about something else. I was like "um...wait what, what was the number". She said 87. "no no no that is impossible 87 is lower than my blood sugar ever is according to my meter and I got that it was 126 right after the test". She just started saying that every pregnancy is different and apparently everything is fine right now so thats that. I cannot get over it. First of all, I don't understand why I got such a different reading from my meter when I did it 5 minutes after I left the lab and it got me thinking....is my meter always wrong? Is the blood draw from a vein in your arm that much different than the blood in a finger prick? If my old office had done the blood draw at a lab and not with the meter in the office would I have even been diagnosed with GD last time??? Have I gone through all of this for nothing??? Then after thinking about it and talking to some other people, I remembered that the test strips I have been using in my meter are expired and I also haven't changed the lancet (the part that sticks you) in a while. So its more likely that that 126 wasn't the most accurate reading. I'm going with the fact that I passed with flying colors and for now I do not have GD.

I have so many feelings about the whole GD diagnosis. I do understand that there are people out there who have gestational diabetes and aren't even able to control their blood sugar with diet and end up on insulin and end up with 12 pound babies. I am not one of them. I also think that there is a possibility that they caught me on a bad day during my last pregnancy and I failed because of totally variable reasons. I think that its a good thing that doctors know all this information and can avoid potentially life threatening situations in babies by teaching pregnant woman what they need to do. I also know that my doctor admitted to me at the end of my last pregnancy that I probably would have been completely fine if I had no prenatal care at all. So I don't know what to believe. Am I really at risk for having type II diabetes in the future? Am I going to end up having a 12 pound baby because I let myself have an extra scoop of ice cream? Am I going to hear back from my doctor's office tomorrow that they made a mistake and were looking at someone elses blood work instead of mine. I don't know. I do know that I think it would be irresponsible to eat unhealthy at this point. Even if I somehow got that low number on the one hour test, I'm still at risk and there is no need to go overboard. I also know that I beat the odds and I feel like I deserve a medal!

The reason I wanted to write all of this is someone reading this will either deal with GD or know someone else who is dealing with it and I think I understand the whole thing very well now. Almost too well. I would have loved to see something like this when I was diagnosed and googling what I could eat. This diet worked when I had GD but I think its also a great way to eat for anyone who just wants to be healthier pregnant or not. People are always asking me what the diet really entails so here it is.

The Diet

First of all there are some things you have to get over if you are going to be able to survive this plan. You have to get over the no deli thing while you are pregnant. The risk of getting listeria is less than getting struck by lightening or something. If you are that worried about it you can heat up any deli meat before you eat it, it kills any bacteria. You also have to get over the peanut thing (I mean once the whole peanut butter salmonella thing blows over). There is apparently a peanut butter allergy risk for the baby if you eat alot of it when you are pregnant but I think this is relatively new and I don't buy it. You also have to get over the no diet stuff or artificial sweeteners. As I said before, the nutritionist and high risk doctor I saw both highly recommended splenda as a sweetener (they were giving away packets of it during the GD class) and said that I would have to be eating buckets full of splenda for it to actually have an effect on the baby. My doctor this time around said to try to avoid artificial sweeteners when I first asked. But then I told her that I had them last time and the nutritionist said I should have them and she kind of took back what she said. I mean...the high risk doctor and the nutritionist worked at a hospital in Virginia that was part of a medical school. They ONLY saw high risk patients and patients with GD. My doctor probably only has a few patients with it each year maybe. So no offense to my doctor, shes great, but I'm going with the other advice. I've done my fair share of research and basically splenda is sugar with chlorine replacing part of it. So you taste the sugar but your body doesn't recognize or process it as sugar. I'm sure people go swimming in pools every day while they are pregnant and that doesn't affect the baby so its kind of the same thing. So thats my take on the sweetener thing!

When I first saw the diet plan I cried. It said things like eat a ham sandwich as a bed time snack. I'm sure I am eating a ham sandwich before I go to bed. No thanks! Then once I met with the nutritionist I learned that there are far better things I could be eating and those meal plans were probably written years ago before everything came in a low sugar or no sugar options. This is the basic plan I was given. I only list the number of carbs that you are supposed to have at each meal because thats the important part. I'll get to what you eat with the carbs later.

