Over the past six months or so I have noticed that my nine year old son has been drinking insane amounts of water and urinating quite frequently.

I didn't catch on to the mass amounts of water he was drinking right away, because it was summer and he was so active. The frequent urination caught my attention right away because we had him to the doctor for a bladder infection a couple of years ago and the doctor asked how often he was using the bathroom at night. He then said that no child should be getting up to use the bathroom more than once a night (which he was, but that was due to the bladder infection).


I usually only let my kids have a small amount of water before bed, I started this when they were little to avoid bedwetting, but this amount would not satisfy my son and I eventually started letting him drink as much as he wanted because he was genuinely thirsty. He started drinking 3 or more glasses right before bed and I noticed he would go to the bathroom before bed and again before I ever got to bed and who knows how many times after that! I finally decided to take him to the doctor when he drank several glasses of water before bed one night, then came up for two more, took one downstairs with him, came up for another, then when he couldn't fall asleep he came up to lay on the couch and had another glass and filled one for the table beside him. The next day he drank two bottles (they hold 18-24 ounces)
of water, 2 glasses of juice and numerous glasses of chocolate milk and pop (I know! Not good for the diabetic, but I was just catching on to the problem).

I booked him an appointment with the doctor and he seemed genuinely concerned with his fluid intake and had him give a urine sample and did a sugar test via a glucose monitor and finger *****. The urine came back "clean" and his sugar level was 7.0. The doctor said that everything was normal and that anything 7 or under was considered normal. I think 7.0 should have called for a glucose test (with the orange drink). The doctors expanation was that my son was simply thirsty and I should give him less water before bed (to stop the frequent urination) and to give him a lozenge to help with his dry throat (oh yeah, that is also one of his symptoms). How silly is that! I never sent my kids to bed with a bottle for fear of them choking, and the decay it causes to the teeth, why on earth would I send my 9 year old son to bed with a candy in his mouth! Needless to say there was no further testing done.

My mother is a nurse and says that they have not done urine testing in years as it is almost obsolete. She also says that glucose monitors are not all that reliable as you can test your levels on 3 different machines and get 3 different readings and that a glucose tolerence test should have been done.

Lately it has started to bother me again. I asked him why he drinks so much at home, but refuses to take a water bottle to school (they are allowed to drink water during class). He said that he didn't want to be going to the bathroom all day (I imagine that it might become embarrassing to keep asking to use the washroom). He still drinks several glasses of water during the day. He has a couple of glasses in the morning before school and a few glasses after school, he then has a glass of water with supper after he finishes his milk. Who knows how many glasses he drinks between supper and bedtime and he takes a glass to bed with him. He also comes up for another glass once in a while. He uses the bathroom first thing in the morning and again about half and hour later, before he gets on the bus for school. He goes when he is getting ready for bed and again after we tuck him in. He gets up at least once before I go to bed and I'm sure he probably gets up after that. I don't know how that child functions throughout the day as he can't be getting a very good sleep at night.

I have booked him another appointment(for Friday). Same office, different doctor and I am going to ask that he be sent for a glucose tolerence test but I have a couple of questions about this. I'm pretty sure you have to fast for this test by having nothing to eat or drink within 12 hours of the test and since his docors appointment is at 10am I am thinking that maybe (if he hasn't eaten) the doctor can send him straight over to the hospital for the blood test instead of us having to wait until Monday. When they say nothing to eat or drink does this include mass amounts of water? Can he drink only small amounts of water or can he have as much as he likes? If he can only have a little is it safe for him to chew sugarless gum to help with the thirst?

Do any of the things I have listed sound normal???? I just hope this doctor will send him for the test as it is more accurate and would put my mind at ease. If all else fails I'll have to get my own glucose monitor and test him myself for a while, but I don't want this to go on much longer.

Any suggestions or comments would be much apprieciated.

I'll let you know if they send him for the test.

Thanx

I forgot to mention that he is 85lbs and although he has always been considered to be overweight according to percentile charts he has always been very muscular with no visible body fat. It hasn't been until the last 6 months or so that he has become, what I would describe as, chunky. I don't believe that it anything to worry about at this point, but we have been working on trying to make some better food choices. This is one pattern that doesn't seem to fit as I thought weight loss was an indication of diabetes.

