June 19, 2006
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Liverpool, England, USA:
Further to my previous question a year ago, my eight year old son still seems to be having some high blood sugars. We went back to the doctor last October and he told us to wait until February and, if things were the same, they would do a fasting glucose test. By that time, things had settled down and I didn’t want to put my son through blood tests he may not need. However, the symptoms, especially thirst, are back.
For the past three evenings, I’ve tested his blood sugar. On the first night, two hours after dinner, he was 7.1 mmol/L [128 mg/dL]; after three hours, he was 8.3 mmol/L [149 mg/dL]. On the second night, he was 7.4 mmol/L [133 mg/dl], then 8.0 mmol/L [144 mg/dL]. Tonight, my son was 9.1 mmol/L [164 mg/dL] at two hours; 6.6 mmol/L [119 mg/dL] at three hours; and 7.2 mmol/L [130 mg/dL] at four hours Are these numbers okay or do I need to be concerned? He still takes melatonin but we skipped it tonight to see if that helped.
Answer:
Please refer to other questions we have posted about the Diagnosis and Symptoms of diabetes. We also information about the Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes.
By definition, diabetes can be diagnosed if there is a CONFIRMED FASTING serum or plasma glucose (NOT with a home glucose meter) greater than 125 mg/dL (greater than 6.9 mmol/L); or a CONFIRMED RANDOM serum or plasma glucose (NOT with a home glucose meter) IN THE PRESENCE OF SYMPTOMS of greater or equal to 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L); or if, in a proper, formal oral glucose tolerance test, the two hour value is greater or equal to 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L).
Based on your description, does your child have diabetes? I don’t think so. Might he have glucose intolerance? Maybe. I think a formal glucose tolerance test might be warranted now. But, why not perform some routine fasting, screening studies?
DS