Breakfast: up to 30 grams of carbs
Mid-morning snack: 15-30 carbs
Lunch: up to 45 grams of carbs
Mid-afternoon snack: 15-30 grams of carbs
Dinner: 30 grams of carbs
Bedtime snack: up to 45 grams of carbs

The meals and snacks should be spaced out about 3 hours apart and there should be about 9 hours between the bedtime snack and when you test fasting in the morning. So typically I would do: breakfast at 7, snack at 10, lunch at 12:30, snack at 3 or 4, dinner at 6 or 7 and bedtime snack at 9:30. Then I would test before breakfast the next day.

Here is the important part. You MUST have protein with each meal and snack. Protein is what slows down the absorption of carbs so that it doesn't spike your blood sugar. So does fat and so do non-carb vegetables. The more protein you eat with each meal, the better. So that brings me to the food.

Here are some things I ate for meals and snacks and I think they are MUCH better than what they give you on the diet plan at the doctor's office. Again, these things worked for me, I'm not saying they work for everyone. Everyone is different and everyone's body reacts differently to GD and to different foods. You just have to remember, as long as you stay within the limit of carbs, the options are endless. When I was diagnosed with GD, I tried to stick to things that were low in sugar all the time. This time I still ate alot of low sugar things but I realized that I didn't need to. So for example, if there is a candy bar that has 30 grams of carbs in it, you could technically have it for dinner. BUT...what do you need to have with it?? Protein! You can't just have a candy bar, you would have to have a candy bar along with a good amount of cheese or nuts or meat or something else that has alot of protein. I'm not recommending that you do that, I'm just saying it might be an option at some point.

So here are the more normal options:

Breakfast:
Good protein options for breakfast are eggs and cheese. 1 egg is usually enough protein and the cheese should have 7 grams of protein per serving I usually alternate between the two. You can have any kind of cheese. I always have a variety at hand...American, Munster, babybell, string cheese, etc. I really like the Cabot cheese that comes in a block too, they have lots of different kinds. But remember you have up to 30 carbs to play with.

-English muffin (I get the whole wheat kind that has about 23 grams of carbs) with butter and eggs or cheese.
-a mini bagel (trader joes has good whole wheat ones that are under 30 grams) with butter and eggs or cheese
-2 pieces of whole wheat toast with butter or eggs or cheese (get the whole wheat bread that has 10 carbs per slice)
-whole wheat pita with butter with eggs or cheese

Those were the main breakfasts I ate when I had GD last time. This time I was more lenient and had cereal sometimes too. For some reason I remember hearing that milk spikes your blood sugar in the morning, so GD patients are told to avoid it. But my thinking is that as long as you stay within your carb limit, you're fine. There are also waffles and other things that are low in carbs but remember to add protein to it.

Cheerios and Kix are low in carbs. So are some others I'm sure. You just have to measure out the right amount that it says on the box. Peanut Butter Puffins are also good and they have some protein in them. I use measuring cups ALOT. I don't use alot of milk in my cereal so although it has some carbs, I was probably right around 30 grams for a bowl of cheerios and milk which is fine. Milk has some protein but I was always a little scared that it didn't have enough so I would have some cheese or almonds with it. Almonds are you best friend if you have GD...I will get to that later.

Something you should know is, breakfast is the hardest meal of the day because your blood sugar is the hardest to control in the morning. Something about the hormone levels being highest in the morning when you are pregnant (probably the same thing that gives people morning sickness). So if you are going to be "more careful" at any time, it should probably be in the morning. I found that as the day went on, I could be more lenient and still get a low reading but if I had too many carbs for breakfast, my number would be high for sure. This is why they tell you to come to the 3 hour test after fasting, then give you 100 grams of sugar. If you have GD, your blood sugar is going to certainly be way over the limit from that.

