diabetes and parasites

[Cenynpedr]

This is a bit gross, so sorry if you're eating your tea! My 4 year old was diagnosed 3 weeks ago, and we've found a pattern of ridiculous blood glucose rise as soon as she goes to bed - have had to increase her basal by 150%

A couple of days ago, I found out she had threadworm/pinworm (had put the itchy "bits" down to the diabetes, but now it may not have been).

Anyhows, we treated her yesterday, and last night she was running hypo all night. I don't know if these hyperglycemic episodes were related to the pinworm, or if it's a co-incidence.

Anyone else come across anything similar?

 

[catherinecherub]

Poor little soul, it must have driven her mad.
Young children are particularly susceptible to pinworms and I don't envy you doing all the cleaning involved now that it has been discovered.
Cannot help with the query about the hypos but someone will be along to give an answer.

To anyone who has not heard of pinworms, a good article here explaining causes, symptoms and treatments.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/175134.php

 

[Tracey69]

Hi and welcome,
I'm sorry to hear about your little one, but it may be where you upped the basal too much.
If there not feeling great they tend not to eat as much, so it could be the insulin ( please remember we are not doctors) but if it has caused an infection one minute she could be having high sugars and then low.
Hope all goes well.
Take care
Tracey

 

[Tracey69]

Hi again,
After reading all the info on this subject, has she lost any weight as this will cause her to hypo, too much insulin be given, especially if you don't know how long your little one has had it,
Good luck with all the special cleaning you have to do.
Hope they get better soon.

 

[Cenynpedr]

Thanks all for your replies. I'm steaming every piece of fabric, disinfecting every surface and vacuuming as if my life depended on it - urghh!

No weight loss - we caught her diabetes very quickly. She lost weight the week after diagnosis with avoiding food because she didn't want to get "spiked" and also her sugars were runninng really high as we tried to sort out her dosage. Her weight normalised the following week and things have now settled, with sugars running near normal 90% of the time

Her hyperglycemia occurs just after she falls asleep and will jump from 5 to 20mmol within 3 hours of going to bed. The pattern has been constant since a week or so after diagnosis once we had figured out her levels. It's really been bugging me. For the first week when we were on injections, she was having a bolus every hour to try and keep it under control. I did the same when she started on the pump whilst I was adjusting her basal. I got the basal sorted for the period that it goes high, and it worked perfectly for a couple of days until she went to bed late and ended up hypo at bedtime because the basal had kicked in, and then hyper a few hours later when the basal had gone back to the lower dose. Latest trick is to do a temporary basal once she's in bed, which again worked lovely until last night.

I've just not come across such significant insulin resistance when going to sleep - yes dawn effect, and even a rebound high. But there's no low before. Consultant could only suggest a growth hormone surge once she's asleep. I just wondered if it could be the worms somehow as they get more active at night - possibly an immune response to the nasty critters raising BGs? Will see what happens tonight.

Any more suggestions would be gratefully received!

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Response to the anti-worm medication?

 

[Marvin]

I'm confused.... the terms "hypo" and "hyper" seem to have been used in this thread to describe the same event, when in fact they are opposites.... a hypo is LOW blood glucose, and a hyper is HIGH. Which are we talking about?

 

[phoenix]

I'm confused.... the terms "hypo" and "hyper" seem to have been used in this thread to describe the same event, when in fact they are opposites.... a hypo is LOW blood glucose, and a hyper is HIGH. Which are we talking abou

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This is how I read the post
The child has been having BG rises after bed. (hyper)
Following treatment she went low at night (hypo)
Were the highs caused by the infestation?

I doubt if anyone can give more than a guess as to the reason... maybe the itchiness/lack of good sleep caused an adrenaline response and the rise. As an adult I know if I don't get good sleep through pain or worry, I'll have higher glucose levels in the morning. ( However if I'm too low , I also won't sleep)
I gather that children's glucose levels can be very unpredicatable, so it may be just coincidence, especially since it's very early days. If you did indeed catch it early she will have some insulin of her own still. She may be going into a honeymoon period where she needs less insulin.

 

[Cenynpedr]

OMG everyone, She went to bed at 6.9mmol, checked an hour and half later - 6.7, checked an hour later 6.6. The spike has gone. OK, might be different tomorrow, but looks like it was the worms!!

Everyone, Worm your kids!!!

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

Maybe the worms have a strange by product. Yes, we worm here but no idea if any of us have ever actually had worms or not.

 

[ladybird64]

Good grief-that American site is enough to panic anyone! :shock:

Having had 5 kids myself and am now the grandma to 8 (soon to be 10), this is a little problem I have come across before. The advice we were given was simple and did not include going on a marathon sping clean..I'm amazed at how much has changed!

We were told to make sure the childs fingernails were kept short, that good hygiene was adhered too such as using a nail brush when washing hands after using the loo and that bedding was washed on a 60 degree hot cycle.
Cuddly toys had to get washed too, separate towels and so on and kiddies must wear pants to bed to discourage scratching.

That and the medication that the whole family had to take (whether you had the little critters or not :sick: ) made sure they were eradicated.

I hope you wee lass is doing better soon but try not to get too freaked out, they are a common childhood problem at nursery and school together with the other little begars..crawling dandruff!

 

[AliBanjo]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if parasites were at least in part behind the huge surge in diabetes and other 'Western' diseases. Doing a bit of research it seems that some of the anthelmnthic drugs like Mebendazole and praziquantel, etc., have successfully been used to improve glycemic control in diabetic mice. They don't necessarily cause the problems outright, but they hijack nutritional elements, which in turn disrupts functions and processes that need those elements.

During my research on this subject i have come across some people who have anecdotally reported a reversal of their diabetes after taking deworming medication, especially for tapeworms and liver/pancreatic flukes.

Is it just a coincidence that as people have stopped deworming themselves and their children, these diseases have been on the ascent? Even if they do deworm, it doesn't mean they are using the right drug or natural remedy that is effective on the specific parasite that is causing the problem.

I really feel this is an avenue of research that is swept under the carpet and largely ignored by medical science, especially when the majority believes that you can only catch these things 'abroad'.

'I think I might have parasites. Have you been abroad recently? No, but neither's the dog, and he gets them....'

Sigh.

I've thrown everything I can think of naturally at mine, and have now resorted to Mebendazole. It won't get the tapes, but it will be interesting to see what else comes out. If I can persuade my doctor to give me praziquantel or ivermectin, it would be interesting to see if it affects my always running high despite what I do, glucose levels.

The **** things keep me awake much of the night, writhing and slithering and biting. Eating low carb riles them but they are proving extremely difficult to kill. There are different ones in my back that migrate up into my scalp and face (and probably elsewhere) at night. They weren't always this obvious, but recently they've become very apparent. I can see now that they have been quietly lurking in there for many years hijacking my nutrition and sapping my health and energy.

 

[Court28]

Hello.

I’m new to this & new to T1D..
I’ve just discovered my son has worms and his levels have been crazy the past couple days I’m now putting it down to worms apparently they absorb the sugar in your body it’s what they live off!

Crazy!

 

[Sarah Chiswell-Hornett]

I've been looking for an answer to this, we had a fortnight with my daughter's bG sky rocketing during the night, then discovered threadworms. Had been sick too and had tummy pains, so assuming a worm party going on. Yuk. A week after first treatment levels back to normal, will be taking second tablet on day 14, just hope that does the trick. Neither hospital team or pharmacist thought there was a connection. I just hope the diabetes doesn't stop the tablet working, fed up of seeing the little wrigglers, dead or alive, and oh my goodness the laundry!!