February 27, 2006
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Long Island, New York, USA:
My eight year old daughter has had type 1 diabetes for 3.5 years. My son is almost five and has been showing mild symptoms of diabetes: hunger, thirst, and not gaining any weight. We have tested his sugar from time to time and it has been fine. Today, I tested him 45 minutes after he ate some fruit snacks, 21 grams of carbohydrates, and he was 149 mg/dl [8.3 mmol/L]. I am waiting for our pediatrician to call me back. Does a non-diabetic child always have a blood sugar of normal ranges, less than 120 mg/dl [6.7 mmol/L], even after eating? Could this be the very early stages of diabetes for him?
Answer:
No and yes. It is always hard to comment on one blood sugar done at home with a meter. If he were 400 mg/dl [22.2 mmol/L] it would be easier, but the loose ones, like this, are just difficult. Since we can’t cure diabetes and can’t stop its development, trying monitoring him a while and see. Fasting blood sugars over 126 mg/dl [7.0 mmol/L] are diabetes; symptoms and 200s mg/dl [over 11.1 mmol/L] are diabetes. I wouldn’t start insulin in a five year old based on one sugar at any rate.
LD
