Diabetes - preschool age

[Lougle]

I have a doctors appointment for DD2 (3.2) tomorrow. I am a little concerned about her.

(Possible) Symptoms:

Drinking LOTS. She will be given a beaker of drink, and she will drink it in one sitting, then ask for more. She drinks at least 3 times what DD1 does.

Weeing even MORE - she wees several times an hour. Her wee is quite large in volume, and almost crystal clear. It is so plentiful that we have to be really careful how she sits on the toilet, because it can shoot over the seat horizontally, it comes out with such force.

Night sweating - we don't have heating on yet, and the girls have a ceiling fan which goes on each night on setting 2 (mid speed) [DD1 has sensory issues and needs the fan regardless of temperature]. DD2 has a 4.5 tog duvet, inside a single duvet cover, it is very loose, yet she SWEATS so much so that her hair is damp and she is clammy.

Last few weeks, she has been saying 'I've got a headache' when she is 'grumpy' and complains of tummy ache. It isn't severe enough to make her seem acutely poorly, ISWIM, but it is there (or at least she says it is). Last couple of days, she has said she needs to go to the doctor because her chest hurts and she lifts her t-shirt and pats her her breast area.

For the last few weeks she has been getting increasingly grouchy and tempermental. She can be quite acute in her mood swing - laughing and joking one moment, screaming and shouting at another. She is 3, though. Today, for no apparent reason, she suddenly started screaming and threw a toy buggy across the room - not like her at all.

She seems incredibly hungry all the time. She will go to preschool, eat snack, try and sneak up to the table for a second snack, eat lunch, then come home and ask for lunch with us. She is around 50-75th centile for weight, so healthy, not overweight.

She hasn't actively lost weight that i know of.

She is very tired during the day, and begged to go to bed for a sleep yesterday afternoon, getting changed into nightclothes, etc., although she didn't actually end up sleeping. She curled up on my lap this afternoon quietly, tired.

Could this be normal 3 year old stuff, or am I right to be concerned?

late bump

Early bump

I'm afraid I don't know the answer, but I hope your doctor can reassure you. Those symptoms could be indicative of diabetes, but they could just be something else. And even if it is diabetes, once familiar with its management, there's no reason why it should stop her having a normla childhood.

normal, of course

Hope the tests come back ok at the drs. You're right in wanting to rule out diabetes although it's reassuring that she hasn't lost weight, which would normally happen over a few weeks.

It could be that a virus has knocked her off a bit or just growth/toddler grumpiness/tiredness.

All the best! x

Hi. My son has type one. He was diagnosed aged seven. He is now ten and we have got amazing care.

I hope all is well, but if it is diabetes there is a great deal of support out there. I have found children with diabetes uk to be a source of great support.

Fingers crossed for you. What time are you going?

If you are at all concerned about her wellbeing and only have a late appointment, phone the drs urgently or go to a and e. Not to worry you, but it can be a situation that goes downhill very quickly if it is diabetes. Having re read your op, it does sound very similar to my son's diagnosis, although he also lost a lot of weight.

Take a urine sample with you.

Thank you, bramblebooks I'm glad to hear that your son is doing well. I have sterilized her potty and am awaiting a sample - she has been at preschool this morning and then did a poo with her wee so typical, really!!

Her appointment is 4pm. Interestingly, her preschool says she doesn't drink a great deal there - they have water to drink. So she could be ok.

I will update afterwards

Fingers crossed Lougle that it's just a bit of a virus that has knocked her off kiltre. Hope you've got on positively.

Hi, just updating the thread.

Well, we are off to hospital. The doctor took the history, said straight away, well we need to check her blood sugar.

We were sent up to the nurses' room, and they checked her BM. It was 8.0, so not really high, but slightly high. Her urine was like water it was so clear, but nothing showed sugar wise.

The doctor went back through the history, and said she wasn't happy, and was phoning for an opinion from the hospital. As she was talking, I mentioned the seizure she had last month:

She was showing DH how she could jump off the sofa. She landed awkwardly - her feet hit the floor, and her bottom hit the sofa seat, but quite hard.

She immediately started crying, and was crying for about 45 seconds. Not hysterical, but obviously hurt and upset.

Then, she suddenly pitched off the sofa onto the floor. I thought she was throwing a paddy. But she turned onto her back, her legs drew up like a frog, her arms drew up from the elbow with her hands by her shoulders, and her back arched and legs& hands pumped backwards and forwards. Her mouth screwed up and made chewing motions. The whole thing lasted probably 20 seconds - enough time for me to realise she wasn't having a paddy, and say to DH "Oh my goodness, that's a seizure, isn't it?" and for him to reply "It doesn't look right, I think you are right!".

With all of that, she said that the story didn't add up to her. I got the wrong end of the stick a bit, and said that unfortunately I couldn't change the story, because that's what happened. She reassured me that she believed me, but that she wasn't happy with the conclusion that it must be 'spinal shock' and it was all OK.

So they want us to take DD up as an inpatient tonight so they can monitor and investigate.

Thanks for the advice, we'll see what happens next

Thinking of you. Let us know how you get on when you have time and space. xxx

I've had type 1 since i was a kid..had all these symptoms but also i lost a lot of weight..so probably a good thing that your DD hasn't!

How soon after eating was she 8 mmol/l?

We're back

psddyclamp - she was 8mmol/l about 1 hours after having 1/3 banana, but 4 hours after her last main meal (lunch)

Cutting a long story short. Her BMs were 4.8 at late night, 4.7 2.5 hours after breakfast, so totally normal . So they don't know where the 8.0 from GP came from.

They were going to do a CT scan, but decided against it, and they took blood/urine. The values were slightly off for osmolarity, and bizarrely, the two figures were exactly the same, which they found very odd.

So they have decided that the most likely thing is that she has 'squash syndrome' - she has got a taste for squash (despite it being very weak) and is drinking it for the nice taste, which is pushing her fluid intake too high. They want us to limit her to 1l of weak squash a day, then in between if she asks for drinks, offer water only. The idea being that if she is truly thirsty she will take the water, and if she isn't, she won't, so her fluid intake will drop.

We will go back in a month with a diary.

THanks for all the advice

Phew. So pleased to hear that.

People on our support group were saying that 8mmols can be normal after eating for non diabetics at times.

Fingers very crossed.

I think my son was measuring 28mmols on diagnosis.

So glad she's ok!...I was 45 mmol/l at diagnosis