July 6, 2000
Other Illnesses
Question from Tennessee, USA:
My 7 year old son was diagnosed with granuloma annulare when he was 3 years old. He had a grand mal seizure when he was 4 years old and now has been diagnosed with a learning disability. His teacher says he stares off into space each afternoon and mid morning his writing and speech skills both are inconsistent–sometime almost normal, other times way below normal.
He has had blood sugar tests done with a meter by the health department at six month intervals. One reading was 63; the others average between 80 and 95. He also is always hungry and recently has had a sudden weight gain of about 12 pounds in less than a year. Could he be hypoglycemic or diabetic? Type one diabetes runs in our family (mother’s side).
Answer:
Granuloma annulare is thought to be an autoimmune condition and is sometimes linked with diabetes. At the same time I think it very unlikely that your son has Type�1A (autoimmune) diabetes. However if you were anxious about this, you could ask his doctor to arrange an antibody test; a number to call about this is 1-800-425-8361. Your son would seem to not be a candidate for the DPT-1 trial but they could tell you where to get the test done. On the figures you give, I doubt also if he has any specific hypoglycemic syndrome and at this stage I would not think that it would be of value to carry out a complex metabolic assessment of all the possibilities.
DOB
