Is it possible that when blood sugar goes too low or too high, this could affect a child’s behavior? We have noticed that when the child in question is too high, he becomes aggressive. He is normally a very cooperative person and is an honor student. It has been witnessed even in the home environment that when his sugar goes high, he becomes more irritable and sometimes aggressive. When his behavior changes this prompts his parents to check his sugar and most of the time it is high. Have you heard of this sort of behavior related to high blood sugar levels?

It is not uncommon for children and adults to feel awful when their blood sugars are high. Imagine feeling like you have the flu. When you are ill, you are less tolerant of frustration and you are more irritable. Of course, you are in control of what you say and do when you are not feeling well, but you tend to care a bit less about how you are perceived by others at that time. This is a similar feeling for many individuals when they are running very high blood sugars. Keep in mind, however, that being more irritable is a far cry from being aggressive. High blood sugars are not related to aggression.

JWB
Additional comments from Barb Schreiner, diabetes nurse specialist:

Fluctuations in blood sugar can indeed lead to changes in how a person feels or behaves. Abrupt changes in behavior may be a good signal to check a blood sugar. However, blood sugar and diabetes, in general, should not be excuses for misbehaving. That means we should be helping children verify whether blood sugar is contributing, correct the blood sugar if needed and work to adjust to a more acceptable behavior. After all, we each have had “bad days” and “bad moods” and had to continue to function. That is the message our children need to hear as well.

BS