A fertility expert emphasises the importance of stabilising blood sugar and thyroid health before conception, demonstrating that diabetes does not exclude parenthood but requires careful planning and specialist care for successful pregnancy outcomes.
Diabetes does not rule out parenthood, but it can make conception and pregnancy more complex, according to an article by fertility specialist Dr Kshitiz Murdia in The Indian Express. He describes the case of a woman who had spent eight years trying to conceive and had already suffered two miscarriages before a fertility work-up uncovered several overlapping problems: obesity, reduced ovarian reserve, untreated hypothyroidism and previously undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. Her husband also had male-factor infertility, including a low sperm count and a high proportion of abnormally shaped sperm.
Murdia argues that this kind of case shows why infertility is often a couple issue rather than a single diagnosis. In such situations, IVF can provide a controlled path to conception, but it is not a treatment for diabetes itself. The priority, he writes, is to stabilise overall health first, especially blood sugar and thyroid function, while deciding on the most suitable fertility strategy.
That approach matters because poorly controlled diabetes around conception raises the risk of pregnancy complications. Murdia says women planning pregnancy should ideally reach an HbA1c below 6.5% if this can be done safely. Other clinical sources support the need for careful pre-pregnancy preparation: Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins Medicine note that conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome can affect ovulation and fertility, while thyroid disease resources from Acibadem Hospitals Group and research published in Thyroid emphasise aiming for pregnancy-appropriate thyroid levels before embryo transfer.
In the case described by Murdia, the first attempt at ovarian stimulation did not yield enough eggs, so the couple was counselled about donor eggs. Because the husband’s sperm parameters were also poor, doctors used intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in which a single sperm is injected directly into an egg. The treatment produced three good-quality embryos, two of which were transferred after the woman’s body was medically prepared for pregnancy.
Her HbA1c improved from 7.1% at diagnosis to 6.8% when pregnancy was confirmed and then to 6.3% six weeks later. The pregnancy was managed with close antenatal monitoring, including glucose checks and scans, and ended at 37 weeks with an elective caesarean delivery of two healthy babies. The article’s wider message is simple: diabetes does not automatically prevent pregnancy, but it makes planning, testing and coordinated specialist care much more important.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
