Diabetes diagnosis in a toddler?

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leannaf2721

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Hi my three year old over last four days is asking for drink excessively. Like past two nights she has drank 40oz of juice. She keeps crying she is thirsty too. I have noticed her behaviour has changed and is just being hyperactive and hitting people for no reason etc. i went to the doctors and they did a urine test and it said its clear so there is nothing to worry about. I asked why she was drinking so much he said maybe she is thirsty.

Is this correct? That urine is clear so I have nothing to worry about?
 
Assuming infection been ruled out?

Youngest always drank more than others when toddler, worried me as I have type 1. Gp basically said same, but if your in doubt take them to see another Dr for second opinion.
 
well she does have a yeast infection and the last treatment didn’t work so need to do a swab to investigate further. But urine was clear so they said no infection and she is well within herself.
 
Keep a close eye on her - if it was diabetes she’d be tired and losing weight too, and going to the loo a lot. My daughter went so thin you could see all her bones sticking out, even in places I didn’t know she had bones, and her breath permanently smelled sweet as if she’d just pigged a huge bag of Haribo even at 8am when she hadn’t eaten anything since the day before. She was eating everything in sight but still stick thin and it was only when she got so tired that she couldn’t even be bothered to watch her favourite programmes on TV that I knew I definitely wasn’t imagining it. She was drinking quite a lot but funnily enough we didn’t really pick up on that one until right at the end! When I took her to the doctor suspecting diabetes he did a urine test which was apparently normal, just 6 days later she was very ill indeed going into DKA and so weak she couldn’t even stand up never mind walk. Let’s hope it isn’t that though, I’m sure there are other causes of drinking a lot, make sure you check those out first.
 
Shes only just started the last 3 days, shes just crying saying she is thirsty continuously. She just drank an 8oz bottle of water and then cried for more. Its never ending. Then on top of that she has become so moody. Perhaps I guess just worried because of the yeast infection as I read that can be early sign especially if treatment not working for it. Which it hasn’t.
 
leannaf2721 said:
well she does have a yeast infection and the last treatment didn’t work so need to do a swab to investigate further. But urine was clear so they said no infection and she is well within herself.
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If things don't improve take her back to drs on Monday or contact 111 if matters get worse, that's what I'd do if it were my child speaking as a father here.
 
Leadinglights said:
A yeast infection would indicate high glucose level as yeast love a high sugar environment. I would persist with your GP to do further tests.
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If that was the case wouldn’t it be in her urine? Shes had this yeast infection for two months now they gave me cream twice but it didn’t do anything to improve it. So now they said do a swab which is fine I wasn’t particularly concerned but now the increased thirst and irratible behaviour just makes me concerned.
 
nonethewiser said:
If things don't improve take her back to drs on Monday or contact 111 if matters get worse, that's what I'd do if it were my child speaking as a father here.
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Thanks I will try wait out till Monday, I have found 111 useless when I have used them in the past. They never call back.
 
leannaf2721 said:
Oh can they do this, why didn’t they do this when I went seems it may of help eliminate it better than urine perhaps.
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Yes if only they’d done that when it was my daughter perhaps we’d have caught it before she got quite so dangerously ill! They did send us for a blood test, but got it confused with type 2 and decided it had to be a fasting test with blood taken from a vein, and I didn’t know enough about it to argue with them. Took 5 days before we could get an appointment for that, not considered urgent enough to give it priority. Doctor’s surgery opened at 8am the next day and they rang me at 8.05 asking if I could bring her in at 11 to see the doctor. THEN they did the finger prick, and it was off the scale! The hospital specialist nurses said that GPs really need some education when faced with a young child with possible diabetes symptoms, that it’s much more urgent than an adult with type 2 and they should forget about urine tests, go straight for the finger prick blood test and if that comes out anywhere above normal send them straight to hospital for more thorough testing. 10 years later it seems that nothing has changed :(
 
You may find that a Lloyds pharmacy could do a finger prick test for blood glucose on your daughter and that might put your mind at rest, they would also advise if they felt it was urgent you got treatment from the GP or hospital.

Canesten is usually an effective treatment for yeast infection but may not be suitable for a child but the pharmacy would be able to advise.
 
