My Son Has Pre Diabetes.... What Now ?

bulkbiker

BANNED
Messages
19,576
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you very much Bulk.

It’s funny you said that. Since I’ve seized off the steroid his HBac1 level went down to 6.1. But I’ll cut out the carbohydrates and see if that helps. Do you recommend any sort of books regarding healthy eating ?
I'd recommend www.dietdoctor.com which has loads of healthy low carb meal ideas.
 

ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Let's start with what we know for certain, a high sugar intake including from natural sources like fruit juice and or a lot of highly processed carbohydrates for example breakfast cereals, crisps, ready meals, instant porridge, etc leads to increased blood glucose level. I just googled "eczema ketogenic diet", as I expected people are claiming it responds well to a low-carb diet, or it may be a low wheet/grain diet, it's hard to tell us all low carb diet are low in grains.

Everybody now agrees that sugar is bad, likewise there's agreement that ready meals, processed food and takeaways etc a much worse for people than home cooked food. Therefore personally if it was me I would start reducing the amount of sugar in your sons diet along with decreasing the amount of processed food and if he has breakfast cereal or bread for breakfast consider replacing it with a cooked breakfast or a omelette.
 

Thewomanintrouble

Well-Known Member
Messages
71
Let's start with what we know for certain, a high sugar intake including from natural sources like fruit juice and or a lot of highly processed carbohydrates for example breakfast cereals, crisps, ready meals, instant porridge, etc leads to increased blood glucose level. I just googled "eczema ketogenic diet", as I expected people are claiming it responds well to a low-carb diet, or it may be a low wheet/grain diet, it's hard to tell us all low carb diet are low in grains.

Everybody now agrees that sugar is bad, likewise there's agreement that ready meals, processed food and takeaways etc a much worse for people than home cooked food. Therefore personally if it was me I would start reducing the amount of sugar in your sons diet along with decreasing the amount of processed food and if he has breakfast cereal or bread for breakfast consider replacing it with a cooked breakfast or a omelette.

Thank you !
 

Boo1979

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,849
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I think its important to understand exactly what is actually going on before starting to significantly change an 8 year olds diet.
There are significant risks in passing on and giving a child food related anxieties that can change their relationship to food for life.
Has your son had any allergy / intolerance testing re his excema which is requently related to contact allergies and / or lactose intolerance
 
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Thewomanintrouble

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71
I think its important to understand exactly what is actually going on before starting to significantly change an 8 year olds diet.
There are significant risks in passing on and giving a child food related anxieties that can change their relationship to food for life.
Has your son had any allergy / intolerance testing re his excema which is requently related to contact allergies and / or lactose intolerance

Yes !

He is allergic to

Wheat

Egg (well has a low allergen to egg)

Nuts

And Soya.
 

ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Is there a such thing as a slow onset of Diabetes? Can you reverse this ?

Yes and maybe.

Type2 is also slow onset, and it it is possible to reverse type2 with a low carb diet. It is very uncommon for a child to develop type2 unless they are overweight, however as children are not tested for diabetes as part of normal health checks it may be more common then the experts think.

I assume liver tests were done on your son, ask the GP for a printout of the results, as they may be a indication of fatty liver - very uncommon unless a child is overweight, but possible. Fatty liver is the first stage of type2 diabetes, but the blood tests often fail to pick it up.

[unsubstantiated claim removed by moderator.]
 
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Boo1979

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,849
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
We Need to remember that we are talking about an 8 year old child not an adolescent or an adult..
Talk of type 2 is not likely to be relevant or helpful given there are onnly 553 childrenand young people with it in the UK. the majority of which will be oder adolescents.
The medics neeed to work out what, anything, is wrong and whether or not diabetes plays any part in it
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_u...hildren-and-young-people-have-type-2-diabetes
 
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ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
We Need to remember that we are talking about an 8 year old child not an adolescent or an adult..
Talk of type 2 is not likely to be relevant or helpful given there are onnly 553 childrenand young people with it in the UK. the majority of which will be oder adolescents.
The medics neeed to work out what, anything, is wrong and whether diabetes plays any part in it
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_u...hildren-and-young-people-have-type-2-diabetes

The same can be said about prediabetes in a child of that age.
 

lucylocket61

Expert
Messages
6,435
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you very much Bulk.

It’s funny you said that. Since I’ve seized off the steroid his HBac1 level went down to 6.1. But I’ll cut out the carbohydrates and see if that helps. Do you recommend any sort of books regarding healthy eating ?

I do not recommend, at this stage, cutting out your sons carbohydrates. It appears he has a very limited diet to choose from, and is growing. Perhaps cut down a bit on carbs and up the protein, and then wait and see what his GP says, as further tests are needed to find out what, if anything, is going on.

