February 15, 2006
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Norco, California, USA:
I took my four year old to the doctor for a regular check-up and they found sugar in her urine, 500 mg, with the dipstick test. They sent me down to the laboratory for blood work and the blood test came back negative for diabetes (they just took blood, no fasting). I was still concerned and bought the Diastix reagent strips for urinalysis. I checked her urine about four times during the day and it was negative. I took it another time and it was between 250 and 500 mg. I took it again later on throughout the day and the following day and it was still negative. Why is it showing up sometimes and not others? Is this a sign of diabetes? Is there a certain time to check it, when sugar would most likely be present? The doctor wants to check the urine in a week. If it comes back negative, will they still do follow up tests?
Answer:
If your daughter has sugar in her urine, she needs to be tested for diabetes. I would suggest talking with a board certified pediatrician if your physician is not comfortable doing a thorough test for diabetes. Urine testing is a great start, but should not be used to reliably test for diabetes.
MSB
