July 5, 2000
Behavior
Question from Doha, Qatar:
My son is 12 years and 10 months old. Ten months ago he started to manipulate his insulin shots without my knowledge. I noticed so many times high blood sugar tests and vomiting. I took him many times to the doctor who couldn’t say much; that’s where I decided to took him to the hospital for several days’ tests. There he told me what he was doing for the past 10 months. I was very sad, but he told me that he was trying to adjust himself to his case and that he though he was doing good, he wanted to try his way but now he knows that it was wrong. I’m so worried about the damage that he might caused to his body. Do please tell me if his growth is okay or not? His weight is 52 kg and his height is 152.5 cm; all his blood tests were okay as the doctors said.
Answer:
First, let me reassure you about your son’s growth. He is around average height for his age but a little overweight. It is always difficult to judge growth from one set of measurements but this is a fairly typical pattern.
In addition, his manipulation of his insulin is so common as to be the norm for his age group and is highly unlikely to have done him any permanent harm provided he now sorts things out.
KJR
