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What Causes A Drop In Blood Sugar Levels Of A 13 Year Old Child?
Question: My daughter is 13 years old. She's very small for her age & doesn't appear to have any signs of starting her first period anytime soon (I have 2 older daughters). A week ago her blood sugar suddenly dropped to 70 at school. She was shaking, sweating, visual disturbances, abdominal pain, etc. She went to her school nurse & had a juice & snack. We believed it was an isolated incident because she only had toast for breakfast. These symptoms continue as does her blood sugar dropping despite adjustments to her diet & eating at least every 2 hours. Almost exactly 2 hours after she eats her blood sugar drops to the low 70's & she first begins to feel "weird" and hands shake. We took her to an internal medicine doctor & he ran a lot of blood work tests... with fasting. Everything appears normal except her liver enzymes are "slightly elevated". According to the Dr he believes this is normal for her age. However, 2 days ago at school not only did her blood sugar drop but despite the nurse getting juice & snacks in her ASAP her blood sugar levels continued to drop instead of go up. Eventually they did go back up to normal. Can you tell me what all of this means? She has been a perfectly healthy child. Very rarely sick. She's not on any kind of medications and rarely even has a headache. She is a runner but hasn't trained in a few months. When questioned about when did this start she says she thought it was normal & everyone felt this way (that they needed to eat or drink something quickly when their blood sugar begins to drop quickly). She says the first day she went to the nurse it was just so bad that time she couldn't ignore it and knew she needed help. She has yearly physicals with a pediatrician (her last one was August 2014) and nothing has ever been found wrong with her. I'm worried sick. Can you please help explain what is going on? Is she hypoglycemic? If so how will we know for sure & how do we help control/stabilize her blood sugar levels?
Brief Answer:
Could be milder form of glycogen storage disorder
Detailed Answer:
Madam, greetings from HCM. I understand your concern.
Based on this description, I would consider milder form of glycogen storage disorder as a possibility. But it needs thorough investigations to confirm. Was an Ultrasound abdoman, complete hepatobiliary profile, thyroid hormone levels, cortisol levels checked. If yes, can you upload reports here. Besides those test if required liver biopsy should be performed. I recommend that she gets a referral to a good endocrinologist soon.
As you know glucose is stored in the form glycogen in the liver and muscles. When ever glucose levels go down the glycogen is broken down and glucose levels will be corrected.
Here in her case even liver enzymes are slightly elevated.
Just that as she grows the enzyme levels might improve.
She needs to take something every 2 hours . inform her teaches above her problem s. Keep some chocolate sugar or glucose with her . Explain her about the symptoms of hypoglycemia, like giddiness, sweating and palpitation.
Please fell free to ask more questions. Thank you
Could be milder form of glycogen storage disorder
Detailed Answer:
Madam, greetings from HCM. I understand your concern.
Based on this description, I would consider milder form of glycogen storage disorder as a possibility. But it needs thorough investigations to confirm. Was an Ultrasound abdoman, complete hepatobiliary profile, thyroid hormone levels, cortisol levels checked. If yes, can you upload reports here. Besides those test if required liver biopsy should be performed. I recommend that she gets a referral to a good endocrinologist soon.
As you know glucose is stored in the form glycogen in the liver and muscles. When ever glucose levels go down the glycogen is broken down and glucose levels will be corrected.
Here in her case even liver enzymes are slightly elevated.
Just that as she grows the enzyme levels might improve.
She needs to take something every 2 hours . inform her teaches above her problem s. Keep some chocolate sugar or glucose with her . Explain her about the symptoms of hypoglycemia, like giddiness, sweating and palpitation.
Please fell free to ask more questions. Thank you
Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Prasad
Answered by
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