[sugardumplin]

Is this normal? she is 15. very thin. and stays with persistent urinary tract infection lately. I keep telling my mom i think she could be diabetic- even though i really dont know- (i cant even figure myself out) she was at my house sunday and she said she felt shaky. so i checked it. it was 58. i dont really know what this means.

[art]

give that girl a Hersey Bar.
She's way low.
Certainly not diabetic with a 58.

Art

[sugardumplin]

ok-slap me if this is stupid- but i dont think i have ever asked this before....diabetics are high blood sugar people?

[Keezheekoni]

She could be on the slippery slope that can start diabetes in some people. I was a little reactive hypo when I was in my early teens, then became T1 at 16.

I gave my dd who is 16 a meter to take to school with her. She gets down into the 40s if she doesn't eat breakfast, then skips lunch...dumb teenagers!

[kstreeter513]

She may just be hypoglycemic. This happens when there is an insulin response by her pancreas that over corrects for food eaten. Many people are affected with this and are not diabetic. Extra care should be taken to make sure she doesn't skip meals. A little fat/protein added to meals should help her out.

[BlueSky]

I asked my endo a similar question about my daughter a while back. Apparently blood glucose at those levels is not unusual, especially for teenage girls.

[Bevvie]

Hi SugarD, strange that you should mention this..... I have recently been dx with T2. However, as a teenager I used to get periods of shakiness and low BG sympsoms and eventually tested myself using a friends meter. It was 58 (3.2), anyway as I was a dumb teenager I didn't do anything about it and just ate my way (over the years) out of hypoglycemia. During pregnancy I always had ketones sometimes small, medium and ++ appeared on my notes (no action then either). 20 years later I was dx as T2 and here I am fighting to keep my levels down . I do wonder if it is all linked so my advice would be to keep a good eye on her now and ensure she doesn't use pure sweets to level herself out - better to eat properly when she's young that get into problems later (only my thoughts based on limited knowledge, of course) Hope she feels better soon.

[princesslinda]

My younger sister (though not a teenager) has to make sure she eats regularly or she'll "bottom out" blood sugar wise. Her doctor does an A1C annually on her because of our strong T2 family history....and said lots of people who have the hypo episodes go on to become T2s in the future.

[gettingby]

I have to agree with kstreeter513 about the hypoglycemia. I have an older sister who sometimes gets shaky and feels dizzy. Her doctor told her that he is almost certain she doesn't have hypoglycemia. Although, he ran no tests to prove one way or the other. He still can not find a reason for her shakiness and dizzyness. She felt shaky and called me one day to come check her bg. It took me about 20 mins to get there. In that time, she drank a can of Sundrop and started feeling better. When I checked her, her bg was 75.

[sharon333]

I think the key is to eat a balanced diet everyday.

[RobiJo]

Many people can have low symptoms and even test low. Especially when they haven't eaten. Usually a meal or snack will take care of it.

I'm curious about the correlation between that and becoming T2 later on.

[RobiJo]

Originally Posted by sugardumplin

ok-slap me if this is stupid- but i dont think i have ever asked this before....diabetics are high blood sugar people?

In essence, yes. Our problem is not being able to keep numbers down naturally on our own.

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by RobiJo

Many people can have low symptoms and even test low. Especially when they haven't eaten. Usually a meal or snack will take care of it.

I'm curious about the correlation between that and becoming T2 later on.

Reactive lows (3-4 hours after a high-carb meal) are often a precursor to T2 diabetes. The theory goes something like this:

A reactive low is evidence of deterioration in the first-phase insulin response. This is the mobilisation of stored insulin in the pancreas, which is very quick. When the first-phase insulin response is weaker than it should be, blood glucose spikes. High blood sugar stimulates the second-phase insulin response (production of insulin by the beta cells, which takes longer). Because BG has gone so high, an excessive amount of new insulin gets produced. The downward effect on blood glucose is greater than necessary, causing the low blood sugar some time after a high-carb meal.

Deterioration in the first-phase insulin response suggests that there has been beta cell loss. Because of this loss, insulin production is not sufficient to replenish reserves of stored insulin. And if the beta cell loss continues and/or insulin resistance intensifies, blood glucose starts to rise and T2 diabetes results.

This is why reactive hypoglycemia is thought to lead to T2. But a lot of people with hypoglycemia never become T2. So there are, no doubt, other factors involved.

[Lizzie G]

Originally Posted by BlueSky

Reactive lows (3-4 hours after a high-carb meal) are often a precursor to T2 diabetes. The theory goes something like this:

A reactive low is evidence of deterioration in the first-phase insulin response. This is the mobilisation of stored insulin in the pancreas, which is very quick. When the first-phase insulin response is weaker than it should be, blood glucose spikes. High blood sugar stimulates the second-phase insulin response (production of insulin by the beta cells, which takes longer). Because BG has gone so high, an excessive amount of new insulin gets produced. The downward effect on blood glucose is greater than necessary, causing the low blood sugar some time after a high-carb meal.

Deterioration in the first-phase insulin response suggests that there has been beta cell loss. Because of this loss, insulin production is not sufficient to replenish reserves of stored insulin. And if the beta cell loss continues and/or insulin resistance intensifies, blood glucose starts to rise and T2 diabetes results.

This is why reactive hypoglycemia is thought to lead to T2. But a lot of people with hypoglycemia never become T2. So there are, no doubt, other factors involved.

hey blue sky! this is really fascinating....im type 1 but remember i used to suffer for years with what is know obviously familiar to me as hypos....my theory was that my pancreas wasnt quite working correctly for a number of years prior to diagnosis and in a 'fits and starts' kind of way. im beginning to think that my diabetes is one of the 'hybrid' types explaining how a gradual onset might have taken place and that i observed this feature despite being type 1 (as i recall i was tested for 3 kinds of beta cell antibodies and 2 were positive). very interesting stuff. i wonder whether any of the research and screening programmes are focusing on these types of features.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Lizzie G

hey blue sky! this is really fascinating....im type 1 but remember i used to suffer for years with what is know obviously familiar to me as hypos....my theory was that my pancreas wasnt quite working correctly for a number of years prior to diagnosis and in a 'fits and starts' kind of way. im beginning to think that my diabetes is one of the 'hybrid' types explaining how a gradual onset might have taken place and that i observed this feature despite being type 1 (as i recall i was tested for 3 kinds of beta cell antibodies and 2 were positive). very interesting stuff. i wonder whether any of the research and screening programmes are focusing on these types of features.

Do you know for fat that you were hypo? i.e., did you actually have BG tests run? I ask because I always thought (due to popular "wisdom") that I was hypoglycemic... prior to my DX. In reality, I think I may have been confusing ketone-burning and/or hyperglycemia for hypos.

FWIW, I had the "three polys" at least as far back as 2001. I, too, think that I may have started down this road well before I wound up in the ER...

--[ addition ]--

Liz, what was your pre-DX exercise/eating routine? I always had to eat a good, full meal before swimming, else I'd get nauseous and shaky. (I probably actually was going hypo the times that I didn't eat!) No theories yet... just looking for commonality.

Oh! And donuts repulsed me. I mean, they're gross enough... but, back then, the smell of donuts would make me gag.