Advice,

[clairexox22]

Hi, I have a little boy age 6. Sorry if it turns into a long Post just really need some Advice, Ok so For about a year hes been having some Episodes, He can be perfectly normal, Then out of the blue his colour will change, He goes really ill, Head hurting, Then Abdominal Pains start Tired/sleepy, Vomitting. Then he will come straight out of it and go back to his usual hyperself, Sometimes it only lasts for an hour, sometimes it last several hours but can happen upto 6 times a month, Our GP kept putting it down to Migranes??. No testing was done for anything. Well on Saturday it happend again. He was fine all day. Then around 3:30pm He suddenly went ill again, colour change sore head, then his stomache has bad pains, and started vommitting, I decided no more! I went straight to A+E. on the way he blanked out for a few seconds, but came round. When we reached the Hospital his tempature was 40+ and his blood sugar levels was 11.6. After around 5 hours of being in Hospital he went back to the usual Happy hyoer self, His bloods levels dropped back to 5.6, His temp we got down to 37. We seen a doctor who wanted to do a urine sample and a blood test to check for infection, Blood test all came back Negative his ears and chest has no infection also, His urine test came back negative for infections. BUT... it came back 2+ Keytones!. Now the doctor is telling me that he would like to get him to a diabetes specialist.. With the High levels of blood sugar and keytones and his weight in low, and How he goes into these really ill stages for only a few hours with sugar levels and temp so high. I have a few Questions, My own head is driving me insane with the unkown. Hopefully someone can help. Apparantly the doctor said this aint the 1st high blood sugar level hes had, he was addmiteed when he was 2 for a different reason and was high then, but i was never told.

Does it sound familiar?
How can he go from a hyper happy child to a really ill child within hours, to a really hyper happy child a few hours later?
Can he have a reading of 11.6 while he is really ill then when hes back to his usual self he has a great reading of 5.6? im assuming thats a good reading anyway. Im really confused on why he wants a diabetes specialist in as soon as possible. And im so confused why my son goes so ill! but only for a while? I had alot of Questions to ask, But my minds gone blank. If anyone can help my shed some light on all this please?

Thank you Claire x

 

[xyzzy]

Hi Claire

I think you were exactly right to take him to the hospital and I would go with the doctor who is telling you he should see a diabetes specialist. The honest answer is none of us on the forum are doctors so we can't really give you that much advice however ketones in the urine can be an indicator for someone who is developing T1 diabetes so it would be best to get things checked out thoroughly by the experts. Wishing you all the best.

 

[jddukes]

Hi Claire,

Definitely see a specialist and that is correct course of action. Infant diabetes is poorly understood - the problem is we try and understand it from an adult point of view (i.e. your levels shouldn't come back down to "normal" if you are diabetic, etc). But remember, as a child his body is much smaller taking into account the amount of activity (exercise, lowers BG considerably in the young in particular), he is developing rapidly (hormonal influences including things like growth hormone which will be much higher relative to size compared with an adult) and has a different metabolism and dietary needs.

Infantile diabetic diagnosis is often missed, overlooked and not straightforward as it often isn't expected at certain ages. You must also think of diabetes at the start as progressive. The symptoms come when the pancreas may still have function in its beta cells, and is going through changes. This makes the levels you read not obvious in what is going on. There is likely still pancreatic function but this goes through stages due to an inflammatory response.

See a specialist and discuss all your questions and concerns with them. It may not even be diabetes but you need to follow through. Pay close attention to your little one's behaviour too - trust your instincts if something is out of the ordinary.

If he is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I know this article is a bit technical in parts but has useful bits too:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2828228/

All the best,
J

 

[CarbsRok]

Hi Claire,
I see you made the same post 3 years ago only diffence is the age of your son.
Sure if there was a problem the medical peeps would have sorted it by now?

 

[JConnor]

hi Claire, couple of years ago i had a similar problem with my son, (before i was Dx type 1). They found Sugar and ketones in his urine and then high readings on glucose test, tho cant remember what they was. I was sat down by a registrar and told my son WAS type 1 and that they would show me the following day how to monitor and inject him, as my son was already under a consultant due to disabilities his consultant came to see him the following morning and said that they had jumped the gun. Over night his levels had come right down and was in normal range. They told me that when ill even for a short period of time the sugar levels can go high but if they return to normal then shouldnt worry (to much as us parents always worry anyway). I was told that transient glucose intolerance in some cases can be a sign that Type 1 will develop though doesn't in all cases.

Hope you get the answers you need from diabetes team and everything works out ok.
Good Luck
Jess

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Illness can cause a rise in sugar levels which might well be one cause of your son's high blood sugar. Keytones in the urine are something that needs to be taken seriously and you should go to A&E if you suspect he has ketones again. You can buy urine sticks which can quickly test for ketones as well as a rough sugar test. I hope his problems get sorted.