Teen type 1 diabetic, high hbA1c, high diastolic bp

[jdwhite]

My 16 year old son has had high hbA1c (14 in Nov., 11 in Feb.), and high blood pressure. He is not overweight (105 lbs). He has 1 or 2 high blood sugar readings a month. Nothing over 300. His Dr. is having a difficult time with this. She keeps sending him for blood tests, and has not been able to tell me what might be going on. Any ideas?

[Forum-VOL-CB]

This sounds very frustrating indeed. I'm the mother of a 17-year-old type-1, not a doc, so I can't give you any medical advice, but I do have some questions. Is he seeing an endocrinologist or just an internist? This challenge certainly seems to demand a specialist. It doesn't make sense why an A1c would be that high if he rarely shows high blood sugars on his monitors. Is he testing regularly? Is he on Lantus/glargine? (That really helped stabilize my daughter.)

Let us know, and good luck with this challenge.

[Katyanne]

Hi,
Speaking from personal experience, dealing with blood sugar levels through your teen years can seem a challenge from time to time.  When I had a high A1C reading with my endochronologist, and looking back over the glucometer readings, my doctor asked me to try testing much more often for a week (before meals, an hour after meals, before bed and every two hours throughout the night). We ultimately discovered I was having peak highs overnight.  The best way to find out about where your son's highs may be is for him to check his blood sugar avidly.  That is the only suggestion I can make as I am no doctor but through my own personal experience.  I hope this is of some help.

[jdwhite]

My son is using lantus overnight and Novalog in the daytime.  We check his bgl 5 to 6 times a day.  His doctor is Anna Simpson-Oreggio. She is a pedes endocrinologist.  I have faith that she will figure out what is going on with him.  Thank's for your help  

[jdwhite]

Thanks for the idea.  We will try checking his bgl a couple of times in the night.

[T1phil]

Hi, i'm not a med pro but I have lived w/ type 1 for 42 yrs.  Since I can't give u medical advice I'll let u know from my experience. W/ an A1c of 14 ur son is averaging bgl's of about 300 over an extended period,it is not just 1 or 2 times a mo.
    Almost all monitors now a days record multiple readings.  test 3-5 times a day 4 a wk and learn how to recall these from the meter.  u'll see.
     I have a 15 yr old daughter. when I ask my daughter hows she doing in math she always manages to pull out a quiz she got a 90 on. then her report card comes home w/a 78.  thats teenagers.
   there are multiple issuess with teenagers dealing with diabetes. Hormones, stress, peer pressure, rebellion,
all of it.  Don't despair.  But it sounds like u need to keep a little closer eye on things which of course ur teenager w/ resent.
  

[cards7]

i am dealing with the same thing right now with my 14 year old daughter. her A1C was 14 last week and she also does not have a ton of high readings. but we believe  what is happening is , she is not taking her shots till right after she eats and when she eats something really sugary or carby , her sugar is going sky high before the insulin actually starts working and that is what is raising her A1C so high, it also doesnt help that she sneaks food sometimes. we are going to start giving her the shots before she eats now and see if that helps.  I dont know if this helps you or not but this is our situation.