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Worried about my 5 year old son

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Christina Barrow

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Hi,

I have a 5 year old little boy, and I am really concerned that something may be wrong as he is getting frequent UTI'S and has also had balenitis. He has just finished a week of antibiotics for a urine infection, he is also complaining of tummy pains and is constantly hungry even after a meal he will be looking for more to eat. His urine sample when dipped at the doctors last week didn't show traces of glucose, but I'm just wondering if this would always necessarily show up in the urine if my son did have diabetes or would a finger prick test be the most accurate way to determine? Has anyone else had any similar experiences?
 
Definitely get a finger prick test done, urine tests are a waste of time in my opinion! When I took my daughter to the GP suspecting her of having diabetes, he also did a urine test and said it was normal. Just 6 days later my daughter was going into DKA with a finger prick test off the scale and urine full of sugar and ketones, and had to be rushed to hospital - if we'd waited one more day she would have been in a coma!

I hope your son's symptoms turn out to be due to something less serious - but if you get a finger prick done then you should know for sure whether you can rule out diabetes or need further investigation at hospital. Good luck 🙂
 
I believe a urine sample picks up blood sugars over 10 (normal range is between 3.5 and 7 to 8). You can ask for a fingerpicking test at many chemists, so you could try there. The most common symptoms are tiredness, extreme thirst, seeing a lot and loosing weight for no apparent reason.
 
Sally71 said:
Definitely get a finger prick test done, urine tests are a waste of time in my opinion! When I took my daughter to the GP suspecting her of having diabetes, he also did a urine test and said it was normal. Just 6 days later my daughter was going into DKA with a finger prick test off the scale and urine full of sugar and ketones, and had to be rushed to hospital - if we'd waited one more day she would have been in a coma!

I hope your son's symptoms turn out to be due to something less serious - but if you get a finger prick done then you should know for sure whether you can rule out diabetes or need further investigation at hospital. Good luck 🙂
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Hi,
Thanks so much for replying. I contacted 111 last night and they advised me to take him to our GP tomorrow morning (which I was planning to do anyway) where my son will need urgent blood tests and further antibiotics. The doctor has out rightly said on the telephone that it isn't diabetes! I will also be requesting a finger prick test tomorrow too. X
 
Hope it's all ok! If the finger prick test is normal (4-8 mmol/l) then you can pretty much rule out diabetes straight away. If it comes out anywhere above that though, especially if it's in double figures, then ask to be referred immediately to a paediatric diabetes team at hospital. All they do all day is deal with diabetic children so they know what they are on about - it's definitely a specialist subject!
 
Sally71 said:
Hope it's all ok! If the finger prick test is normal (4-8 mmol/l) then you can pretty much rule out diabetes straight away. If it comes out anywhere above that though, especially if it's in double figures, then ask to be referred immediately to a paediatric diabetes team at hospital. All they do all day is deal with diabetic children so they know what they are on about - it's definitely a specialist subject!
Click to expand...

Hi,
My son's finger prick test came back as 6, it was an hour after having his breakfast- does this make a difference? The doctor is going to make a referral either to urology or the paediatric team she's just going to liaise with another doctor as to which one the referral should go to. X
 
Almost certainly not diabetes then, that must be a relief for you!
When my daughter was diagnosed her fasting blood test (having eaten nothing since the evening before) was 18 😱
And then later finger prick off the scale (+33), laboratory blood test came back at 46
Hope you can quickly find out what is the matter with your lad and get it sorted!
 
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So my son's GP rang this afternoon to advise that his finger prick test was inaccurate and he needs to have immediate blood tests! She said if his results are even borderline then they will go down the diabetes route!
 
Christina Barrow said:
So my son's GP rang this afternoon to advise that his finger prick test was inaccurate and he needs to have immediate blood tests! She said if his results are even borderline then they will go down the diabetes route!
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So how did s/he decide the test was inaccurate?
 
She did not say, she just said they want to do a fasting blood test as the finger prick was inaccurate?
 
Christina Barrow said:
She did not say, she just said they want to do a fasting blood test as the finger prick was inaccurate?
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Perhaps the test strip was out of date. That happened to someone I knew.
 
That seems a bit odd, finger pricks aren't deadly accurate but close enough and a darn sight more accurate than urine tests! However at least they are being thorough, so that's good. Hope it's good news!
 
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It could be they found the meter is faulty. It's good they are being thorough.
 
Good that they are checking. Let us know how it goes.
 
My son's blood test has come back as borderline. We are awaiting a telephone appointment from our GP. Does anyone have any experience of borderline blood results?
 
Don't give him a Mars bar before you see the Dr. Fasting bg if possible
 
I thought my daughter had a UTI- put in urine sample 4pm, doctor called, blood sugars found to be 6, asked me to go to surgery straight away. Said the only reason it would be six was diabetes and she was fairly certain. Put to local hospital finger prick and blood test told me def diabetes. flown to Main hospital by 2am stayed a week, flew home and started new life as a diabetes family! I feel like we were lucky my doc was so on the ball!
 
Jode said:
I thought my daughter had a UTI- put in urine sample 4pm, doctor called, blood sugars found to be 6, asked me to go to surgery straight away. Said the only reason it would be six was diabetes and she was fairly certain. Put to local hospital finger prick and blood test told me def diabetes. flown to Main hospital by 2am stayed a week, flew home and started new life as a diabetes family! I feel like we were lucky my doc was so on the ball!
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Hi Jose welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear about your daughter diagnosis, what a rollercoaster for you. It's good to hear your doc was on the ball.
Just to prevent any confusion, in the uk we use a different system of BG (blood glucose) measurements , fingerpricks are mmol/l I think the Hb1ac is different too but I'm not totally sure.
Feel free to ask any questions , we have so e very knowledgeable people on here.
 
Ljc said:
Hi Jose welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear about your daughter diagnosis, what a rollercoaster for you. It's good to hear your doc was on the ball.
Just to prevent any confusion, in the uk we use a different system of BG (blood glucose) measurements , fingerpricks are mmol/l I think the Hb1ac is different too but I'm not totally sure.
Feel free to ask any questions , we have so e very knowledgeable people on here.
Click to expand...

Hi ya,
Thanks for your reply, I am also in the UK, just on one of the islands- hence the flights to main hospital. I see the lady said her son's reading was 6- well that's what I was told about my girls when doc first called us in, she said her urine was reading 6 and that almost 100% meant she is diabetic. I didn't know they could be any other conclusion. Sorry, very new to it all so probably spoke without properly understanding what the person was saying.
 
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