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January 21, 2007

Behavior, Hyperglycemia and DKA

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Question from Pekin, Indiana, USA:

When I have had my son with me, my son’s blood sugars have been normal, between 80 mg/dl [4.4 mmol/L] and 150 mg/dl [8.3 mmol/L] with an A1c of 6.2 to 6.5. But, now, I only get him on some weekends. When my ex-wife has him, his blood sugars range from 60 mg/dl [3.3 mmol/L] to over 600 mg/dl [33.3 mmol/L] on the meter with nearly 85% of the reading outside of the high normal range. For the past year, he has been mostly with his mom and his A1c was 9.2. When my ex-wife has him, my son’s moods and behavior are so terrible, including threatening his brothers and outright defiance to now include not wanting to see me anymore. I am afraid I am losing any chance of keeping him safe from the consequences of the high blood sugars. Are these violent behaviors and serious mood swings because of the high blood sugars? I realize that the divorce is probably hard on him, but it does not seem to be affecting the other children as much. I don’t know what to do. I am working on getting custody, but the wheels of justice are so incredibly slow and I am afraid that my son will experience irreparable damage to his body and future potential.

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

It is difficult to answer all of your questions without knowing more information. It is true that higher blood sugars can affect a person’s mood, so, if your child’s blood sugars are higher, your child may be more irritable and have more mood swings, which can effect your child’s behavior. However, there could also be other factors that are affecting your child’s mood and behavior in addition to his blood sugar fluctuations. For example, children and teens who are depressed can be more irritable and act out more. Also, children react to stressors like divorce differently, so your son with diabetes may have a different temperament than his siblings. It sounds like your son’s diabetes health care team needs give feedback about how to bring his blood sugars more in range, which could help with his mood. Your son may also benefit from seeing a mental health counselor to discuss how to bring his diabetes in better control with adult help and to also discuss whether his mood and behavior is diabetes related. I also want to point out that having diabetes does not justify being violent.

DB