BC cause Diabetes?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2003
BC cause Diabetes?
3
Sun, 07-11-2004 - 9:54pm
Hello everyone!

I just had a quick question and I know I need to talk to my doctor about it also.. but I was curious if anyone had heard the same, or the oppisite.. Here is some background info.


I'm 21 years old and on Sept. 7th, 03 I gave birth to my little girl. She was my first, and while I was pregnant, I had Gestiational (???) Diabetes. I was talking to a relative here recently that also had it while she was pregnant with her son. She had explained sense she wanted to wait to have her second child, she had gone on the pill. Well, sense she had had GD with her pregnancy, and the pill makes your body think your pregnant.. she ended up with a permant full blown diabetes. I haven't got on the pill yet, because yeah right.. Like I'm having sex, but thats a WHOLE different story. I was just wondering if anyone else has heard the same? Or is the pill different from say the patch, or shot? Any insight would be wonderful! Thanks =)

Jessica

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2004
Mon, 07-12-2004 - 1:30am
Hey Jessa

I've never heard of any kind of correlation between any kind of hormonal birth control and diabetes. I may be totally wrong here, but my gut feeling is that the two are completely unrelated. You never know though; excellent question for your Dr.

J

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 07-12-2004 - 8:11am
Hi Jessica...as far as I know too there is no connection between diabetes and use of the pill. Gestational diabetes is thought to be caused by hormones that occur during pregnancy, it's a situation where the mother's body can't produce enough insulin to keep up with the demands of the pregnancy. Women are more at risk for GD if they have a family history of adult-onset diabetes or have other risk factors for diabetes (which would make them more likely to develop diabetes outside of pregnancy as well).

The body doesn't actually really think it's pregnant, if it did there would be all kinds of things going on that are more like pregnancy. The only similarity between the two is that the pill tells the pituitary gland in your brain not to send the hormones that start the ovulation process, just as the progesterone produced in the uterus by the embryo and all its support tissues does.

You should definitely talk to your doctor about this to see if there are any particulars to your situation. It wouldn't make any difference what hormonal birth control you used, they all have pretty much the same action in the body. If your doctor doesn't know, an endocrinologist might have a better feel for whether you're already at risk for diabetes.

Good luck! I hope that helps...

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control 
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-29-2003
Mon, 07-12-2004 - 11:31am
I do know that women who have GD are more likely to develop adult-onset diabetes in the future than those that didnt have GD. I have only "heard" that the pill can affect they way your body metabolizes glucose. Which may be why some gain weight on the pill.

Josie