Hi so I’m new to this my daughter who is 3. Has been not her self for almost 3 weeks now it started with what we thought was a stomach virus and has now seemed to spiral out of control. She has stomach pains, she is always hungry, always thirsty, uses the bathroom a ton I mean we were at her doctor and we were only there hour and half she she peed 4 times. Night sweats no matter how cool it is. Super tired all the time. I mean she constantly ask for a nap or to go to bed or will just fall asleep in car or on couch. Now this was a child up until 3 weeks ago was super active never took naps. Has been potty trained for over a year with no bed wetting until now she bed wetting and have accidents during the day even tho she tried to make it. Her doctor was concerned and ran a CBC t showed she was low on hemoglobin. But she was also concerned about diabetes. So we go for fasting labs tomorrow. But I started checking her sugars as they wanted be do a journal for when I return to the office on Monday. But I have no clue what her levels should be? Nor did they mention it. Just intructed me to check her before meal and hour and half after meals. And first thing in morning and if I could durnign the night around midnight or so. So far her levels have been 89 before lunch and 114 after lunch. She had a hot dog. Then around 2 she had 2 chicken nuggets and after her sugar was 174. Before dinner it was 85 and after dinner it was 132 and she ate maybe spoon full of potatoes. And spoon full of mac and cheese. And before bed her levels were 109. I Have no clue if this is good or bad. As I am new and just started testing. She drinks a lot of milk and water. She doesn’t like juice or anything on that line. Any help or advice please?
70-100 is normal range for blood glucose. i hope the visit goes well tomorrow! i believe children still have the same range as adults, but others on this forum can certainly provide you more expertise. these numbers sound normal. fasting blood sugar in the morning should be 70-100…
after a meal I believe blood sugar should not rise above 180 and come back down within a few hours of meal to normal range.
thirst is common with diabetes. I will look to hear what you find out. Best to you and your daughter!
Thank you. I was seeing a lot of different answers it’s all so confusing to me. And I’m just really concerned about her. My great grandma mother had t1 my great grandfather t2. My grandfather type 2 and my mom is pre diabetic. But I was still completely shocked when she wanted to check my 3 year old. Honestly I don’t know a lot about it. But I know something is going on with my previous active happy little girl who now spends most of her time sleeping or very very irrabtable.
Christina, i am not an expert by any means, but there is evidence that genetics play a part & the symptoms you mentioned sure sound concerning. I will keep your little girl in my prayers that the drs can determine for sure what is going on. Here is what i do know if it is diabetes:
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There are many parents of T1 kids on this forum and they can be a wealth of great information. I hope you check back and read more of those parents’ posts.
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You CAN do this! They say strength comes when you need it, so if this is T1D, you will learn fast & avail yourself of all the resources & manage it.
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Your frame of mind is important and since your daughter is young, she will take her cues from you. I have read of other parents’ commitment to not let their diabetic kids feel limited or less than. I believe if you take it in stride with the confidence that you can handle this & show your daughter how to deal with it, you will have won part of the battle.
Please touch base & let us know the outcome. Hugs to you. 
I’m sorry you are going through this… it is super scary!
My daughter was 5 when she was diagnosed and we brought her in just because of how thirsty she was. She would drink and drink and drink. And then I noticed she lost weight as well, and she was wetting the bed. So your daughter’s symptoms sure sound like type 1. But those numbers don’t seem too terribly high… .they actually seem pretty normal. I mean 174 is a bit high… but processed food does tend to spike blood sugar so it’s hard to say.
But I’m sure if they find antibodies in her blood tomorrow they will let you know right away! But I really wonder why wonder why they are doing fasting labs on a 3 year old. That seems bizarre to me.
Skip the Chicken nuggets and I mean everyone skip the nuggets.
This is not really relevant. Leaving out relatively rare conditions, diabetes in a 3 year old would be almost certainly T1 and therefore unlinked genetically to T2…
I am surprised they are looking to do a “fasting” and making you wait.
The levels you are seeing are actually only a little above the normal levels you would expect in a 3 year old - if she is developing T1D, you are seeing it early.
TBH, if it were my child, I wouldn’t be trying to restrict carbs at this stage - if you try to “low carb” and she is at the very early stages, you could just mask the problem until it get worse. I am not suggesting pints of regular Coke , but I would just feed her normally and test 2 hours after eating.
Best wishes - and remember it isn’t the end of the world (I confidently expect that effective Artificial Pancreas systems will be available within the next 10 years)
Joel
We go for labs this morning. Do they not normally do fasting labs? My pediatrician was very specific that it needed to be fasting. She said I had to wait till Monday for the labs to come back? I’ve never been Thur this assumed it was normal. And we have not changed her diet any she is still eating what she normally eats now I just test her. She never really liked juice or anything she mainly drinks milk and water on occasion like if we are at my mom she may drink some tea out of moms cup. So where should her levels be? Just asking because I’m curious and can’t find a single thing.
