June 13, 2005
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Georgetown, Georgia, USA:
My eight year old daughter was very sick with a lot of things at once. She has severe nasal allergies, also. She was put in the hospital because of high sugar. The blood was taken after her I.V. was started. During her stay, she was put on a diabetic diet, then her sugar dropped to 44 mg/dl [2.4 mmol/L]. While in the hospital, she did not eat properly and was encouraged to eat anything she would. It stayed low.
We were sent home to eat and watch her sugar. Her average was 84 mg/dl [4.7 mmol/L]. We went to an endocrinologist who did a lot of tests on her blood. They told us that all test but one came back normal. Her test of her pancreas said it is putting out no insulin. What are we dealing with? Is this only diabetes or could we be looking at something else? If so, what? She goes back to do a fasting test soon.
We are going on a three week trip across the country in six weeks. Do I need to cancel this? I know we will never get this opportunity to go on this type trip again. The doctor says wait and see what the tests say. I don’t feel as informed as I would like to be. They did not discuss what she should be eating. I’ve been letting her eat what she likes as she only weights 49 pounds. I’m just really scared and feel as though I’m not doing enough.
Answer:
It sounds that you need to make an appointment with your child’s physicians and have them set aside a good bit of time to answer and address your questions. Her primary care doctor should do.
Please see the Symptoms of Diabetes on this web site about typical signs and symptoms of diabetes. You didn’t indicate that she is on insulin now, so, based on the limited information, I would not be convinced that your daughter HAS diabetes. Could she be at risk? Maybe. I certainly can’t tell you to keep or cancel your trip and I agree that you might want to talk to the physicians first.
DS
