Question from Staten Island, New York, USA:

I am 16 years old. My family has a severe history of diabetes. Most of them have type 1. I am worried because I often feel faint, nauseous, have headaches, mood changes, can’t sleep at night without eating, and turn pale with a white, dry mouth. These symptoms used to come at night, but now they come in the night and day. I am very worried because I got sent home three times for almost fainting. They were going to call 911.

I took some tests with my uncle’s meter who has type 1 and is 22. My blood sugar was at 65 mg/dl [3.6 mmol/L] two hours after eating a lot, a whole meal. The next was 85 mg/dl [4.7 mmol/L], again, after eating a whole meal. Then, it was 70 mg/dl [3.9 mmol/L]. Whenever it is lower then 90 mg/dl [5.0 mmol/L], I get the symptoms. I was wondering if I could have hypoglycemia and, if so, can it turn into diabetes because that’s what happened to my family? What does my blood sugar have to be to be diagnosed for hypoglycemia or pre-diabetes?