Written By: Upneet Pansare | Updated : November 14, 2018 11:39 AM IST
Women with diabetes need to be very cautious when they are pregnant ©Shutterstock
Women with diabetes can get pregnant. So if you have diabetes and think that you won't be able to conceive, that is not the case. Many women with diabetes are able to conceive successfully. The fertility issues with diabetes present themselves in other forms. "While the egg will fertilise and you will have an embryo, due to diabetes, the implantation does not take place. Many diabetic women suffer from multiple miscarriages in the earliest stages due to the embryo not being able to implant. The uterus of a diabetic woman is less receptive. The poor receptivity of the uterus prevents a woman from getting pregnant," Dr Sweta Gupta Clinical Director and Sr Consultant- Fertility Solutions, Medicover Fertility.
Besides implantation problems, the high blood sugar level interferes with the balance and levels of other hormones which are vital for the pregnancy process. It affects the levels of progesterone, oestrogen, and testosterone.
Women who have diabetes and are able to get pregnant naturally have to worry about other problems. The risk for birth defects increases in mothers who have diabetes due to the high levels of glucose in the blood. The cells of the embryo get damaged with the excessive glucose and this harms the embryo leading to birth defects.
Women with diabetes usually face delivery complications and have to have a caesarean section. The surgery puts them at higher risk for infections. Due to their diabetes, healing of the incision is also slower.
Women with diabetes are at a higher risk of getting gestational diabetes. This is a type of diabetes that some women get while they are pregnant. Their level of glucose in the blood increases, and the insulin does not work very well. When gestational diabetes affects a woman, who does not have diabetes, she should not get worried, as gestational diabetes normally goes away on its own, after the delivery.
