June 20, 2008
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Atlanta, Georgia, USA:
My 11-year old son has complained of fatigue for about two months. He had blood work done two weeks ago and his non-fasting glucose came back at 167 mg/dl [9.3 mmol/L]. He went back to the doctor today for a fasting glucose test, which came back at 113 mg/dl [6.3 mmol/L]. His urine test was normal for glucose, but ketones were at 50. The doctor said the ketones could be high because he had not had anything to drink for 12 hours. He had more blood drawn today to check insulin and fasting glucose again. We were told he may be at the early stages of type 1 diabetes. Everything I have read so far indicates these levels are abnormal but not high enough to be called diabetes. What exactly does this mean? I am very worried. We do not have type 1 history in our family.
Answer:
You are correct. This could be early abnormalities of diabetes. I would suggest that you contact a pediatric endocrinologist in your community, perhaps Drs. Bob Schultz, Steve Anderson or colleagues at Scottish Rite or the folks at the Medical School such as Dr. Inger Hansen. All are excellent colleagues and will be able to help you sort this out, see if you need other testing, antibody testing, learn how to do home blood glucose monitoring, etc. More importantly, if there is unexpected or ongoing weight loss, excessive urination, enuresis or other unusual findings, please call and contact your medical team since this could mean further loss of insulin availability and problems with more insulin deficiency instead of only intermittent insulin deficiency, etc.
SB
