July 2, 2002
Honeymoon
Question from Florida, USA:
Since my daughter (type 1 diabetes diagnosed with about three months ago) has been on insulin, her blood sugar levels are always either normal or too low. Very rarely do they go too high, and even then it’s only to about 130 mg/dl [7.2 mmol/L]. Her insulin has been reduced, but she still has days where it will drastically drop to the 50s [mg/dl, 2.8 mmol/L]. Is it possible that she was misdiagnosed? Almost all the people with diabetes I’ve talked to tell me their sugar levels are always too high, and are always they trying to lower them. It seems to be complete opposite with my daughter; we are always struggling to get them higher.
Answer:
It sounds as though your daughter is going through the honeymoon period. This is quite common and usual in children with type�1 diabetes, but it is often mistaken for thinking the diabetes has been misdiagnosed. It sounds as though you need to keep cutting back on the insulin. You should do this with the help of your daughter’s diabetes team.
JS