I have talked to many parents of children with diabetes that have seizures due to lows. Some of them include symptoms of paralysis, lasting up to days at a time without other underlying medical factors. My daughter has never had a seizure, thankfully, although her blood glucoses have been much lower on occasion than some of these other children. Is there a pre-disposition to seizures? Why do some children have them and others don’t? Also, if your child is prone to seizures, will they lessen over time, as the child gets older?

Brain tissue in children is rather inaccessible, as you can imagine, which is why there is no real understanding on a molecular basis as to why some subjects are more susceptible to seizures than others. A family history of seizures, a history of seizures for some other reason, or evidence of a possible birth injury are commonly invoked as explanations for especial sensitivity to hypoglycemia and from animal studies it has been supposed that some individuals can make better use of other intermediary metabolites than glucose for the energy needs of the brain.

In some cases seizures do get better with time; but again it is difficult to disentangle the effects of better blood glucose control and medication.

DOB