October 6, 2004
Other
Question from Madison, Wisconsin, USA:
My nine year old son was diagnosed a month ago with type 1 diabetes. At about that time, he also had a small lump under the skin of his forearm, which the doctor thought was either a bug bite or a sebaceous cyst. It’s now infected. As a result, his doctor drained the abscess and prescribed cephalexin oral suspension.
Should I be concerned about the sugar content? I realize you’ve advised others that this should be fine since their child is sick enough to require antibiotics, but my son is not “sick;” he just had an abscess. He is taking 8 ml, three times per day and says the stuff tastes like “pure syrup.”
Answer:
I would not be concerned about the sugar content of medications occasionally. You will find that in the presence of infection, sometimes blood sugars become a little more difficult to control.
MSB