Sunday, January 11, 2009

Diabetes

Anyone with experience? I am thinking the baby is having low blood sugar. I looked up all the symptoms for diabetes and she either has all the symptoms or I can't rule the symptom out. She is begging for her bottle constantly and drinking out of any cup she can reach. While this is not terribly unusual for a toddler to drink out of random cups it is filling up her diapers a lot faster. She is extremely irritable but does seem OK for about 30-45 minutes after she eats a tiny bit of fruit or drinks milk. She is taking multiple naps which is highly unusual for her. She seems a bit disoriented at times. All these things fit in with diabetes or low blood sugar. The only thing that doesn't fit is that she is not starving. Maybe I am over reacting but just in case she is visiting our local ER tonight when another adult shows up to relieve me.

I just found out she has a lot of family members with it. I called her mother to find ask her about it and she started rambling off both grandparents, uncle, many cousins, and her sister. I guess it runs in families?

9 comments:

Torina said...

Check out http://ministryparenting.blogspot.com. Both she and her daughter deal with diabetes amongst other things like RAD and whatnot. Don't worry, she isn't preachy on her blog even though she is a minister :)

Kim said...

You need to ask what type of diabetes the family has - if it is Type 2 it's more an age/weight thing. Type 1 is childhood diabetes and it tends to be more hereditary.

The shaking can also be a symptom of low blood sugar. When my blood sugar crashes I get the shakes. I hope that everything will work out for you and you can get her the help that she needs.

Yondalla said...

What do you want to know?

Type one, which is what she would have if she has it, does run in families. Without treatment it is fatal. Adequate treatment requires close monitoring, but with monitoring people lead strong healthy lives.

If she has it, then she is unable to use the sugar/carbs from her food. It is running through her blood, but not giving her energy. So she is burning fat and protein for energy.

While you are waiting, give her plenty of water to drink, formula/milk if she wants it, but no juice. Nothing with sugar.

You have heard of diabetics needing to eat sugar but that only happens after it is treated. Basically, too much blood-sugar reducing meds (including insulin) without enough to do.

Of course, you probably got all that from google already.

Yondalla said...

If the baby has untreated diabetes she would have *high* blood sugar at the moment.

Anonymous said...

I have diabetes. Make sure she eats high-quality protein at every meal (not like milk, but eggs or meat) and small healthy snacks in between meals.

Crayon said...

I get hypoglycemic usually once a day, if not more - it's when your blood sugar drops real low. Mine is usually brought on by eating. I don't have an episode when I first get up, even if I've slept half a day. It only occurs after I've eaten, or during the day if I wait too long btwn meals.

I start getting shaky, which gets worse and worse...I feel it surge through my body, though you can't see it outwardly unless I hold my hand out and try to keep it still. I get real dizzy too. No matter what I do, stand, sit, lie down, it won't go away. I also get hot flashes and sweaty, not to mention, HIGHLY irritated the longer it goes on. Sometimes it's obvious why I got that way, like eating a box of peeps. Other times, I can't figure it out [other than the waiting too long between meals] b/c I've hardly had sugar. Problem is, to make it go away, I tend to grab for the worst thing, like something full of sugar b/c it will go away faster than eating pb crackers. Eating something full of sugar to stop it, only assures it will happen again if I don't eat a balanced meal shortly after.

I don't have diabetes [so I'm told], but it runs in my family. My paternal grandmother had diabetes, and now my father and all his siblings have it. I believe all [not positive about grandmother] got it as an adult. Sorry for taking over your blog. ;)

The Bus Driver said...

Diabetes does run in families, it could be possible that she has juvenile onset diabetes. Keep a tube of frosting available for when she has low bloodsugar attacks, rub a little bit on her gums and under her tongue to help it get in her system if she has an attack. Until then I recommend getting familiar with the glucose index and the diabetic glucose diet.

You should suggest the hospital check her pancreas function.

Unknown said...

It does run in families...my 6 yo has it. Let me know if you have any questions...I know it's scary and it's a huge deal but it's ok and you can do it. It's lots of math and lots of frustration. I'll keep checking in for an update. Request an A1C, that will give a 3 month average of her blood sugar. and if you think something's up, make them test her, they tried to tell me they wouldn't test but I insisted and they did! Good luck! My e-mail is celiex@yahoo.com if you have questions!

Yondalla said...

Anxiously awaiting an update!

Hope the baby is okay.