July 14, 2000
Hyperglycemia and DKA, Social Issues: School and Daycare
Question from Lappeenranta, Finland:
I have a 6 years old son, diagnosed 6 months ago. I want to know how high blood sugars may affect his school work. He was tested to get into international school and he had high blood sugars (I didn’t know excitement could cause that) and was very lethargic. He failed the test. I know my son well enough to know he does not have any problems with his functioning, but how do I prove them that it was because of hyperglycemia? Or was it? I’m really desperate to have him in that school with my other kids. The school is not meeting me in the halfway; they say it can’t be related to his diabetes. Can it?
Answer:
It is hard to give you an answer without knowing what your child’s diabetes control is like. However, generally speaking, it is not unusual to have high blood glucose readings at times. If the blood glucose is constantly high, and he is prone to episodes of ketonuria, and his HbA1c is high, this may affect his day-to-day functioning and it would be very important to get his diabetes under better control. However, high readings are not generally the cause of poor school performance per se.
JS
