June 22, 2000
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Hickman, Nebraska, USA:
I took my 4 year old to the doctor for what I thought was a bladder infection. The urinalysis came back with no infections but sugar was in the urine. The blood test showed his blood sugar to be 157. The doctor called it ketoacidosis. He was admitted to the hospital and blood work was done again. The blood work this time came back normal (9 hours in between blood work). We have been monitoring his blood sugars for the last week and a half we have ranges from 42 to 174 in the week and a half. Could there be a possibility he has diabetes? My mother-in-law has a second cousin with it and my dad has a second cousin that had it and my father-in-law had a cousin with it.
Answer:
Your son is having blood sugar readings that are abnormally high (up to 174 in your message) and recently was hospitalized for ketoacidosis. In addition, your son has had sugar in his urine. Although there are other infrequent causes of sugar in the urine, the symptoms and presentation you have briefly described can be classic signs of diabetes in children. I would encourage you to speak with your physician at length about the problems you’ve recently had with your son and the options for treatment.
MSB