A fasting blood test requires that you take nothing by mouth. Not anything, unless they say it is okay. They will sometimes say it alright to take critical medications, but they will tell you. Some meds cannot be skipped, but again, they will tell you if this is the case. If you think this might be the case call them and verify.

There is a whole panel of blood tests that will give the overall picture. There are so many things going on in the body that are effected by diabetes, as well as other problems that the blood test will reveal.

It is possible, though probably not likely, that people can drink so much water that their body adjusts to that level and thrives to maintain it. The cure is to cut down and 'suffer' for a while. That is generally a problem that adults get when they try to hydrate to the extreme thinking that if some is good more is better. I don't kids think that way, yet.

it sounds a little bit concerning, but if your doctor is truely is not giving the tests, you could take your son to the local ER for a blood sugar reading, and from there they can help you

Actually, they do still use urine testing. If someone comes into the office complaining of diabetic symptoms then a urine test is the fastest, quickest and cheapest way to get a quick idea of what is happening. The first thing most docs will do is check for ketones and/or sugar in the urine and that is with a urine test, I'm sure that's what they did with your son.

I'm not saying that they use a urine test to make a diagnosis but they do it as a starting point. From there they would do the finger stick. Even though it's not the most accurate, it does give a quick glance into what is going on. If that comes back borderline or a bit high then yeah, more tests are necessary but if the fingerstick shows a blood glucose of say, 550, then they know there's a problem and need to admit the patient immediately and no more tests are needed at that point.

When my daughter was diagnosed (out of our state) we took her to a clinic and that's exactly what they did....urine test, finger stick, ambulance. She was in and out of the clinic in 20 minutes. It was quick and they knew immediately what the problem was by these 2 simple tests. These tests are virtually useless for someone who is borderline or slightly high or maybe just starting with symptoms but maybe it can help you understand why they do it. If your son had advanced diabetes or in danger of ketoacidosis then these tests would have picked that up immediately.

Also, good luck with your appointment on Friday. I hope you get some answers as to what is going on with him.

Well, we went to the appointment. My son had nothing to eat or drink since around 9 the night before and they did a urine test and finger ***** again. Urine came back clean though the doctor was surprised because it was so dark. Blood sugar came back clean too (4.7) which the doctor said is a little under the normal. If those tests come back normal they do not do further testing.

What bothers me is that when I was diagnosed with gestasional diabetes in my second pregnacy, my blood sugar was perfectly normal in the morning and before every meal, but it went up after a meal. I did not need insulin and keep it under control by watching what I was eating. The only reason mine was caught is because I happened to go to the doctor after I had eaten and the nurse mentioned that it was a little high. The doctor sent me for a glucose tolerence test, but when I didn't get called back to the office I thought that it must have been fine. My mom was worried and gave me a glucose monitor to test myself and that's when I caught it. I changed my diet right away and when I was sent to the OB few weeks later she could find no record of it being done by my family doctor. If I had have gone to the doctor before eating something I probably wouldn't have known so soon and wouldn't have changed my eating and exercise habits.

I'm glad that we got at least that much good news, but a glucose tolerance test would have made it concrete in my mind. The doctor thought that it was a little strange that he drinks so much but figured it may just be one of those things we won't figure out. It may well be just a habit or something he does just to drive me crazy, that kid will do the opposite of what you want him to do just to push my buttons (he gets disiplined and he says he's going to bed, you tell him to go ahead and he decides not to go. You tell him to go to bed, he says no, you say fine and away to bed he goes!). Who knows, maybe if I tell him he should be drinking 5 glasses of water before bed, he won't drink any! I'll have to limit him and see what happens, because going to the bathroom 5 times or more a night can't be all that much fun.

Thanx for all of your responses!

It is good to hear that they ruled out diabetes. You know the signs and surely will pay attention if they persist. That is a life long problem - the other problem of him doing just the opposite is something he will most likely out grow. Just hang in there.