Question re diabetes in children

[GingerIvy]

I wasn't sure if I should post this in here or the diabetes section, so I've posted in both. This may be nothing to be concerned about, but my 8yo has been quite thirsty lately, drinking quite a bit more than usual. He has also been urinating a lot more frequently, getting up at night a few times. His appetite has been a bit off the last few months - nothing drastic, but just "off" - which I know is hard to explain. He's not having any specific UTI symptoms (such as lower abdominal discomfort or pain/burning on weeing). This has been going on for awhile now,possibly a couple months if it goes back to when his appetite changed a little. He's not lost any weight that I can see (weighing him is a struggle - he's autistic and doesn't stand still on the scale).

Anyway, we have a massive family history of diabetes in my family, including a number that are insulin dependent. I made a routine appointment with the GP but it's not until the 29th (soonest they could get him in for routine appointment). Should I be taking him in sooner, or using the next 2 weeks to note any possible things that might be related and jot them down, watching what he eats, just in case? Is this even a concern? I don't want to ignore something important, but neither do I want to be alarmed over nothing.

He will NOT cooperate for a blood test, so I anticipate an almighty shrieking session and the need for him to be held to get that done. I was hoping desperately that it could be checked by finger stick, but is that ridiculously naive?

I'd love for it to be nothing,but I want that to be an accurate assessment,if you see what I mean.

I'll see what the GP says tomorrow.

The first thing he did upon getting home was down a bottle of water. Between 5pm and now(9.30), he's gone to wee 6 times.

He's had a bottle of water, large glass of milk, a glass of fizzy with his dinner, and a bit more water. That's between 5pm and 7pm as he went to bed at 8 (drinks are cut off at 7pm so they can brush their teeth after 30 minute wait time around 7.30)

Definitely call your doctor tomorrow. At my local hospital they have a team of paediatric diabetes nurses (they deal with us too even though it's not diabetes) who are very knowledgeable, they run clinics and there may be someone like that who can see him. If not, did you go to A&E or to the paeds unit? Ours has a day assessment ward for urgent situations, maybe yours has something similar?

We were sent to A&E, children's unit?

Yeah, in my local hospital there are a group of children's wards for various things, and one of the wards is a day assessment unit (we have open access to it because of DS's condition, so if he's struggling we can go straight there rather than via GP or A&E). It's staffed by specialist nurses and a paediatrician. You might be able to look on your local hospital's website and see if the different wards and departments are listed there, to see if they have something like this.

The way it works here is that if a child goes in to A&E with a medical issue that need some investigation, they're sent up to this paeds day assessment ward.

Was it just a general junior doctor you saw in A&E? I'd say he needs to be seen by someone more knowledgeable, as soon as possible.

I don't have any idea. Perhaps the best idea is to ring GP tomorrow,tell them I am concerned about how it went, as I feel A&E dr just decided since the one reading was normal,that all is fine and that's it, completely disregarding the other reading. I would rather see a few more blood checks that are normal - which I'm happy to do at home, as I can easily do that. Less stress for ds that way too. And I can report the results to the GP, and ring if I get any alarmingly high results.

I don't feel that one high reading and one normal reading is really telling enough to decide that he is or is not diabetic.

She mentioned diabetes insipidus, but that doesn't take the 19.5 into account either.

"People with diabetes insipidus have normal blood glucose levels; however, their kidneys cannot balance fluid in the body"

How scary. I'd go back to the gp tomorrow because clearly something isn't right. I read it all out to my dh who is a bit of a diabetes expert and he said it doesn't sound like diabetes but clearly it must be something.

Thanks. We'll see what the GP says tomorrow.

I will note I'm happy for it to not be diabetes. I just want to be certain,that's all.

Of course you do! It's scary enough when your child is ill and you know what it is. It's far worse when something appears to be very wrong and you have no confidence that it has been assessed correctly (been there!).

If it were me, I'd be calling the GP first thing, asking to be seen tomorrow, and going out to get a monitor from a pharmacy.

That's pretty much the plan.

I rang the GP's office, and they've advised me that the GP had scheduled to ring me this morning to find out how it went at A&E anyway, so will update once I've spoken to her.

I've prepared ds for the possibility that he may have to go back to GP surgery today to have his blood sugar checked again. At this point, I'm just not sure what to think.

Hey ginger. Sorry you are going through this stress. I just wanted to mention that as I child I was under the care of an outpatient clinic as I had a near constant need to wee. No underlying cause was ever found. As an adult I believe I have undiagnosed ASD and the weeing was most likely anxiety-related.
I grew out of it (the weeing). I know this doesn't relate to the blood sugar reading and family history, but just another possibility to throw out there....

That's interesting,thanks. Certainly something to keep in mind.

I just need to know one way or the other, frankly. If he is diabetic, he needs to have his diet and blood sugars monitored.If he isn't, then great. But we just need to know either way so he can have the appropriate care.

No call from GP yet. Getting rather annoyed at this point, as this is not something I can just ignore. Surgery now saying the GP isn't there now, so I've left a message asking the duty GP to ring me.

Gosh just caught up with how you got on. Sounds so confusing! Hope you and DS get some answers soon it's horrible being left worrying and not knowing. my friends DS is T1 diabetic and from what I remember they kept him and mum in hospital for a few days at diagnosis to keep an eye on him and get treatment started. He does well now and has a pump and seems to have a good and active life. Best wishes for you and hoping it's not diabetes, but either way you need answers today as am guessing GP is shut all weekend?

Yes, GP surgery shut all weekend. If I don't get a call back today, I am going to go buy a blood glucose monitor kit first thing tomorrow morning and check his blood sugar levels over the weekend, and then will get back to the GP on Monday to discuss it. (unless the levels are high,in which case I'll need to consider other options)

Today he has requested 6 drinks (meaning water bottles and full glasses of fluids), and been to the toilet 10 times already.

Notwithstanding what I said earlier that does sound worrying and I'm really surprised they didn't get back to you. Hope you get to speak to someone soon.

Ah. Just got call back from GP. She said her blood glucose monitor was working fine and she can't really say why he had a 19.5 reading, but if the hospital said it was 6.5 and for me not to worry, then that is fine. She stated that if he got a normal reading a few hours after her reading, then he's probably fine and not got diabetes. She then said to still attend the diabetic clinic when they ring to schedule it. I asked her about whether or not he would need to be tested again and she said no, wait until the clinic - which will likely be in a couple weeks?

Doctor from A&E just rang to schedule the clinic appointment. It's in two weeks.

Some pharmacy’s will do a quick finger prick blood test. It does involve fasting for some hours and obviously I don’t know what age they start at, but it’s worth ringing around.

I think I am just going to buy the kit tomorrow and test him. If I get a very high result, I'll go from there.

I need to be watching my blood sugar more closely anyway, so that gives me the opportunity to check mine as well.

Pharmacies generally won't do spot tests on kids, they're checking for adults with type 2 and aren't equipped to deal with type 1 so avoid it.

But a test meter that comes with a few strips is about £20 or less, and should be easily available.

Good luck. Did he have clean hands when the first test was done at the GP? Could it be a contaminated sample? E.g. If he'd had a sugary drink or snack not long before, or even some wipes/sanitiser can throw off the results.