July 16, 2003
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Kingston, New Hampshire, USA:
My three year old daughter recently had a high fever and lethargy so I took her to the doctor thinking she had a UTI because she was unable to void. Her urine dipstick showed no infection, but she had a large amount of glucose and ketones. We were sent right to the lab where her serum glucose was 141 mg/dl [7.8 mmol/L] about three hours later. Her workup was complete, and the results were encouraging.
Her hemoglobin A1c was 5.2%, pancreatic islet cell antibodies were negative, her two hour postprandial blood sugar was also normal, and thyroid and chemistry studies were normal. She had a repeat urine a week later that was negative. With all of this said, where do we go from here? At age three, shouldn’t her body be able to compensate for a viral infection and not spill urine glucose? What are your thoughts?
Answer:
Just be vigilant for symptoms of thirst and excessive urination. The likelihood is that your daughter had a raised glucose because of stress, illness, and fear of venipuncture along with the act that she probably been drinking high glucose drinks during a febrile illness. This is a common scenario.
KJR
