March 30, 2002
Hyperglycemia and DKA
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Question from the Netherlands:
My five year old son, who has had diabetes about a year, sometimes has extremely high blood sugars (20-24 mmol/L [360-432 mg/dl]) which we cannot relate to insulin, food or stress, and I recently read something about the influence of growth hormone. Can you tell me something more about the influence of these hormones on my five year old son’s blood sugars?
Answer:
From: DTeam Staff
Growth hormone can antagonise the effects of insulin, but you need very high levels to do this. It is usually a problem in puberty when growth hormone is high. However, your sons high levels are not likely to be due to growth hormone, but rather to the issues of looking after diabetes in a five year old, such as diet, exercise and insulin.
JS