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9-year-old diabetic?
My stepson is 9 1/2 years old and has a mountain of health issues. I have tried to discuss it with his mother, but she brushes me off and says it's none of my business.
When he was born, he was average birth-weight, around 7 lbs. At the age of two, he was wearing kids size 6-8 shirts and shorts. Now at 9 1/2 years old, he is about 4'6" and weighs nearly 120 lbs. His mother feeds him non-stop whatever and whenever he wants, whereas on the days he is with us, we are eating salads, lean meats, low carb, low sodium, and we don't buy junk food. His older sister and younger sister are average height/weight for their ages, so this is not something that they all suffer with.
At the age of 3 he had already developed a bad enough body odor that he needed to shower twice a day, and by the age of 5 he had 1"-long thick black hair growing on his arms and legs. He already has as much arm & leg hair as his father (my husband) does.
In addition to the weight, he is also a bed-wetter. I'm not talking about an accident once in a while; I'm talking about NIGHTLY. We stop drinks 3 hours prior to bedtime, we make him use the restroom twice before falling asleep, and we also get him out of bed half-way through the night to go again. He STILL wakes up soaked. Not only will he wet the bed, but when he wakes in the morning, he will get up and turn on his tv and then crawl right back into the wet bed, not even bothering to change his clothes. He will knowingly sit there like that until someone verbally tells him to go shower and clean up the mess. The issue is the opposite during the daytime; during the day he will drink water non-stop, at least a full gallon per day, and he never goes to the restroom unless we stop and TELL him to do so. We asked his mother how often the bed-wetting happens at her house, and she says "Never; I put him in pull-ups at night because I don't have time to wash sheets every day". Seriously? How is that helping? That only teaches him to keep on what he's doing because she's putting him in a diaper! I could understand if he had been seen by a specialist who recommended that route, but he hasn't. We mention taking him to the doctor, and she insists she already did and got him a clean bill-of-health.
In addition to all of that, she has had him on Cetirizine for allergies since he was about 3 years old, yet when he stays with us he never coughs, sneezes, gets congested, or experiences any shortness of breath. He often complains of headaches, sore throat, has nose bleeds, and I believe it has a lot to do with being constantly medicated for no apparent reason with a drug that dries him out. She finally took him to the doctor last week for his headaches, and now all of a sudden they prescribed him glasses. He's never had a vision problem before, and now somehow overnight he has developed astigmatism.
So here's where I'm at now... The weight gain and size, the bed-wetting nightly, and the headaches and need of glasses, those could all be separate issues on their own that any child could face at any time. Seeing all of these presenting together in the same child at the same time, I have been insisting for 6 years that he needs to be checked for diabetes. The response I get from his mother, as well as from my own husband, is that there is no family history of diabetes and that I am making a mountain out of a molehill. Could I please get some feedback and see if I have a legitimate reason to suspect diabetes, or am I really blowing it all out of proportion? Thank you for any insight you can give me.
This discussion is related to body odor on almost 5 yr. old.
When he was born, he was average birth-weight, around 7 lbs. At the age of two, he was wearing kids size 6-8 shirts and shorts. Now at 9 1/2 years old, he is about 4'6" and weighs nearly 120 lbs. His mother feeds him non-stop whatever and whenever he wants, whereas on the days he is with us, we are eating salads, lean meats, low carb, low sodium, and we don't buy junk food. His older sister and younger sister are average height/weight for their ages, so this is not something that they all suffer with.
At the age of 3 he had already developed a bad enough body odor that he needed to shower twice a day, and by the age of 5 he had 1"-long thick black hair growing on his arms and legs. He already has as much arm & leg hair as his father (my husband) does.
In addition to the weight, he is also a bed-wetter. I'm not talking about an accident once in a while; I'm talking about NIGHTLY. We stop drinks 3 hours prior to bedtime, we make him use the restroom twice before falling asleep, and we also get him out of bed half-way through the night to go again. He STILL wakes up soaked. Not only will he wet the bed, but when he wakes in the morning, he will get up and turn on his tv and then crawl right back into the wet bed, not even bothering to change his clothes. He will knowingly sit there like that until someone verbally tells him to go shower and clean up the mess. The issue is the opposite during the daytime; during the day he will drink water non-stop, at least a full gallon per day, and he never goes to the restroom unless we stop and TELL him to do so. We asked his mother how often the bed-wetting happens at her house, and she says "Never; I put him in pull-ups at night because I don't have time to wash sheets every day". Seriously? How is that helping? That only teaches him to keep on what he's doing because she's putting him in a diaper! I could understand if he had been seen by a specialist who recommended that route, but he hasn't. We mention taking him to the doctor, and she insists she already did and got him a clean bill-of-health.
In addition to all of that, she has had him on Cetirizine for allergies since he was about 3 years old, yet when he stays with us he never coughs, sneezes, gets congested, or experiences any shortness of breath. He often complains of headaches, sore throat, has nose bleeds, and I believe it has a lot to do with being constantly medicated for no apparent reason with a drug that dries him out. She finally took him to the doctor last week for his headaches, and now all of a sudden they prescribed him glasses. He's never had a vision problem before, and now somehow overnight he has developed astigmatism.
So here's where I'm at now... The weight gain and size, the bed-wetting nightly, and the headaches and need of glasses, those could all be separate issues on their own that any child could face at any time. Seeing all of these presenting together in the same child at the same time, I have been insisting for 6 years that he needs to be checked for diabetes. The response I get from his mother, as well as from my own husband, is that there is no family history of diabetes and that I am making a mountain out of a molehill. Could I please get some feedback and see if I have a legitimate reason to suspect diabetes, or am I really blowing it all out of proportion? Thank you for any insight you can give me.
This discussion is related to body odor on almost 5 yr. old.
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