June 6, 2002
Hypoglycemia
Question from :
My 12 year old son, who has had has diabetes for five years and is on an insulin pump, does not have lows that frequently, but, once in a while when he is low, he gets very agitated (screaming hitting, kicking and biting) if I try to help him correct his blood sugar. The last time it happened I was afraid that he would hurt himself and me in the process. Right now he is bigger than I can handle by myself, and I am concerned as he gets bigger something bad could happen.
I realize the best way to avoid this is to keep him from having low blood sugars but don’t want him running high due to complications. His A1cs have been 6.5-8% since he was diagnosed. Once in a while we have had to let him go high for a while so he could feel his lows but that was before he went on the pump.
We want to know is what we can do about these behaviors when he is low.
Answer:
I appreciate your dilemma. You are indeed correct that minimizing those lows will help. I would focus on trying your best to recognize the lows as they are happening and assisting your son to recognize the low prior to the point at which he becomes belligerent. The quicker you can intervene when he is becoming low, the less likely he is to get to the point of dangerous anger. The angry reaction that you describe during lows for some kids is actually quite common. It remains a problem for which there is no easy answer.
MSB
