I have 2 daughters; one is 9 years and the other is 8 years old. They both have had a 3 hour glucose tolerance test and both were diagnosed with hypoglycemia. I was informed at that time that it is low blood sugar, which is a type of diabetes. Is hypoglycemia Type 2 diabetes? I have heard different things, that it is and that it isn’t t. I’m doing the best I can to monitor this condition, but there is only one pediatric endocrinologist in Nevada and I can’t get the girls in for several months. I’ve read up on this confusing condition, but have only became more confused since it seems not every one recognizes this as a type of diabetes.

Hypoglycemia (blood sugar level lower than 50-55 mg/dl) can be an occasional manifestation of prediabetes. It can be due to the inappropriate release of endogenous insulin from pancreatic beta cells suffering from the autoimmune attack typical of Type�1A autoimmune diabetes. This doesn’t mean that all cases of hypoglycemia are secondary to prediabetes though.

In the case of your daughters, two things speak against the hypothesis of prediabetes: 1) Are both of them prediabetic really? 2) Why was a 3 hour glucose tolerance test performed on either of them? 3) Did it turn it out as reactive or fasting hypoglycemia? As you can easily understand, a pediatric endocrinologist is highly recommended. Your daughters’ appointment is close. There should be no harm waiting until then I think.

MS