May 18, 2002
Other Illnesses
Question from Merrimack, New Hampshire, USA:
My three year old son, who has had type 1 diabetes for about six months, had an absence seizure yesterday, and his blood sugar right after the two-minute seizure was 200 mg/dl [11.1 mmol/L]. He did have status epilepticus about eight months ago that was thought to be associated with a virus and is not on any anti-seizure medications. Can there be an association between my son’s diabetes and the absence seizure?
Answer:
I am not aware of a specific association between absence seizures and type 1 diabetes, but it may make his “seizure threshold” (the level of “insult” necessary to have a convulsion) lower as relates to hypoglycemia.
You may want to ask your son’s primary care physician for a referral to a pediatric neurologist. Since some anti-seizure medications may change his appetite or otherwise affect his glucose readings, be sure that all your son’s physicians dialogue with his pediatric endocrinologist.
DS