Likewise, our son has steroid medication for his eczema. I see from another post that your have stopped this (post #19)? Please dont continue to stop this. His distress with his eczema will not help the situation and could be harmful to his treatment of it.

Is it possible, from what you have said, that your son has Apergers/Autism?

You also said that your son is needle phobic, and the fear of testing can also put his blood sugars up.

He is only 8 years old. Cuspian means he is so close to any borderline that he may or may not be type 2 pre-diabetic. Either way, let his GP sort any diagnosis out before changing anything, and there is plenty of time to deal with anything his further tests and investigations may show up.
 

Guzzler

Master
Messages
10,577
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Poor grammar, bullying and drunks.
May I ask what made you suspect a hormonal imbalance/early onset of puberty in the first instance?
 

Thewomanintrouble

Well-Known Member
Messages
71
I do not recommend, at this stage, cutting out your sons carbohydrates. It appears he has a very limited diet to choose from, and is growing. Perhaps cut down a bit on carbs and up the protein, and then wait and see what his GP says, as further tests are needed to find out what, if anything, is going on.

Likewise, our son has steroid medication for his eczema. I see from another post that your have stopped this (post #19)? Please dont continue to stop this. His distress with his eczema will not help the situation and could be harmful to his treatment of it.

Is it possible, from what you have said, that your son has Apergers/Autism?

You also said that your son is needle phobic, and the fear of testing can also put his blood sugars up.

He is only 8 years old. Cuspian means he is so close to any borderline that he may or may not be type 2 pre-diabetic. Either way, let his GP sort any diagnosis out before changing anything, and there is plenty of time to deal with anything his further tests and investigations may show up.

Thanks for your reply !

Yes, he does have Autism, how did you know ?

Thank you very much. I just feel like we are in limbo, I don’t know what’s going on.

Does Typeone sound more likely than pre-diabetics ?
 

Thewomanintrouble

Well-Known Member
Messages
71
I got the test results slightly mixed up.

His fasting plasma glucose was 6. (I don’t know what that means) that was taken in the lab/hospital

But his GP measured his hbacone again and it’s 6.one (the number one is not working on my keypad). That’s strange, why did the number go down from 6.3 to 6.one ?
 
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Boo1979

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,849
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I got the test results slightly mixed up.

His fasting plasma glucose was 6. (I don’t know what that means) that was taken in the lab/hospital

But his GP measured his hbacone again and it’s 6.one (the number one is working on my keypad). That’s strange, why did the number go down from 6.3 to 6.one ?
Hba1c and fasting glucose measure different things - the first is an average of how glycated the red blood cells have been ( how much glucose they have attached) over the last 3 months. Fasting glucose is a one off measure of how much glucose is in the blood 6 and 6.1 are both fine
 

Thewomanintrouble

Well-Known Member
Messages
71
I do not recommend, at this stage, cutting out your sons carbohydrates. It appears he has a very limited diet to choose from, and is growing. Perhaps cut down a bit on carbs and up the protein, and then wait and see what his GP says, as further tests are needed to find out what, if anything, is going on.

Likewise, our son has steroid medication for his eczema. I see from another post that your have stopped this (post #19)? Please dont continue to stop this. His distress with his eczema will not help the situation and could be harmful to his treatment of it.

Is it possible, from what you have said, that your son has Apergers/Autism?

You also said that your son is needle phobic, and the fear of testing can also put his blood sugars up.

He is only 8 years old. Cuspian means he is so close to any borderline that he may or may not be type 2 pre-diabetic. Either way, let his GP sort any diagnosis out before changing anything, and there is plenty of time to deal with anything his further tests and investigations may show up.

Thank you very much for your reply !

I'm not intending to cut out carbohydrates completely. Though, in our culture, we tend to eat a huge amount of carbohydrates, rice, potatoes etc go with every dish we cook. My son and I, eat some form of carbohydrates every day. I think this is unhealthy, and what we are currently going through with all this testing, has made me revaluate our food choices.
 
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DCUKMod

Master
Staff Member
Messages
14,298
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@Thewomanintrouble - To be honest, I'm not sure all this speculation is doing your son, or you, any good. Bearing in mind your son is under medical care, you really do need to carry on, without changes until a diagnosis is or is not made.

Changing elements of his lifestyle, medication adherance or even behaviours, potentially elevating his stress levels are all potentially unhelpful, in getting to the bottom of all this. The last thing you should be doing is make changes that cloud the issues or that could lead to false positives, due to strress.

Normal/acceptable blood sugar ranges are a bit wider for children, than for adults, so please don't get hung up on the numbers at this stage.

Should your son recieve an official diagnosis relating in some way to the diabetes spectrum, then any suggestions can be focused, and from those with experience in paediatric diabetes. Nobody here is qualified or authorised to give medical advice.

I do hope things can become clearer for you soon.
 
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