May 28, 2009
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Missoula, Montana, USA:
My two and a half-year-old grandson was at a friend’s house where the kids eat a lot of sweets. His other grandmother picked him up and, for some unknown reason, checked his blood sugar, which was 145 mg/dl [8.0 mmol/L]. She says he has diabetes and wants him to fast for 12 hours so she can do another test on him in the morning. After he has been loaded up on sugar, will the blood test be high? He drinks a lot of water but he pees out normally. I changed his diaper only twice yesterday, He is active and plays a lot and I don’t fill him up with sugar. Should there be concern for him at this time or do I need to seek medical help? The other grandmother is not a medical professional at all, just a hypochondriac. I just wanted to ask someone that actually knows and tell her where to go, if need be. She has the other grandson, who is now 10, thinking he has every disease known to man. He doesn’t, but you can’t convince him of that. By the way, the other grandmother has type 2, self-diagnosed, for which she takes natural medications.
Answer:
Certainly from a posting, I can’t tell if anyone in the family is a hypochondriac.
A random fingerstick glucose of 145 mg/dl [8.0 mmol/L] is NOT diabetes mellitus. Please see our web page on the Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes . From your description, the young grandchild has no symptoms of diabetes.
Is there diabetes in the family, other than the other grandmother? If there were a family history of type 1 diabetes OR if the child is having some symptoms related to diabetes (poor weight gain, increased thirst, increased urination, persistent diaper rash), it would be easy to screen the child with a fasting serum glucose. Given the circumstances you describe, this would probably be BEST at a doctor’s office or hospital laboratory so as to reassure all the pertinent family members.
DS
