Curious Symptoms in 14 Year Old Daughter

[ward93]

My daughter, age 14, has curious symptoms.  Family history of diabetes.  Currently she has frequent headaches which seem to improve with food intake.  She also suffers with some dizziness.  She has VCD which I don't think is related to these symptoms.  She is an athlete and in very good shape physically and not overweight.  What I find most curious is her fasting glucose is in the 100-115 range but taken randomly throughout the day it is in the 80s for the most part.  Is there cause for concern?  She has been seen in recent months by an endocronologist as she was anemic when she first hit puberty with heavy periods but that now is under control.  As a side note, when she was very young she would get "mean" if she didn't eat often enough, as she aged she learned to eat as she felt the symptoms coming on.  Could this be hypoglycemia in some form even with high fasting numbers?

[ward93]

Thank you for your input.  I think I will push to have it checked out.

[ward93]

Thank you for your input.

[Super_sally888]

Hello,

Normal fasting should be in the low to mid 80s.  Post eating should also be in the low to mid-80s in a person without diabetes.  Normal numbers for children can be even lower (ie. in the 70s).

Her fasting levels of 100 - 115 raise a red flag for me.  This could possibly be very early diabetes, despite her numbers during the day being normal.  Given her age and activity level it could be very early type 1.

Would recommend getting her HbA1c tested to get a baseline for monitoring.  Do also keep testing (and recording) her fasting post eating (1 1/2 - 2 hrs post eating), from time to time (maybe 1 day a week) so you can catch it early if things get worse.  If her dr is willing you could also ask them to test C-Peptide (monitors how much insulin she is producing), and antibodies.

Would strongly recommend that she follows a lower carb diet (to reduce stress on her pancreas) and keeps up with the exercise.  

I think you are wise to monitor this closely.  Please also read up on the symptoms of Type 1, so you can get early attention if she should have these symptoms  (sometimes things can go from normal to abnormal very quickly).

I hope this is just over reacting, but do beleive it is better to err on the side of caution in this case.

[TaraLynn77]

Hypoglycemia does manifest with the symptoms you've mentioned.  What a person will present with regarding symptoms depends on their glucose baseline.  If her fasting is 110, 80 could be very low for her.

When these symptoms present, check her glucose if you have a glucometer at home.  If you see that she is low, give her crackers (grahams are great) and a glass of orange juice.  But please start keeping a log/diary of when these symptoms occur.  A food journal would also be beneficial.  Take this information with you to your next Dr. visit.  The more information you can share with your doctor, the easier it will be to create a plan.

Take care.