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Seizures

E

Ellie_n

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Wandered if anyone can offer any advice or have had similar experience. My 8 year old nephew was diagnosed with type1 , in nov 17. He has had 5 seizures now and there does not seem to be any pattern . He has recently had a pump , due to having seizures when blood sugars dropped to 3.3 . He also has a sensor which bleeps if sugars dropping , but when it had just been changed , his sugars dropped again and he had a seizure. Now he has had a seizure while his sugars are 5.5. He has a good diet and his mom is very good at working his carbohydrate intake out, but this is causing us all great concern , as well as leaving him exhausted . Has anyone else any experience of this
 
Hi @Ellie_n ,

Welcome to the forum.

I personally have not had any hypos leading to seizures, or use a pump.

But, I will tag in members that may help your enquiry..

@catapillar @Juicyj @himtoo

Hope this helps?
 
If he's having seizures when he's euglycaemic (5.5) then they may not be anything to do with blood sugar and an investigation, with a referral to a neurologist, would be warranted. It's not uncommon for type 1 and epilepsy to come together and epilepsy can respond to treatment with medication.

What pump/sensor are you using?
 
Another thing to think about, @Ellie_n , is the accuracy of the sensor. I'm assuming it's dexcom. These aren't "plug-and-play" devices. They are very good for picking up on hypos, but only if they are calibrated properly. A badly calibrated cgm can be wildly misleading.

Calibration involves waiting until bg levels are relatively stable, taking a bg fingerstick test so that you know that bg at that point in time is X, then calibrating the cgm by telling it it is now X, so it knows what numbers it's working with.

If they aren't properly calibrated - for example, incorrectly calibrated when bg levels are rising or dropping rapidly - they can be useless.
 
Ellie_n said:
Wandered if anyone can offer any advice or have had similar experience. My 8 year old nephew was diagnosed with type1 , in nov 17. He has had 5 seizures now and there does not seem to be any pattern . He has recently had a pump , due to having seizures when blood sugars dropped to 3.3 . He also has a sensor which bleeps if sugars dropping , but when it had just been changed , his sugars dropped again and he had a seizure. Now he has had a seizure while his sugars are 5.5. He has a good diet and his mom is very good at working his carbohydrate intake out, but this is causing us all great concern , as well as leaving him exhausted . Has anyone else any experience of this
Click to expand...
Hi @Ellie_n I simply want to add to the information above. I was Type 1 from 1959 - 2013 and in that time I had 1one witnessed seizure as a result of incredibly low blood sugar. It was 1.3! This is not to say that I didn't have seizures at other times, when I had unattended hypos or in the middle of the night. On that one definite occasion I was in my 40s and downstairs, sitting with my legs along a bench next to our dining table. The noise of my left shoe repeatedly hitting the table top caused my wife and daughter to come downstairs to look and then phone a doctor. Ironically my daughter, who is not diabetic, was treated for epilepsy from 1993 - 1997. Hope you manage to sort this out quickly.
 
I can confirm that seizures go with incredibly low blood sugars. The (luckily few) hypos that I've had where I've needed help due to falling unconscious have been accompanied by seizures...

ps to the OP, we're name twins!
 
Never had a seizure or a low that I couldn't treat myself, but here are some things to think about:

-are you checking his blood sugars with a finger prick if the cgm says he is low/falling? Often inaccuracy and lag time can cause issues
-were his blood sugars previously very high? I once knew of someone who had symptomatic hypos (and seizures) at normal levels after diagnosis as his body hadn't adjusted to being at the right level
-does he have any other medical conditions that could cause seizures?

Talk to your doctor, even if it is due to diabetes it's not right and he needs help.
 
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