Type 1 diabetes runs high in our immediate family. Recently, two of my son’s first cousins have been diagnosed with type 1. For the past three weeks, my almost four year old son has been extremely thirsty, urinating quite frequently (every 20 to 30 minutes during the day and three times during the night), and drowsy. I took him to the Emergency Room (ER) after a day where he was worn out and not willing to make response. I was denied a simple urine diabetes test. I was wondering if you could help me at all? Do you think we have reason to be concerned?

First of all, you don’t necessarily need to take the child to the ER for a “simple urine test.” You’d save far greater time and money if you bought the urine dipstick tests at your local pharmacy and tested the child yourself. THEN, if the test showed the presence of glucose (or glucose and ketones), you would contact your child’s primary care physician (or your ER again) and have some increased substance in your concerns.

That said, I have no idea why your ER would not perform this simple test.

Finally, a BLOOD test is far more sensitive and accurate for screening for diabetes than a urine test.

Contact your child’s pediatrician or primary health care provider and relay your concerns!

DS