February 22, 2002
Daily Care
Question from Kansas, USA:
I don’t even know where to begin. My 11 year old son, diagnosed with diabetes when he was almost four years of age, receives 4-16 shots per day because his blood sugars are very uncontrollable. He can be so high that his monitor will only read “HI”, and within 30 minutes, he can drop down to 35 mg/dl [1.9 mmol/L], without even receiving a shot. Needless to say, he is a challenge.
He gets three IV’s a week, two at home and one in the hospital which is called a PIVOT procedure. We are told that only a handful of places are doing this in the USA. He has a nurse every night, and last year, he spent over 1/2 of his school year at home or in the hospital. Is there anything that can be done? Transplants? New age stuff? Anything?
Answer:
Without access to much more complete clinical data, it is hard for me, within the compass of an e-mail, to make any suggestions to help your son beyond saying that the present management appears extraordinarily unorthodox. It also seems a matter of some urgency that you seek a consultation with a recognised team in pediatric diabetes care.
DOB