Most T1’s either get “blue-lighted” into the ER or have such elevated BGs (typically more than 500) that doing a fasting is unnecessary. Have they done an HbA1c. This is an indicator of average levels over the past 3 months. It can identify problems early in onset where there is some beta cell damage/loss but enough remaining function to bring BG levels back into the normal range after a a few hours.
Given the sort of numbers you are seeing, I wouldn’t classify it as an emergency.
We are going for that this morning along with cmp, thyroid, and UA. This all just started about 3 weeks ago. With all these symptoms.
Labs are complete. Which she hated almost as much as finger prick. Around 1am her blood sugar was 120. This morning around 6:20 it was 90. She has to fast but before breakfast it was 89 and after breakfast it was 183. She became super tired and sick feeling. Came down around mid morning to 106. I’ll be really glad when we finally get some answers on Monday. Thank everyone for there answers and advice.
@Christina_Hughes - when I was at the stage you are at right now with my T1 son, I was thinking that I am pretty sure he has Type 1, but kept going through all the other possible things it could be. I would not accept it until I had an “official diagnosis” and even after that it felt kind of surreal.
That 183 after breakfast makes me think early stages of Type 1, but… maybe not.
I just want to echo some comments that others have said (in case you get that actual official diagnosis of Type 1…)
- You and your daughter can do this.
- You will have a lot of questions - there are lots of people here to help share their experience. There are no stupid questions here.
- Diabetes is a lot of work, but it is not a “death sentence”. I have had diabetes for 30 years and about every 10 years there has been a major improvement to treatments that has made a big improvement to my quality of life. The next one that has just arrived is the “artificial pancreas”.
Thank you! Those high numbers concerned me especially when she started complaining of her stomach and got super tired and she fell asleep right after and slept till just around 12:30 her sugar was 83 then but the nurse called and said her glucose on the lab this morning fasting was 77? I told her about the levels I was getting at home and she said to keep monitoring her Thur the weekend and bring her in Monday to discuss the rest of the results from the cmp and thyroid. Doctor is not in till Monday.
Didn’t have time early but I meant to ask if hypothyroid was on the suspects list, as the BG levels really don’t seem to indicate T1, while the symptoms other than thirst/urination sound a lot like those of my 8 yr-old granddaughter who was dx’d hypothyroid earlier this year. Over 6-12 months she’d gone from a sparkly energetic girl to tired, rings-under-her-eyes, listless and fatigued… eventually it got to the point where she was constantly complaining that she “felt sick” and my daughter brought her in to be checked out. Turned out to be hypothyroid, which fortunately is easily treated–a matter of taking a pill every day. The difference once she started was night and day.
At any rate it doesn’t sound like your girl is in any immediate risk of DKA, which would be the real danger. Presumably the Dr agrees or they’d have hospitalized her stat. Hope you’ll keep us posted as to the results on Monday.
Thyroid issues are on the list as well. They ran a full thyroid panel. She was a happy playful full of life 3 year old until 3 weeks ago. And she still has moments when she gets up and plays for 20-30 mins then she is tired again. We won’t get to see the doctor till Monday nurse just instructed us to keep charting. I will keep everyone posted as to what’s going on. Fingers crossed I have an answer Monday. I do not like seeing. Her this way
I totally get you there. Not having an answer is the worst. Because we only see our grandkids every month or so it I think it was more apparent to me than to my daughter that my granddaughter was becoming very depressed or something. She just seemed so unhappy, and it was such a relief to find out it was a physiological problem that could be dealt with and not something psychological or situational like school bullying or who knows what. Hypothyroid’s a much easier diagnosis to deal with than T1, but even that is at least something for which there’s a practical and effective treatment, and lots of us out here to help you through it if that’s how it turns out.
Well… we are being send to a pediatric endocrinologist. They are trying to get us in this week. Said he levels were high they should be around 70-110 no more than 120. I am to continue testing first thing in morning. And before she eats and 2 hours after she eats. And anytime she starts to act lethargic or not her self. And not to restrict her diet until we see endo that way he can have the full picture. All other labs were normal and he glucose was only 77 on the lab draw but monitoring Thur out the day he is worried she starting. To exhibit signs. Her blood sugar reached 203 3.5 hours after she had eaten. (And yes I clean her fingers prior to checks with alcohol wipes)
Thinking of you and your daughter, “not knowing” really is stressful, thanks for taking the time to update us, we’re here for you 
I hope you get to see the endo quick! And hope he or she can give you some definitive answers and soon. I feel like you’ve had such a run-around. When I brought my daughter to emerg we got a diagnosis in just a few hours. This whole process of taking weeks is awful and so draining on a parent!!
It is very stressful not knowing 
I feel honestly like I’m going crazy. She was really just fine until about 4 weeks ago! So now im constantly checking her until we can get appt and I write down all she has eaten and what levels were. Until we can get in. I feel like we keep playing the game of hurry up and wait. And I know she hasn’t gotten the rally scary numbers but still.