I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about 22 years ago. I have a nine year old son. There were a couple times last year that I tested his blood sugar because he was acting really grumpy, which is how I get when my blood sugar is high. One night, I tested him and he was 282 mg/dl [15.7 mmol/L]. I was extremely concerned so I took him down to our local Emergency Room (ER). After checking in and waiting an hour or more, they tested his blood and it was 116 mg/dl [6.4 mmol/L]. My husband and I decided that he must have had some kind of sugar on his hands, whether it be candy, juice, just something sweet. We did not wipe his finger with an alcohol swab before testing.

Tonight, he was acting really grumpy again, so I decided to test his blood again. We wiped his finger with alcohol and tested his blood and the result was 189 mg/dl [10.5 mmol/L]. I waited 15 minutes and tested again and it was 170 mg/dl [9.4 mmol/L].

I’m really at a loss as to what I should do. Our local hospital here isn’t the greatest. I travel to Salt Lake City for my appointments, but it’s a four hour drive, so I just wanted to see if I can get any advice or information. Also, I was wondering what a non-diabetics fasting blood sugar should be? I plan on taking his blood sugar again in the morning.

I think you should contact the child’s pediatrician. You have not described real, classic symptoms of diabetes mellitus such as increased urination, increased thirst, changes in weight, etc.”Grumpiness” is not specific for diabetes.

Are your meter and strips properly coded? Have you done any fasting glucose monitoring?

I know that you know that the biochemical definition of diabetes pertains to glucose monitoring from serum tests (done in a laboratory, not on a meter) and include confirmed results of:

Fasting serum glucose greater than 125 mg/dL [7.0 mmol/L]; OR

Random serum glucose greater than 200 mg/dL [11.1 mmol/L] in the presence of classic symptoms; OR

A value of greater than 200 mg/dL [11.1 mmol/L] in the two hour sample of a properly performed oral glucose tolerance test.

Based on your description, I do not think the boy fulfills these criteria. But, I agree that you what you seem to have found sounds a bit concerning. Have the child checked by his regular pediatrician. Perhaps a fasting glucose (from a venous blood draw and run by a laboratory) is all that is required at this point. Sometimes, I will ask for a “Poor Man’s Glucose Tolerance Test” whereby we get a fasting serum glucose run in the laboratory (not by a meter) and then have the child really chow down on a breakfast LOADED with carbohydrates and then bring the child back to check the glucose two hours after the first bite of breakfast for another test.

DS