August 16, 2004
Diagnosis and Symptoms, Other
Question from Mission, Texas, USA:
My 7 year old daughter had a glucose test this morning at a pharmacy. It showed 111 mg/dl [6.1 mmol/L] and that normal is 70 to 110 mg/dl [3.9 to 6.1 mmol/L]. She has frequent urination and is always thirsty and hungry. She has had vision problems that were explained as “spasms” that made her see blurry. When she was 3 years old, my daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy, sent to Emergency Room in “status epilepticus.” She was on Tegretol until we were told she had “clean” EEGs for a year.
I never thought she might be diabetic and never asked her doctors about this. Do they test sugar level automatically when running tests for epilepsy? Should I ask to see her records? Could all these (idiopathic) problems be stemming from her sugar level? From what I have read, many parents believe the seizures are caused by glucose levels. She has been seizure free for over two years.
Answer:
Seizures are not caused by diabetes. Hypoglycemia sometimes can be associated with seizures, however, but this is not from having diabetes. A random blood glucose of 111 mg/dl [6.1 mmol/L] could be a normal nervousness/stress response just to having the test, especially if done after and not before eating. In any case, you should contact your physician and let them know these results so that they can be repeated with a standard lab assay.
SB
