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Children's health

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Original poster

Hypoglycaemia in children

20 replies

BalloonSlayer · 13/10/2010 09:51

I shall try to keep this short but DS1 (10) suffers from terrible mood swings when he hasn't eaten enough at school. He also gets "terrible stomach aches" that never seem to have any real cause.

I am pretty confident that the mood swings at least are directly linked to lack of food during the day. When I get these outbursts of irrational rage all the way home, I just KNOW I am going to open his lunchbox and find practically nothing eaten. Yesterday worried me as he also wasn't making a lot of sense - he was saying something totally strange - a bit like if you wake someone up to ask them something and they talk rubbish at you. It made me think that perhaps the low blood sugar is making him confused as well as bloody impossible.

I realise it's not the school's problem, that he needs to take the responsibility of eating his sodding lunch!!

But should I be taking him to the Doctors? Could there be anything else causing this?

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thisisyesterday · 13/10/2010 09:59

yeah i would take him to the GP
could be diabetes, stomach aches can be a symptom of it.

Original poster

BalloonSlayer · 13/10/2010 10:01

If he had diabetes wouldn't he be terribly thirsty and peeing all the time?

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ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 13/10/2010 10:02

At ten I would take him to the doctor. Hypoglycaemia isn't massively uncommon in younger children but this is around the age they'd normally be growing out of it and they should at least rule out any underlying cause.

thisisyesterday · 13/10/2010 10:04

not always straight away BS. I looked it up when we were concerned about ds1's behaviour. apparently for a long time the only symptom can be mood swings and terrible tummy aches.

Original poster

BalloonSlayer · 13/10/2010 10:13

Blimey

Do you mind me asking, thisisyesterday, was your DS1 eating normally when he was having those symptoms?

My DS1 does not behave like this at weekends when he is eating properly.

I am happy to take him to the GP if he needs to go but I worry that I'd be taking him for what seems to be mainly a behavioural problem . . . he won't eat his packed lunch properly. I don't understand why he isn't starving hungry.

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ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 13/10/2010 10:19

You'd be taking him to the GP because if he hasn't eaten properly he starts to act abnormally angry and confused, and you are concerned that there is some underlying endocrine problem.

Original poster

BalloonSlayer · 13/10/2010 10:27

Thank you professor! < scribbles it down >

He already has severe (life-threatening) food allergies and I guess I am thinking that "lightning can't strike twice" and that he couldn't have something else wrong with him on top of everything else. Well hopefully he won't and there'll be nothing wrong...

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thisisyesterday · 13/10/2010 18:32

BS, no it was mainly if he had lots of sugary things or if he hadn't eaten for a while, or if he hadn't eaten for a while and then had something like white bread and jam etc which gives you a sugar rush and then a big crash

we eventually decided it wasn't diabetes, but i think it's worth a trip to the doctors even if just to rule it out!

sneezecakesmum · 13/10/2010 20:53

Would the school supervise him eating his packed lunch do you think? I would be like a bear with a sore head if I didnt eat all day! The fact of him being fine at the weekend certainly looks like hypoglycaemia

meltedmarsbars · 13/10/2010 21:51

Can you increase his breakfast as well? - my dd1 is 11 and has scrambled egg on toast, which I consider a big breakfast.

thisisyesterday · 13/10/2010 21:58

is he skipping lunch because he wants to play?
we're lucky with ds1's school because they aren't allowed out until they get a green card on their table. which is when most of the children have finished eating

if they are allowed to go as soon as they are "done" i think this can be a real problem. def speak to school about it

Original poster

BalloonSlayer · 14/10/2010 08:29

Well he's year six now so should be able to manage his own lunch without being nursemaided. I really don't want to start trying to get the school to do what he should be doing for himself. I mean - eating your lunch is pretty basic.

He says he "only likes hot food"

But he can't have school dinners because of his allergies. So tough.

All he has in his lunchbox is sandwich, drink and a few grapes. If we give him crisps he eats them and says he "didn't have time" to eat the sandwich. Yesterday he had half the drink and the grapes and none of the sandwich. But went to a friend's house after school and his behaviour was fine, apparently. I asked.

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frangipan · 14/10/2010 08:43

my DS 11 had similar sympotoms BS, mood swings, general huffiness and tummy aches. We took him to the gp and his glucose levels were high. The consultant diagnosed him with type 2 diabetes until a further test for GAD antibodies showed they were sky high.

He has a slow onset type 1 diabetes, which means his pancreas is very very slowly decreasing the insulin it produces. He had none of the 'classic' symptoms of diabetes and is now succesfully injecting and managing his condition.

I guess I'm just highlighting that they don't always have the thirsty/peeing alot symptoms and a trip to the GP would totally justified. Hope he feels better soon and you get to the bottom of it. xx

bramblebooks · 14/10/2010 09:16

My ds has type one and was very grumpy amongst other things. The peeing only came on at the ens phase before diagnosis.

Frangipani, are you a member of the children with diabetes uk mailing list? Wonder if I know you!

thisisyesterday · 14/10/2010 11:12

ballonslayer, could you get him one of those thermos pots and give him pasta/soup/something else hot for lunch?

frangipan · 14/10/2010 12:36

Bramblebrooks, no I'm not, but I'll look into it. At least I don't think I am , off to see...............

bramblebooks · 14/10/2010 13:53

if you did 'sign up' then I'd advise getting a separate gmail account as it can get busy on there (it's a diabetes version of mn, especially the off topic list)

dikkertjedap · 14/10/2010 14:04

I would definitely take him to the doctor. Hypoglycaemia can actually be quite dangerous, so I would not underestimate it! Further, he seems a bit old for it, you would expect that he is growing out of it if this is the problem. This would suggest that there might indeed another problem. Good luck.

RunningOutOfIdeas · 14/10/2010 14:13

BalloonSlayer, just to go in a completely different direction, did your DS have reflux when he was younger? I still find being hungry can be rather painful for me and when I was about your DS's age the stomach ache could be really bad - it felt like my stomach was being ripped apart. My DD is only 2.5 and still has a few signs of reflux. We have started to realise that if she is hungry she is not only in a foul mood but is also in pain.

Original poster

BalloonSlayer · 14/10/2010 14:59

thisisyesterday - I am thinking about one of those, although I have the suspicion that he will never be arsed to unscrew it and sit and eat something hot - he will just want to be off with his mates. It is something I shall have to discuss with him. I have a vague memory that I might have mentioned it and got from him an aghast look at the ponciness of the very idea, but maybe that was another of my Mumsy suggestions

Runningoutofideas no he didn't have reflux, nothing like it, but thanks for thinking of ideas for me. The stomach ache I have put down previously to being a bit of a "nervous" one, although he always says he is not feeling nervous and is in general quite a nervous type. The pain tends to be in the mid-section. I do believe it's a real pain, or at least "real to him." It's only recently that I have started to connect it with the low blood sugar.

The last time he got the stomach ache I had to collect him from school. He was sitting in the sick room and as I walked in the pong of BO hit me from six feet away. There was something he was due to do that could have made him feel nervous but he was adamant that he wasn't nervous about it. As I picked up his bag to take him home I realised he had not had his lunchtime drink, or much of his sandwich. So he had been running around enough to sweat like a pig, had had precious little to eat and nothing to drink and - lo!! - stomach cramps! We went home, he had a drink and a snack and was fine.

But what can you do? He's ten years old and - believe it or not - considered a bright child. He should be able to manage this small amount of personal care at his age.

Thanks so much everyone for all your ideas and advice. It is much appreciated.

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