<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
To Karen and Dennis,
    QUICK -- NOW  -- please have your child's blood sugar tested !!
It sounds to us like your child may be diabetic.  This is URGENT, but
if this is what the problem is, be prepared to spend a couple days in
the hospital learning, learning, learning.
 
Our daughter, Sara, was diagnosed with Celiac disease when she was a
toddler.  At the time, we thought we knew everything there was to know
about CD, but what we didn't know was that CD is an autoimmune disease
.  When she was 8 years old, she caught a coxsackie (sp?) virus from
her brother, and the next thing we knew, she was displaying the same
symptoms as your child.  BOY DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR!!  I knew ther
e was a problem (or suspected as much), when we were on our way to
the grocery store and she asked while we were still on the road if she
could get a drink from the fountain when we got there (at first I thought
it was an independence thing -- reaching in the cupboard and getting
her own glass, getting her own drink, etc.).  Then the final straw was
when I realized all the sudden that she was losing weight, and I figured
out what was going on, since diabetes is in my husband's family.
 
As our pediatric endo told us, she has a genetic factor already, and
an autoimmune disease already, which increased her chance of developing
another autoimmune disease (diabetes).  Then, I think that the virus
she had triggered the diabetes.
 
Has your child had a virus lately??  I'm not a medical person (far f
rom it), but that is what it sounds like to me.  I hope not.  One lesson
I learned was to not say "at least you don't need to get a shot every
day" when she felt bad about her food choices.
 
Good luck.  Hope this is not the case, but if it is, fear not.  It's
not so bad.  Sara doesn't seem to think much of it, and it's actuall
y easier for her to adjust to being diabetic because she was so used
to a "special" diet anyway.  It is an adjustment, though.  Please post
back to let us know how your child is.
 
Robin Catlin
mom to Sara (CD since toddlerhood, Type I DMer since 9/94)
ls