The one thing I don't talk much about on my blog is my health. This posting is an exception. I am posting this because I know there are other pregnant-with-twins women who read this, and who knows about the lurking population. Maybe this will help someone else out there in the blogosphere. I sure am happy to find out why I've been sweating like a whore in church...
I think everyone knows I am a diabetic. I was a "mild" diabetic before becoming pregnant, and then it got very bad during my pregnancy. I was taking an ass-load of insulin injections (no pun intended) and all that other fun stuff. I also think everyone knows that I had pre-eclampsia -- which resulted in my twins being born at 32 weeks -- and I was put on hospital bed rest and given the two powerful steroid shots to quickly develop my twins' lung before birth.
Immediately after birth, my glucose numbers were great again. The last time I took an insulin shot was the night before I gave birth. Since then I have been on 1000 mg of Metformin per day. My numbers remained good...until 2 weeks ago. Now my numbers are sky high (i.e., morning fasting reading was 192!). My feet were becoming more and more numb. My blood pressure wasn't coming down like it should have after birth. Oh, and since the steroid shots in the hospital I have been having severe hot flashes....especially at night.
So, in a nut shell, my body is falling apart. On top of the sleep deprivation and all the other adjustments to life with twins, I felt like shit. I knew in my gut something was very wrong, but I was just too stressed, tired and busy to do much about it.
I finally went into the doctor (endocrinologist) on Friday. My blood pressure was finally good (118/78), but I had mysteriously gained 14 lbs in a month! (I had originally lost all of my pregnancy weight in the 12 days post-birth.) I am doing lab work on Tuesday because there are signs of possible kidney and/or liver damage (weight gain, not urinating often, etc.). He explained that it could take 6-9 months post-birth for my body to recover from the pre-eclampsia and steroid shots. The steroid shots could have a longer impact on me than I could have imagined. He said the dosage I was given since I was carrying twins was massive. Insulin is a natural hormone in the body, so my diabetes is also being affected by the steroid shots...as are the damn hot flashes. AND, I still have not gotten my first post-birth period...even though I gave birth almost 3 months ago, and stopped breastfeeding 2 1/2 months ago (translation: hormone issues).
I am mentioning all of this because a lot of mommy bloggers don't talk a lot about the post-birth physical recovering. I thought the hot flashes, weight gain, etc. were just further evidence that I was going crazy during the adjustment period.
So if any of the new moms out there had the steroid shots, don't be surprised if you find yourself sweating all the time, having high blood sugar numbers or having period issues. Those shots probably saved my twins' lives so I have NO REGRETS on getting it -- obviously -- but I just wish I would have been told to expect some of the crap I have been feeling lately.
Anyway, just a heads up.
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4 comments:
I think it is a good thing you are talking about it. I had a blood clot after mhy second baby and I tell everyone the signs to look for because I had NO clue.
I really hope you start doing better. It's a worrying situation.
I had my steroid shots about a week or so before you I believe (end of January). I had NO idea they would have symptoms after birth. My blood pressure is high now and it has never been before. I also had GD although it wasn't bad, but now I am going to check my sugars tomorrow to make sure they're normal. I haven't checked them since I was in the hospital when I gave birth. It's hard to check when you don't eat regular meals!!
Thanks for sharing. I had severe preeclampsia as well, and then was surprised that my BP was still high (like 160/100) after I gave birth... and no one could decide what to do with me as I wasn't pregnant anymore. But mine went down after a couple of weeks.
Didn't know that the steroid shots could lead to hot flashes... I've been a lot warmer than I used to be but I thought it was just hormonal and a continuation of being a furnace during pregnancy... good to know!
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. It is always great pleasure to read your posts.
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