Due to strong t1 family history I started worrying about my daughter developing t1 about a year ago.
She went through a stage of drinking a lot and I tested her sugars myself a few times and she seemed largely in range, although on the higher end of ‘normal’
I’ve kept it in the back of my mind due to a nagging doubt but this week I’ve checked her blood sugar again twice as she’s seemed a little out of sorts. Last night (three hours after dinner) she was at 120 and this morning she was at 96.
Obviously these aren’t horrific but do you think it’s something to be concerned about?
The other thing is she is very overweight - I half wonder at insulin resistance but then given the family history of t1 in two generations it is more likely t1.
Would t1 in a child progress more quickly than this?
For the first 5 years after my diagnosis, I tested all my family members every time I saw them drink a lot of water. Many times they’re numbers were as you described with your daughter. That was 15 years ago or longer, and no diagnosis of any kind of diabetes followed. I think non-diabetics also have a greater variation in blood sugar than is presumed, but they don’t normally test it that often. I’m not s doctor, but I wouldn’t be too scared by those numbers if I were you. Also, dehydration can increase blood sugar, so it may be a chicken and egg situation where the dehydration came first.
The numbers you are reporting are perhaps only very slightly high. What did she eat for dinner. If the dinner was high carb and large the 120 after 3 hours could be considered unsurprising.
You report that she is very overweight? Why is that? What is her diet like?
Some kids develop type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance is a concern with overweight? I have read that type 2 can now develop and be diagnosed even in very young children.
It may be an idea to have her assessed given that she is very overweight? Cutting added sugars and processed foods, and sticking with protein and unprocessed foods may be helpful.
She has always been big - her height is 99th centile and she was on that centile for her weight from birth.
However she is too big, she did grow and not gain any weight which slimmed her down but she seems to have put it back on again. She seems to gain weight very easily although some toddlers survive on nothing I realise. My daughter definitely eats well. I’m really trying to cut back on calories and sugar (loves fruit) in the hopes she will maintain her weight as she grows but not gain any more.
She’d had maybe 60g of carbs three hours prior to the 120, also we’d been at my in laws all afternoon for a fireworks party and my mother in law had put out great big bowls of sweets (so much for me trying to reduce her sugar) and all the kids were eating handfuls of them. I stopped my daughter but then unbeknownst to me when she went in the kitchen there were more! So I think before she ate that 60g carbs she probably wasn’t at that low a blood sugar to begin with.
Last night three hours after last eating she was 108 which still seems slightly high as she didn’t eat as much carbohydrate with dinner. But she was also that number at one hour. Four hours was 88.
She doesn’t seem to ‘spike’ - her one hour wasn’t any higher than her three hour.
With t1 would it typically be the first phase insulin to be lost first? Because that doesn’t seem to be an issue. It seems to be the length of time it takes her to drop back down to the 80s / 90s although she doesn’t go super high to begin with.
Yesterday she ate:
Breakfast: slice toast and banana
Lunch - two sausages, boiled egg, one mini waffle
Snack - two raw carrots
Dinner - roast dinner with potatoes (ate it all) and then homemade pancake with strawberries for pudding.
Before bed - small cup semi-skimmed milk
I don’t feel that’s excessive and is pretty typical? She’s on a pushchair ban too, she has to walk more!