April 7, 2003
Hypoglycemia
Question from Woodruff, South Carolina, USA:
Several hours after my daughter was born, her glucose was measured at 22 mg/dl [1.2 mmol/L], and the highest it got to was 43 mg/dl [2.4mmol/L]. She is undiagnosed, has severe brain damage, a seizure disorder, hypotonia, was hypothermic at birth, had a poor suck, and was very pale. Since we don’t know what her blood sugar was at birth, could this be the cause of her brain damage?
Answer:
On balance I would think that because glucose crosses the placenta freely that the relatively short period of extra uterine hypoglycemia would have been unlikely to have been the cause of so many problems. You should talk to your daughter’s pediatrician however about a fuller clinical evaluation, if only because it may be important from the point of view of genetic counselling.
DOB
