December 20, 2000
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Katy, Texas, USA:
My three year old son was recently diagnosed with type�1 diabetes. His blood sugar was 630 mg/dl [35 mmol/L] when we got to the hospital and 350 mg/dl [19.4 mol/L] by 10:00 that night. His islet cell antibodies were less than 1, and his insulin antibodies were less than 2. An A1c was run that was 11.7%. He had a number of illnesses prior to his diagnosis. Could that have increased his blood sugars up for the past three months as indicated by the A1c? Also, he was sick with croup right after we got home. Is here a possibility that he may not have diabetes?
Answer:
This is diabetes. It is not likely that it represents anything but diabetes. I appreciate your concerns that this is not diabetes, but I believe you are best served by aggressively treating what clearly appears to be diabetes. Islet cell antibodies and insulin autoantibodies can be helpful in making the diagnosis of diabetes when they are positive — but negative results do not rule out diabetes.
MSB
