October 24, 2005
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Antelope, California, USA:
I have type 1 diabetes as does my grandfather, mother, sister and uncle. Therefore, I have concerns about my three children, so I check their blood sugars every once in a while. Usually, my 13 year old son’s blood sugars are always between 75 and 85 mg/dl [4.2 and 4.7 mmol/L], but the other day he had a random blood sugar of 134 mg/dl [7.4 mmol/L]. The next morning, I tested him when he got up and it was 104 mg/dl [5.8 mmol/L]. Two hours after he ate, it was 108 mg/dl [6 mmol/L]. He does have unexplained weight loss even though he eats constantly, but no other symptoms. Should I be concerned that he may be developing diabetes?
Answer:
Your concerns are very understandable. It would not seem, based on the information provided, that your child has diabetes now. But, he is at risk, based on the strong family history.
Some special pancreatic antibody testing can be done to see if he is at even further risk.
I suggest that you look at the consideration of enrolling him in a research protocol called TrialNet, a study for individuals at risk of diabetes, based on a tight family history. Not only will TrialNet allow screening of your children for free, a future step in TrialNet is for diabetes PREVENTION. You should be able to find the closest participating center on the TrialNet web site.
DS
