My 11 year old son has been having problems with aggression. He is getting into fights frequently and becomes angered quickly. My father was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of 10 when he began behaving in a similar manner, but had no other symptoms at the time it was discovered. I have appointments for my son with a psychologist to help him and the family through this and his regular doctor to rule out any physical causes. Has anyone ever seen any correlation between behavior and onset of juvenile diabetes?

There seems to have been very little research on this theme either in man or animals. However, I did find one study that showed that an infusion of glucose into people with a fundamentally aggressive personality did precipitate aggressive behaviour. This suggests that your son’s problem is not linked to the autoimmune disorder in type 1A (autoimmune) diabetes, but may be a reflection of the onset of hyperglycemia on a special personality. In view of the family history it might be a good idea to ask his doctor to do an antibody test. If this is negative it would reassure you that his behaviour was not linked to a high blood sugar due to diabetes.

DOB