Sally71 said:
Yes if only they’d done that when it was my daughter perhaps we’d have caught it before she got quite so dangerously ill! They did send us for a blood test, but got it confused with type 2 and decided it had to be a fasting test with blood taken from a vein, and I didn’t know enough about it to argue with them. Took 5 days before we could get an appointment for that, not considered urgent enough to give it priority. Doctor’s surgery opened at 8am the next day and they rang me at 8.05 asking if I could bring her in at 11 to see the doctor. THEN they did the finger prick, and it was off the scale! The hospital specialist nurses said that GPs really need some education when faced with a young child with possible diabetes symptoms, that it’s much more urgent than an adult with type 2 and they should forget about urine tests, go straight for the finger prick blood test and if that comes out anywhere above normal send them straight to hospital for more thorough testing. 10 years later it seems that nothing has changed :(
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Wow that is shocking. It is honestly and the fact its missed surely adds further costs to the NHS. All could have been avoided with that test. Will a home bought one work? I was thinking might just pop to Argos and but one to put my mind at rest. What is it I am looking for when I do? Like what would warrant further tests?
 
leannaf2721 said:
Wow that is shocking. It is honestly and the fact its missed surely adds further costs to the NHS. All could have been avoided with that test. Will a home bought one work? I was thinking might just pop to Argos and but one to put my mind at rest. What is it I am looking for when I do? Like what would warrant further tests?
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I think you would be better going to a pharmacy and at least they have some medical knowledge rather that Argos. When it comes to health matters I would go to the experts unless you know exactly what you want and know how to interpret the result.
 
Leadinglights said:
I think you would be better going to a pharmacy and at least they have some medical knowledge rather that Argos. When it comes to health matters I would go to the experts unless you know exactly what you want and know how to interpret the result.
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Oh good idea I will do this but I have a feeling they will probably say they can’t be used on children. Just to protect themselves but I will try.
 
leannaf2721 said:
Oh good idea I will do this but I have a feeling they will probably say they can’t be used on children. Just to protect themselves but I will try.
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We're thinking of a blood glucose test, and the meters are (as far as I'm aware, anyway) for any age. (Wouldn't surprise me that much if some were preferred for children for various reasons but I've never seen one specifically for children. Doubt the market is big enough to justify it.)

It might be they won't want to do such a test on a small child. (Nobody's going to like getting a drop of blood from a small child at the best of times.)

(Argos don't sell them.)
 
Bruce Stephens said:
We're thinking of a blood glucose test, and the meters are (as far as I'm aware, anyway) for any age. (Wouldn't surprise me that much if some were preferred for children for various reasons but I've never seen one specifically for children. Doubt the market is big enough to justify it.)

It might be they won't want to do such a test on a small child. (Nobody's going to like getting a drop of blood from a small child at the best of times.)

(Argos don't sell them.)
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Yes they do! They sell the Kinetic brand.
 
I wonder what your GP tested her urine for.... Was it glucose or Ketones. If it was ketones then she may not have started producing them yet but could still have high blood glucose levels. If she is drinking massive amounts then that may be diluting her urine enough for her levels not to be too high. A finger prick test would be a very quick and simple thing to do and give a more reliable result but would not in itself be used as a diagnosis, but as an indicator to do an HbA1c test or if desperately high, then send you off to A&E.

If you can't get a Blood Glucose test done at the pharmacy, then my opinion is that a home testing kit would be helpful to either put your mind at rest or encourage you to push for more support from your GP.... or possibly even take your daughter to A&E if her levels are consistently very high. Do you have any members of your extended family who are diabetic and might have a meter and could test your daughter for you.
The diabetes thirst is pretty overwhelming and often leads to bed wetting with younger children I believe due to the volume of fluid they are processing, so sometimes bed wetting is a red flag. I know I was having to get up to the loo 5 times a night to release the fluids I was consuming and each time drink more. High BG levels can make you irritable and anxious too, so I would say that it certainly sounds possible that she may be diabetic and in your situation, I would do some home testing and maybe also purchase some Ketostix from a pharmacy so that you can test her urine for ketones if her BG levels are high. They are about £5 for a pot of 50 and you would need to ask the pharmacist for them over the counter.

Hope you get something sorted because there is clearly something amiss and it must be very worrying as a parent. Please come back to us and let us know how you get on and what result you get if you do buy a test kit.
 
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