When my mom brought me to the family doctor saying that I’d been drinking a lot for the past week or so and losing wight, the doctor did a urine test in her office, then sent us to get a blood draw, and an hour later called my parents telling them to take me to emergency immediately. The doctors at the hospital said my numbers were high enough that I could have gone into a coma the next day. As it was no coma, but I spent four days in the hospital getting my blood sugar and ketones under control.
I don’t think it’s hard for a family doctor to do the type of urine or blood test for glucose and ketones that mine did back in 1991, and then follow up with the same course of action. I get the impression that a lot of parents are just told that their kid probably has a virus and no tests are done. It doesn’t make sense to me for a doctor to order a bunch of blood tests for what they believe is a virus, but doing a quick urine or finger stick tests would not be expensive.
for me if the 1st doctor i saw did a finger stick. i would have not been in the hospital for 4 weeks. by that time my blood sugar was 500. i don’t know if that is high enough for someone to go in to a coma.
Part of the standard pee test that was done every single time I went to the doctor as a kid (before diabetes) is to test for glucose. It’s pretty standard stuff for healthy kids… Granted I don’t think glucose shows up in urine until glucose levels have been significantly elevated… So maybe there is room for improvement,
But here in the USA anyway routine urinalysis is standard care for all kids getting proper ongoing primary care from a doctor…
Yeah, that’s definitely different then as I never remember getting that as a kid or adult. But I think the U.S. seems to do a lot of things routinely that are never done here unless there’s a reason to check for something.
Ok, I’ve read everything that everyone has commented on. Everyone has said great things. I was diagnosed with T1 at 27 years old. So I don’t have any experience with the “juvenile” part of the diabetes. I tested myself one day after feeling lousy for a week and having low blood sugar episodes, I was 500 at the highest reading and I was very sick, knew there was a problem, went to the doctor and got insulin. Then, I was set up with an endo. Pretty uneventful. I do have 3 kids, with one on the way. My kids have a 25% chance of developing T1, with me as their mother having it, passing it along genetically. That means, at least 1 out of 4 of my kids will statistically develop it. I used to think and obsess about it a lot, but now not so much. I can’t control it, might as well live life well, right! If it happens, my husband and i know how to handle it. I do have a plan in place with their pediatrician.
I’m curious to know, would the testing be an annual testing at each age (after the age of 2, pediatricians want to see kids every year around their birthday) or like newborn testing?
My plan is, I’m observant of my kids. I see if they are drinking more water and urinating a lot. If they are eating more or less and losing and/or gaining weight properly. Are my kids sick a lot? I share my concerns with their pediatrician who knows I’m diabetic and that it concerns me my kids might develop it. I thought my daughter might have thyroid issues a year ago, so the pediatrician had a blood test ordered for my daughter, at my request. Her thyroid was completely normal. I have also on occasion tested my kids’ blood sugar. I was convinced one time that the same daughter that I thought have thyroid issues was diabetic. I tested her BGs a number of times through a single day and her numbers were normal.
I understand I have experience with diabetes and this puts me in an “educated” category. There are many people that don’t have my experience and education with the big D. That aside, I personally think healthcare of oneself and children/family should be part of the responsibility of the parent/self, i.e. seeing that something isn’t right and doing something about it- go to the ER or urgent care, doctor, etc. and the other- the responsibility of the doctor, physician, NP, etc. I think the larger part of responsibility is the doctors but we as parents/self, need to take some responsibility by observing our own/kids health too. I think there should be testing whether at birth and/or every year of development for kids, blood tests seem to be more reliable, which tests should be conducted, well that is a whole other issue. What I’m trying to convey is that testing doesn’t and should not replace common sense, which is most certainly lacking from parents and individuals skill set in society today.
I also forgot to mention that when I call my kids’ pediatrician’s office with an issue to see whether we should come in that day, the doctor will tell me over the phone if the issue is serious enough to go to urgent care and/or the ER. There have been situations he told me not to come in to his office because it would be a waste of time and a risk for me and my kid depending on the issue. Remember, we also reserve the right to just go to the ER if we feel its serious, whether doctor recommends it or not.
Busybee
[quote]I’m curious to know, would the testing be an annual testing at each age
(after the age of 2, pediatricians want to see kids every year around
their birthday) or like newborn testing?[/quote]
The impression I get is that it would just be testing any time a doctor is going to send a kid home with “a virus” just to be sure it’s not the start of DKA. I think annual testing would be overkill…
To be honest I think a quick check any time a child is ill with something isn’t a bad idea… our pedi does a CBC at each well visit (they have a machine in the office) and a urine test, which does test for glucose in the urine, but they’ve never done a blood glucose on my kids.
I know personally, whenever my kids are vomiting I’ll check them myself just for piece of mind… it makes me feel better knowing I’m not “missing” something if it did happen to be the start of DKA.
If it happens, my husband and i know how to handle it. I do have a plan in place with their pediatrician.