The worst thing to eat for breakfast is something that is all carbs, no protein and lots of sugar. The perfect example is a pop tart. I hate to admit it but I was eating pop tarts for breakfast in the beginning of my first pregnancy. I wonder why I had GD? Alot of the coffee drinks at Starbucks are loaded with sugar. Just look it up online. So having a pop tart for breakfast and then driving through Starbucks and getting a white chocolate mocha on my way to work was probably a bad idea. A good idea if you love Starbucks is to just get a regular coffee or add sugar free syrup to that. That has no carbs. Or get an Americano..thats a latte with water instead of milk. I would get them with one of the sugar free syrups and add half and half and some splenda. It was delicious and hardly any carbs. I would get them on the way to work after I had my healthy breakfast. More about starbucks later.

If you go out for breakfast the best thing to do is get an omelet and wheat toast. Anything else is too risky. You can never know how many carbs are in french toast, waffles, pancakes, etc and most likely its alot.


Snacks
Your daytime snacks (1 AM and 1 PM) are important because they help keep your blood sugar stable in between meals and they keep you satisfied. Here are some things I ate for snacks. Remember, you need protein AND carbs.

-a string cheese + a 100 calorie pack of something (thank god for these! there are so many different varieties and most are right around what you need for a snack 15-30 carbs. I do the chex mix ones or wheat thins or teddy grahams or cheese-its
-cottage cheese + a 100 calorie pack of something
-a dannon yogurt smoothie (they have protein but not a ton. They come in low sugar but the regular ones aren't that bad either, they usually have 15 carbs) be careful what you pair it with because you don't want to go over 30 carbs total for a snack
-Ballance Bars. These are great. They have the right amount of carbs and protein all in one, I love the cookie dough ones
-South Beach bars (again they have the right amount of protein and carbs all in one)
-Yogurt (watch the sugar and carbs, some have alot)
-cereal and milk (measured out)
-1/4 of almonds + a 100 calorie pack
-Murray sugar free cookies+something for protein (my favorite are the sugar wafers, even Mark likes them)
-sugar free tastey cakes + nuts or cheese for the protein (these are amazing and most have 15-30 carbs for a serving, I love the chocolate chip finger cakes)
-fruit and peanut butter or fruit and cheese (a word about fruit...its recommended that you stay away from it in the morning because it is sometimes high in sugar. So try to stick to smaller pieces of fruit)
-Peanut butter and crackers (might want to buy the low sugar peanut butter but I don't really like it as much)
-A "skinny" latte (nonfat milk and sugar free syrup). When I have this I usually count it as the protein AND carbs for my snack. When I stop at work for one in the morning I try to make it last for a while and it just counts as my mid-morning snack.

So you see where I'm going with this...the combinations and possibilities are endless as long as you know how many carbs you are having and as long as you pair it with something that has protein. Just remember, things that are sugar free still have carbs, so you have to check to see how many cookies are in a serving and how many carbs you are eating. You can't just eat 100 sugar free tastey cakes and think its not going to do anything.

Lunch
There are lots of options for lunch since you can go up to 45 carbs. Here are some suggestions

-Turkey or other lunch meat on whole wheat bread + veggies and dip + a small piece of fruit (I buy the apples that come in a bag because they are smaller)
-A lean cuisine (I've found a few that are around 30 grams of carbs for the whole thing) + cheese + fruit or whatever else adds up to 45 grams
-A hot pocket (some are around 30 grams) + a piece of fruit
-A salad with meat and cheese or hard boiled egg on it+ a piece of fruit + some sugar free cookies or whatever else adds up to 45 grams
-Egg salad on a whole wheat pita + carrots and dressing
-Soup at hand by campbells (they have alot of sodium but are usually low in carbs)+ a string cheese or other protein + a fruit or other carbs that add up to 45 grams
-Peanut butter and sugar free jelly and wheat bread plus some veggies plus a sugar free pudding

I usually bring lunch to work so I choose from the options above but there are things you can get out too. Subway 6 inch subs are not bad but you are probably going to have 45 carbs in just the sandwhich alone so if you get that, thats it...no cookies or chips or anything. You can always get a salad from somewhere or even fast food is doable. A McDonalds cheeseburger probably would be fine but again...no fries and other stuff, it would add up to too much. Actually I've found that fries are a killer and always make my blood sugar higher. It is safest to bring stuff from home but its totally fine to eat out once in a while too.

