June 7, 2005
Honeymoon, Other Illnesses
Question from Barnegat, New Jersey, USA:
My 20 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with diabetes and mononucleosis. She had one blood sugar reading of 314 mg/dl [17.4 mmol/L] and was 200 mg/dl [11.1 mmol/L] or under within the next two days. The doctors in the hospital flushed her system immediately and put her on insulin. Her C-peptide test was 1.3 and antibodies test was negative.
After two months, she is taking only four units of Lantus daily and has not taken Humalog for over six weeks. We have gotten varying opinions that this is a honeymoon stage or that the mononucleosis caused pancreatitis that she will recover from as the mononucleosis goes away. We have no history of diabetes in our family and she has rarely been sick before this incident. Does mononucleosis have a different effect on the pancreas?
Answer:
To my knowledge, your daughter is suffering from type 1 diabetes that is occasionally triggered by an acute infection of mononucleosis that was surely smoldering for a long time. This may explain the negativity for islet autoantibodies. In adults, it can have a longer honeymoon with a longer residual insulin endogenous secretion provided you keep on the best metabolic control.
MS
