What symptoms should you watch for in a child with type 1 diabetes?
Symptoms of low blood sugar include sweating, weakness, and hunger. Symptoms of high blood sugar include increased thirst and increased urination. Low blood sugar happens quickly. High blood sugar usually develops slowly over hours or days.
Type 1 diabetes: What puts your child at risk for high or low blood sugar?
Things that make a child with type 1 diabetes more likely to have very high or low blood sugar include:
- Young age.
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Very young children are at the greatest risk for very low blood sugar. That's because they often can't tell you about their symptoms.
- Tight blood sugar control.
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Keeping your child's blood sugar levels within a target range is important. But very tight blood sugar control puts a child at risk for frequent low blood sugar levels.
- Hypoglycemia unawareness.
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Children who have hypoglycemia unawareness aren't able to recognize early symptoms of low blood sugar until they become severe.
- Puberty.
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Growth spurts and changing hormone levels during puberty make it hard to keep a child's blood sugar level within a target range.
- Mental health conditions.
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Children who have depression, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, or eating disorders are at increased risk for frequent high and low blood sugar levels.
What can cause low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in children who have diabetes?
Your child isn't likely to get low blood sugar unless your child takes insulin or certain diabetes medicines that lower blood sugar. Then low blood sugar may happen if your child:
- Takes too much insulin or other diabetes medicine.
- Skips or delays a meal or snack.
- Is more physically active than usual without eating enough food.
- Takes a medicine that can lower blood sugar as a side effect.
- Starts a menstrual period. This causes hormonal changes that may affect how well insulin works.
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