Question:

I am 43 with type 1 diabetes, I have a son that is 22 now and was diagnosed with type 1 at 18 months with the signs of drinking alot and excessive wetting. Today I changed my 12 month olds diaper and it felt excessively heavy and I was immediately reminded of what happened years ago with my son. I immediately grabbed my Accucheck meter and pricked her finger and got a 191 result, my wife told me that she had eaten a cookie about 2 hours before but even still her BS should not be that high. She has recently started day care and has been to the Dr. a couple of times with a virus, an ear infection, all following with a fever and of course taking antibiotics and fever reducers. Can this have any effect on her BS levels or should I contact her pediatrician and discuss my findings? I plan to in the morning to take a fasting reading to see what my meter tells me. What are your thought on this????

Answer:

It is understandable that you are very alert to the signs of developing type 1 diabetes, with your family’s diabetes experience. Many families test the blood glucose of siblings of a child with diabetes, because they are worried about diabetes occurring in other children. But it can be confusing for families since the blood glucose test results can vary quite a bit in children without diabetes. The random blood glucose of 191 you obtained could be a normal result, or it could be an early sign of the development of diabetes.

The requirements for a diagnosis of diabetes are two occurrences of either a laboratory fasting blood glucose 126 or higher, and/or a laboratory random blood glucose 200 or higher, on two consecutive days. At a blood glucose of 191, a person may or may not produce more urine than usual, so it’s impossible to know if this relates to the heavy diaper you noticed.

Illness, stress, and some medications can increase the body’s need for insulin by increasing insulin resistance in the tissues that use insulin. This can cause blood glucose levels to run somewhat higher than normal. Keep in mind that illness or infection does not cause the development of diabetes. But if a person is already developing diabetes, illness can make diabetes symptoms present sooner because there will be two reasons for the blood glucose levels to be higher, instead of one.

The best plan is to discuss your concerns and test results with your pediatrician. Generally blood glucose tests taken when fasting and 2 hours after eating a big meal can be the most helpful in assessing what is going on. Of course you want to be alert to the symptoms of diabetes, in case it is developing. But if diabetes is not present, further home blood glucose tests are not necessary.

For more information:

Go to the Diabetes health topic.