Question from Eureka, California, USA:

We live in very Northern California and our closest pediatric endocrine or diabetes team would be six hours south in San Francisco. Our son’s pediatrician feels there is no pre-clinical phase of type 1 – that kids who get it, do so within around three to four weeks. Over the past year, we’ve noticed symptoms of hypoglycemia, which developed rather suddenly, with our eight year old. Checking for this is how we got the random 170 mg/dl [9.4 mmol/L] at the doctor’s office and were surprised. The doctor says kids can get high readings if they are nervous. I’ve since read that hypoglycemia symptoms sometimes precede type 1, but our doctor says no. Dr. Brink suggested home testing and we have found a carbohydrate meal will result in an immediate rise to 130 to 145 mg/dl [7.2 to 8.1 mmol/L] every time and can return to normal over two hours. However, a mixed meal will result in a blood sugar still above 125 mg/dl [6.9 mmol/L] two hours later. I have also caught a 68 mg/dl [3.8 mmol/L] non-fasting while our son was having the symptoms of hypoglycemia we were worried about (pale, mood change, low energy) Is this unusual? It is true that non-diabetics stay between 70 and 120 mg/dl [3.9 and 6.7 mmol/L] all the time?

Our son has had intermittent increased thirst and urination. He has always wet at night, but it seemed better for awhile and is now back. He tugs at his eyes and says they feel dry. He bruises everywhere. He also has occasional night sweating (head and neck) and vague complaint of abdominal pain.

Our pediatrician says if this is diabetes, he has never seen a case like it. We wouldn’t have caught the 170 mg/dl [9.4 mmol/L] if we weren’t checking for a low. Does this sound anything like early diabetes? Fasting was 93 mg/dl [5.2 mmol/L] and his A1c a month ago was 5.5.