July 18, 2003
Other Illnesses
Question from Homerville, Georgia, USA:
My 14 year old son has had type 1 diabetes for about five years and has been using an insulin pump for about 10 months, and his hemoglobin A1c is still around 9%. He also has ADD for which he takes Adderall. For about year, his blood pressure has been above 140 so he was started on a blood pressure medication about two months ago and referred to a pediatric cardiologist because of a murmur.
We found out he has a bicuspid aorta and cardiac hypertrophy. What now? He loves sports, and his regular pediatrician said no anaerobic exercise. Is there any way around this? I struggle a lot just to have him test and bolus, so I haven’t told him about the anaerobic exercise yet. Please give me advice on how to handle this and questions I may need to ask his doctors.
Answer:
At the risk of not being helpful, I think most pediatric endocrinologists, like me, don’t profess expertise in cardiology. I would seek an opinion of an expert in cardiac physiology. It is a big command to forbid significant exercise, especially in an active teenager.
LD
