OK. So ice cream cake is something to be avoided like the plague. Jenna's blood sugar went through the roof last night and once again I found myself setting my alarm to do wee hour checks. Needless to say I'm a tad punchy today due to sleep deprivation.
I hate these highs as they make me wonder what kind of lasting damage they are doing to my little girl.
A couple of days ago we were out running some errands. A fair bit of walking was involved but the girls seemed to be tolerating it well. Then, as we were walking back to the car after a short stint in the mall, suddenly Jenna began crying in pain with some degree of urgency. I picked her up as she was complaining about pain in her foot. I got her seated in her car seat and she promptly ripped off her shoe and sock all the while whimpering and crying in pain.
I examined the sole of her foot as she indicated that that was where the problem was. I saw nothing remarkable. I examined her sock but again found nothing. I felt around inside her shoe- nothing. All the while Jenna continued to be distressed by obvious discomfort on the sole of her foot. All I kept thinking is that she is developing diabetic neuropathy.
I know that it seems pretty unlikely as Jenna has only been diagnosed with diabetes for not quite six months now and we have had relatively good control in that time. But I just couldn't understand what this pain or discomfort could be and that seemed like the only possibility.
Luckily, I still keep her stroller in the back of the car, even though she seldom uses it anymore. We still had a couple of stops to make and she was agreeable to sitting in her stroller while we finished our errands. Jenna usually wants to walk and is at the stage of toddlerhood where she adamantly refuses to sit in a stroller "...like a baby." So I knew that what ever the problem was, it was causing her a considerable amount of discomfort.
By the time we completed our errands and were headed home, the problem seemed to have resolved. She hasn't complained of this same pain since. But I am still quite preoccupied with trying to decide on any other possible explanation besides diabetic neuropathy.
So if anyone has ever experienced this or has a child with diabetes who has had a similar experience and can share your experience and knowledge with me, I'd be very grateful. I'd love to believe it was completely unrelated... perhaps some kind of growing pains... anything non-diabetic related. But for the life of me, I can't seem to come up with another explanation.
At any rate, it will most definitely be brought up at our next pediatrician and endocrinologist appointment. I'm just terrified by what I might be told.
3 comments:
I am not a doctor, or a nurse.. just a parent of 2 kids one diabetic and one not... and we too have had those foot 'cramps' with no boo boo to be seen... in both our kids. My daughter (non-D) seems to get it mostly at night... We have asked pediatricians and endo's and nurses.. here are the answers we have gotten.. 1." It is not diabetic related, the damage to the foot is most commonly in older people, and rarely, if never in small children.. it also comes years after neglect of treatment or heredity and neglet." 2." It is growing pains and/ or a cramp in the foot, rest is a good solution after slowly rubbing the bottom to get good flow back to the foot" 3. " Pottasium deficiency.. feed your child more banana's (within reason obviously) and see if there is a correlation there" 4. " cramping can occur after mild dehydration (Which happens more commonly in diabetics as we know, and therefore, high blood sugars can cause more dehydration ... but note it also happens in non diabetic kids the same.. and more water will help to ease the pain in the foot"
so there you have all the expience of my 4 stops over the past 2 years when these foot pains happen in both my kids... my daughter likes the banana theory and water too.... an easy solution for everyone to feel that they are making it stop... no harm, no foul.
Sounds like you had a crazy morning and night as we all do... it can be upsetting, but let it go and trying not to worry about this one... will give you a breath... hoefully... take it... and breathe, until the next time...
try any and all of the reasons or leave them... just thought I would share them with you
Thank you, thank you a thousand times, thank you! A foot cramp makes complete sense, judging from the way she reacted to it.
I feel a little foolish jumping right to the most unlikely and worst case scenario. Unfortunately, when Jenna was presenting with symptoms of diabetes before her actual diagnosis, I was strongly suspecting diabetes but kept shrugging it off as my overreacting, maternal paranoia. Once burned...
I still plan on discussing it with the doc but I feel a lot better, now that you helped me gain some perspective.
Trust mama's intuition.. but also give yourself a break. You cannot beat yourself up over initial reactions before diagnosis, or foot cramps that come and go.. chilren do not come with instructions... and neither does diabetes... or rules or consistants for that matter.
I am glad you are feeling better about it.. I hope you get the same feeling when talking to your dr at your next visit.
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