Dinner
By dinner time it should be pretty easy to control your blood sugar, even if you do go a little over the limit on carbs. Here are some things I suggest:
-Chicken or any other meat or fish(baked, grilled, whatever) plus a serving of cous cous (check serving size) and some veggies. Don't forget to count whatever you put on the meat, especially if its a sweet sauce or something.
-Any meat or fish + a serving of brown rice (check serving size)
-Whole wheat pasta and meat sauce or chicken (usually you can only have about a cup of this but surprisingly, its satisfying)
-Any meat or fish + any fun type of appetizer that adds up to 30 carbs. Some of the ones I've found are Friday's appetizers (mozzerella sticks, spinach and artichoke dip, mini pizza bagels). There are so many things in the freezer section that can be paired with protein to make a good meal and you don't feel like you are dieting. Just stay within the carb limit.
-Hamburger Helper-this is actually a staple in our house and a few of them are under 30 carbs for a serving. Just make sure you only have a serving.
-Rotisserie chicken (we like the ones from fresh market) with whatever carbs and veggies as a side
-Fresh Market and Trader Joes are great places to get pre-made things that are completely fine to eat for dinner. Just check the labels.

Going out and ordering in:
This was one of the things I was most upset about when I was diagnosed with GD. I love going out to eat and of course, we order in a few times a week. You totally still can. If you get italian, you can have pizza, you should just have a salad and some protein with it. I used to get a ceasar salad with chicken on it and then have 1-2 slices of pizza and was fine. If you get chinese see if you can get brown rice. I measure out 1/3 cup of rice and thats all I'll put on my plate. I'll get something like chicken and vegetables. Chinese is hard because alot of it is fried and has alot of carbs in it. But its still doable. When we go out to eat there always seems to be alot of options. As long as you're not going somewhere that only serves huge bowls of pasta, you can always find something. I found that french onion soup plus a nice big salad works well. And if there is a bread bowl on the table I definitley have a piece, just not the whole bowl like I usually would. Its all about moderation and knowing your limit.

Bedtime snack
This is my specialty. The bedtime snack is important because it keeps your blood sugar stable throughout the night and avoids and highs and lows. You would think that the more you eat, the more likely you would be to have a high reading in the morning but its actually the opposite. What happens if you don't eat enough is your blood sugar drops too low and then your body actually produces sugar to bring it back up so it could end up being too high when you wake up. I actually think that this has something to do with people who have morning sickness too. They need to eat more before they go to bed! I pretty much do the same thing for bedtime snack every night:

-1 cup of sugar free ice cream (Edy's makes a bunch, cookie dough is my favorite but hard to find! Believe it or not I am actually on an email list to get an email whenever my local grocery store gets a shipment of the sugar free cookie dough)+ 1/4 cup of almonds+ whatever else you can think of that adds up to 45 carbs. The 1 cup of sugar free ice cream is usually around 30 carbs so you have 15 to play with. I make a whole creation usually...I'll do some sugar free cookies and some whip cream or another fun mix that I get at fresh market. They have a banana split mix its like marshmallows, caramel, chocolate, dried bananas, craisins, and peanuts all mixed together. I think its 13 carbs for 1/3 of a cup. Its perfect on top of vanilla sugar free ice cream. You can do anything as long as you don't go over 45 grams of carbs total and as long as you have the protein. Another option for the protein is peanut butter. Or if you're not into that you can just have a size of something else like cheese for the protein, but that doens't sound good to me. If you're not into adding stuff to your ice cream you could always just have more ice cream to add up to 45 grams of carbs but don't forget the protein too. Or you could have 1 cup of ice cream in a cone...sugar cones are about 10 carbs I think. I have actually had cold stone a few times. They have a sugar free flavor so I got a small of that with peanut butter and a little graham cracker pie crust mixed it. I wouldn't have that all the time because you can't tell how much you're really getting. But as a treat, I think its fine once in a while.

