February 8, 2009
Diagnosis and Symptoms, Hypoglycemia
Question from Hamersville, Ohio, USA:
I am a preschool teacher and a parent in my room wants to have her daughter tested for diabetes. The child is an extremely picky eater and has been in the hospital twice, once in August, and recently. Both times she has had low blood sugar and was dehydrated. Can she possibly have type 1 and be having low blood sugars before being diagnosed? My daughter has had type 1 for almost a year.
Answer:
Children sometimes are hypoglycemic with illnesses. They don’t eat and the blood glucose is on the “low” side, but not really dangerously low. It almost never is early diabetes. I know there is some “urban legend” about this, but diabetes is really just high blood glucose. If the family were worried, they could ask for antibody testing to look at diabetes risk, especially if there were type 1 in the family. Otherwise, like with your child, the classic symptoms will appear – thirst, increased urine, etc.
LD
