How to Cope After a Gestational Diabetes Diagnosis: Some Tips That Are Inclusive to Those in Eating Disorder Recovery

By: Jennifer Rollin, LCSW-C, Therapist & Founder of The Eating Disorder Center

You’ve gotten the news back that you did not pass the gestational diabetes test in pregnancy and have been given the diagnosis of gestational diabetes (GD). For many, overwhelm and anxiety hits at some point while trying to navigate being pregnant with a health condition. 

While managing gestational diabetes often involves dietary changes (including the idea of food pairing, like having your carbs with protein, fiber, and fat to help with blood sugar), unfortunately doctor’s offices can also be steeped in diet culture and anti-fat bias. So it can be hard to tease out what is actually necessary for managing your condition versus what is coming from diet culture.

Pregnancy can already be an emotional and challenging time. Adding in a diagnosis of gestational diabetes is a whole other thing to navigate, on top of everything else. From pricking your finger multiple times a day, worrying about the baby and your blood sugar, figuring out what food pairings work best, and extra doctors appointments - it can be a lot to manage.

The following are some tips from an eating disorder therapist, who also is knowledgeable about the intersection of chronic illness and eating disorders, on how to cope if you’ve recently been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. 


1. Work to unpack any shame or guilt you may feel around your diagnosis.

When diagnosed with a health condition, it’s so important to be compassionate with yourself. No one would choose to be struggling with a health related diagnosis.

While there are a variety of risk factors that can predispose someone to developing gestational diabetes (such as a previous pregnancy with GD), it’s important to recognize that gestational diabetes is thought to be caused by hormones from the placenta blocking your ability to use or make insulin (Cleveland Clinic, 2024).

It’s helpful to work to unpack any shame or guilt that you feel around your diagnosis. Struggling with a health condition is not a choice. Your body is simply trying to take care of your baby as best it can and you cannot control what hormones your placenta is producing. It’s crucial to practice being kind to yourself as you cope with the new diagnosis.


2. If you can access it, find a therapist who is HAES aligned and knowledgeable about diabetes to help you to cope emotionally with the diagnosis, and a dietitian who follows that same philosophy and is knowledgeable about gestational diabetes.

At The Eating Disorder Center, we have a few therapists who are knowledgeable about the intersection of diabetes (including gestational diabetes) and eating disorders who can help you to emotionally cope and navigate this intersection.

We also highly recommend Lauren Newman’s practice of dietitians who work with clients with diabetes (including gestational diabetes) and eating disorders.


3. Try to work to reduce any ruminating about the ‘what ifs’ of what could happen to your baby.

The reality is that managing gestational diabetes and keeping your blood sugar in range reduces the scary risks that they talk about when it comes to having gestational diabetes.

Plus, if you are doing all that you can and your blood sugar is still not well managed, there are tools that doctors can provide to help you to stabilize your blood sugar, such as insulin. 

Additionally, the good news is that (no matter how frustrating it might be) typically doctors have you tracking your blood sugar multiple times a day, so you can help them monitor for potential issues.

It’s unhelpful to spend lots of time ruminating about worst case scenarios around what could happen to your baby. I know it’s so hard, but instead try to focus on what you can control in terms of taking care of yourself with this diagnosis and building a support team around you for the tough days.


The Bottom Line

If you’ve recently been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I'm sending so much compassion your way! 

Try to remind yourself of who you're doing all of this management for and think about the things you are looking forward to around having a new baby.

Most people with gestational diabetes (whose blood sugar is well managed) go on to deliver healthy babies (Yale Health, n.d.).

As always, I'm over here rooting for you.

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The Eating Disorder Center is a premier outpatient eating disorder therapy center founded by Jennifer Rollin. We specialize in helping children, teens, and adults struggling with anorexia, binge eating disorder, bulimia, OSFED, and body image issues. We provide eating disorder therapy in Rockville, MD, easily accessible to individuals in Potomac, North Potomac, Bethesda, Olney, Silver Spring, Germantown, and Washington, D.C. We also provide eating disorder therapy in Arlington, Virginia and virtually throughout Virginia. Additionally, we offer eating disorder therapy virtually in Florida, Pennsylvania, and California. We provide eating disorder and EMDR trauma therapy in Rockville, Maryland and virtually throughout Maryland and Virginia. We provide eating disorder recovery coaching via Zoom to people worldwide. Connect with us through our website at www.theeatingdisordercenter.com
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References:
Cleveland Clinic. (2024, August 9). What is gestational diabetes? Retrieved October 25, 2024, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9012-gestational-diabetes 

Yale Health. (n.d). Gestational diabetes. https://yalehealth.yale.edu/topic/gestational-diabetes#:~:text=Most%20people%20who%20have%20gestational,condition%20can%20affect%20the%20pregnancy ​