Other options for bedtime snack are popcorn (you can have a good amount for 45 grams), other ice cream treats or popsicles (blue bunny makes good sugar free stuff), rootbeer floats (diet rootbeer with a scoop of sugar free ice cream), pudding, etd. Just don't forget to pair any of those with some protein. Do you see why I said before that almonds are your best friend? Of course if you're not a desert person you could go with the ham sandwhich before bed, that just sounds so unappealing to me.

Here is a sample of a typical day for me on the GD diet (when I was being strict)
7:00 whole wheat english muffin with butter, slice of tomatoe and melted munster cheese
Iced sugar free vanilla americano with half and half and splenda on my way to work
10:00 Dannon light yogurt smoothie and 100 calorie pack of white cheddar popcorn
12:30 Turkey, cheese and mayo on whole wheat bread, carrots and dressing, small apple
3:30: Cinnamon crunch southbeach bar
6:30: baked chicken with italian dressing, 3/4 cup of cous cous, broccoli
9:30: 1 cup of sugar free cookie dough ice cream, 1/4 cup of almonds, 3 sugar free vanilla wafer cookies and some whip cream on top!
Not bad for a diet right?

Now I admit, I have not been as disciplined this time because I haven't been diagnosed with GD and now that I passed the one hour its even harder to be good. But I am going to continue following the plan as much as I can. Its a healthy way to eat pregnant or not and I'm so used to it that it feels weird when I'm not following it! Of course I'm not going to be as strict as I would be if I were diagnosed but who would be?

Other tips and tricks
-you should try to have vegetables whenever you can add them in somewhere. Alot of them have carbs though so you can't just have an unlimited amount. Some things like beans, potatoes, and other starchy things don't even count as vegetables, they count as carbs
-walking and other exercise helps so much. I walked after almost every meal when I had GD and it definitley helped to have normal readings after meals.
-Drink alot of water, I know I don't drink enough
-Try to not have too much sodium, I didn't really pay much attention to it but I know we were told to try to avoid too much
-There are "free foods" that you can have during the day that don't count toward any of your snacks...sugar free candy (lifesavers, werthers, etc), sugar free jello, nuts, etc. Just make sure you don't have too many at one time because they do have a small amount of sugar/carbs and it could add up.
-I drink diet soda which has aspartame which is supposedly fine. I also have crystal light which is the same. I try not to have too much of either though.
-when you take the one hour test, there are usually no guidelines to what you can eat before hand so be smart about it. Eat normally but don't eat a huge meal with lots of carbs right before you go. I had a protein snack about an hour before I took the tests (a string cheese and some almonds). Its just common sense, you want to get an accurate result but you also don't want to try to trick the test. Its also probably more accurate to go in the afternoon since blood sugar is higher and more sensitive in the morning.
-Sugar free stuff is not totally necessary but I kind of feel like you get more bang for your buck if you do use it. If you need to stick to 30 grams of carbs and you get regular ice cream, you can probably only have 1/2 a cup of it or less because it has more carbs. If you do the sugar free you can have much more. I think its worth it.

So thats it for now. I will continue to update and add too this as I think of more. I hope this is helpful to some people. Even if you're not pregnant, I think its just interesting information for you to know. I really wanted to get this together to share my story and let other people know that if you are diagnosed with GD its not that bad at all. And I do believe you can avoid getting it a second time. I have so far. Please write to me on here if you have any questions or comments or anything. I'm going to keep this as a link on my "favorite places" so people can always access it from my blog. Feel free to share with people!

DISCLAIMER
I am not a doctor and am not claiming to know more than a doctor or know how to prevent GD. I do not have medical training and I am not saying that what worked for me will work for everyone. I'm not giving medical advice, I'm just someone who had an experience and wanted to share it in the hopes of helping others. I would have loved to read something like this when I was first diagnosed and I didn't really find anything like this that was a success story.