June 12, 2003
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Plain City, Ohio, USA:
My four year old son is always hyper so I took him to the doctor where his blood sugar was 58 mg/dl [3.2 mmol/L], and we are going ready to see an endocrinologist. He has always been a sick child, even though I nursed his for 15 months. He has had frequent infections and lots of unexplained fevers. My friend has a blood glucose meter so I am keeping a log for the doctor, and my son has had readings of 74-156mg/dl [4.1-8.7 mmol/L]. What do you make of all this? Does this mean he has diabetes?
Answer:
I doubt your son has diabetes. Please see symptoms of diabetes. There is a specific biochemical definition of diabetes, relative to blood tests, time of day of blood collection, and relative to symptoms. A diagnosis of diabetes might be suspected based on a glucose meter using a fingerstick glucose check, but the diagnosis cannot be established by such methods.
Your son’s values are not especially worrisome of diabetes to me, depending on when that 156 mg/dl [8.8 mmol/L] was obtained. Being “hyper” is not a typical symptom of diabetes.
DS
