ADHD and Diabetes
Keep up on some of the latest research because some of it may apply to you and your situation.
Have you ever heard of gestational diabetes? It is a specific type of diabetes that occurs only in pregnant women. What happens is that the hormones a woman’s body produces during the pregnancy can prevent insulin from working as it should. This increases the blood sugar levels within her blood stream which could affect the baby.
A recent study came out making a correlation between gestational diabetes and the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the baby. While gestational diabetes may not be the causation for this development, there is something about how it affects the blood sugar levels that changes, even minutely, the development of the brain in the baby. There is a correlation that has been seen between diabetes and ADHD and ADD. Recently, there has been a huge rise in the cases of diabetes, specifically type two, in the United States. There has also been a huge increase in the number of children being diagnosed for ADHD. During the study that was conducted, there was a sample of two hundred pre-schoolers and two-thirds of that group either had been diagnosed with ADHD or were at risk.
There was also a sample of mothers who had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes and a study that followed their children and their performance in school. Their children typically scored lower on memory, IQ, and language tests than those who’s parents did not have diabetes. They also began to exhibit some attention and communication problems.
This is not to say that having ADHD lowers your IQ or anything. If you do your research, you will find that there are many, many successful people who have had ADD or ADHD. All it requires is a knowledge about how to manage it and how you best function. When a child learns their capabilities, the world is open to them and they are able to excel at what they do. If you have, have had, or are at risk for gestational diabetes then I would suggest doing some additional research on the effects that it can have on your and your children.
In the next few years, there are more studies that are likely to come out discussing this very subject. It is a new topic and, like I said, it discusses correlation and not causation. There is a fine line between the two, and I hope that you appreciate the difference. Gestational diabetes is not a life-threatening illness. Instead of spending your energy worrying, spend it coming up with healthy recipes and getting to the gym.
