Question from Ireland:

My son is four and a half. Ever since he was born, he has been unhappy, having sporadic moments of severe distress especially after certain foods. We thought it was his milk at the time. More recently, I seem to think that perhaps it is linked to certain sugars. Sometimes, after sweet things, he can be extremely irritable, distressed and almost aggressive. Most recently, we gave him Floxapen syrup for a stye/cyst on his lower eyelid, prescribed by our general practitioner. Within an hour, he was rolling around on the floor and kicking and crying in distress. The leaflet said not to give to a child with any liver problems or fructose malabsorption issues. We recently had his blood tested on account of this. Not all results are back yet but, apparently, his liver function is normal. I’m at my wits’ end and am terrified that his blood tests will not be able to tell us anything when they do come back. I have asked for a diabetes test as it runs in the family and my husband has been told he is borderline. We are very careful with our son’s diet. Two days ago, he had a fever and had no energy. He was refusing food but, as soon as he ate something, he perked up again. Do you think I am right to be concerned about diabetes? Or, could he perhaps be hypoglycemic?