Question from Knoxville, Tennessee, USA:

I have custody of my two year old cousin. Neither his mother nor father nor siblings have any type of diabetes. He was born with galactosemia and an allergy to milk sugars. He has been with me since October and I have noticed over and over and just never really put it together that he is thirsty all the time and urinates a lot. Most importantly, he “zones out” on us. He will just be sitting or playing and all of a sudden go into a zombie-like state. You can call his name, drop a book and nothing, almost like a febrile seizure, but then he’s fine. I have recently thought this could possible be a drop in blood sugar or even a spike in blood sugar. Is this possible? I just don’t know what could be going on. He has a pediatrician’s appointment coming up, but I wanted to check somewhere else so we could be prepared and get another opinion.