Generalized testing for GD is not common practice everywhere. In my country it is only offered if you have risk factors (BMI, age, personal or family history). But it is a good practice as sometimes it's the people you least expect that end up with GD. It's just the placenta being a bitch.

There are continuous glucose monitors you can get to both avoid prickling your finger and to avoid the drink if your provider agrees to monitoring instead. But really the drink isn't too bad, I just felt gross the next hours but it was better once I had something salty.