My nine-year-old son was diagnosed on February 21. The day before, I had a conference with his teacher who informed me of changes in his behavior. He had become very talkative and giggly. Are these symptoms of high blood sugar or is he just being a typical nine-year-old boy? Up until now he has always been the quiet, shy child in school.

It can be tough to distinguish behavior from blood glucose changes with behavior typical of a certain age or developmental level. To help determine, consider the time of day. Is the behavior just after a meal (unlikely to be low blood glucose) or is it right after exercise (more likely to be low blood glucose)? In any event, the best tool to use is your handy blood glucose meter. The result will help you and your child decide if it is diabetes.

BS

[Editor’s comment: As the parent of a 12-year-old son, I think those sound more like age appropriate behaviors. Novo Nordisk has a nice chart showing both Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia that you could print and give to the teacher.

BH]