thirsty teen

[JanTx]

At the lunch table today a coworker mentioned that her 16 year old is getting up several times during the night to get a drink. She thinks his athletic activities during the day are dehydrating him and he's just making up for it during the night. My first thought was: what's his blood sugar? I have an extra meter here at work and told her I'd send it home with her if she'd like. That he should test his blood in the morning. If it's between 80 - 110 he's good to go. If he's higher than that make an appointment and have it checked. Now ... what else should I have said. Or ... should I have kept my mouth shut?

[June91]

You did exactly what you should have, but I can't help feeling that you could possibly end up being the messenger that gets shot... Don't get me wrong - I would have done the same regardless of consequences.

[JanTx]

I'm not worried about the consequences. We're teachers who have taught together for many years. She's a science teacher who is surprised she didn't think about this before. The conversation was about messes our families make and she was talking about him leaving glasses all over the house at night.

I just read the post about testing a young person and will suggest she also have him test 2 hours after a meal. I asked if he'd be bothered by testing and she thought not at all.

The meter I'm sending is a freebie Ultra Smart I got. It has about 5 strips so they can't get too carried away!

[June91]

You're being a conscientious friend and I hope you're wrong. 2 hours is the way to go. Let us know what happens.

[KritterMom]

We all need more friends like you! I think you did the right thing. I'm always testing people at work, lol!:)

[ProudMOM]

Jan-- Does this 16 year old have any other symptoms? Weight loss? Frequent urination? I am hoping the answers to my questions are "no".

Keep us posted.

Valerie

[xMenace]

If it is dehydration from athletics, that is dangerous too. Teach how and why to hydrate before and after activities. The hot weather is coming, and some of these ignorant athletes are lost every year.

[JanTx]

Thanks for all the thoughtful posts. I agree that it's a problem regardless of the cause. And since we live in S. Texas we do lose athletes every year - I haven't known any directly but last fall seems like there were at least 4 in the state who died following athletic activities. Even one is too many! We now have defib machines in all our secondary schools as a result. We're working to get them in our elementaries. (At my husband's high school they have used the machine once - on a teacher.)

Don't know about other symptoms. The coworker in question left early yesterday to attend this son's baseball game so ... she didn't get the meter and I haven't talked to her since lunch. I'll follow up next week. Seems that I didn't unduly frighten her anyway!