If your child experiences shakiness and nausea following high-sugar foods, you should take her to see her pediatrician right away. It's possible that she has developed type 1 diabetes, a condition in which her body can't process sugar properly. Without treatment, type 1 diabetes can be life-threatening. However, with high-quality treatment, your child will lower her chances of diabetes complications and likely live a healthy life.
Basics
Your body needs the hormone insulin to process the sugar you eat. Normally, your pancreas produces insulin. However, in type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the pancreas and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells. When this happens, symptoms appear that can include frequent urination, incredible thirst, extreme hunger coupled with weight loss, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. These symptoms often develop suddenly after the body reaches a tipping point of not having enough insulin to process the sugar in the diet.
Diagnosis
Type 1 diabetes appears most frequently in children, although it's possible to develop it as a young adult. To diagnose it, your pediatrician likely will have your child take an oral glucose test, which looks for his body's reaction to sugar. If his blood sugar levels remain high in the test, it indicates his body isn't processing sugar correctly, and he may have diabetes. To confirm that he has type 1 diabetes and not type 2 diabetes, the pediatrician likely will perform another blood test to look for antibodies that are specific to type 1 diabetes.
Treatment
Treatment for type 1 diabetes involves careful monitoring of blood glucose levels and insulin injections several times a day. Injected insulin replaces the insulin your child's pancreas no longer produces, and will enable her body to process sugar. Many parents find the most difficult part of this transition is learning to prick their child with a needle. However, new blood sugar testing and insulin delivery devices make this task easier than before.
Considerations
It's possible that your child's shakiness and nausea following high-sugar foods doesn't indicate type 1 diabetes. Some parents believe sugar can cause hyperactivity and other symptoms, although that theory doesn't hold water, according to Cornell University. It's also possible that your child suffers from reactive hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, related to her diet. Hypoglycemia can cause shakiness, but doesn't usually affect children. Regardless, if you sense your child has a problem following high-sugar meals, you need to visit her pediatrician to determine the true cause of the problem.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Diabetes - Type 1 Symptoms; May 5, 2009
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Diabetes - Type 1 Diagnosis; May 5, 2009
- Joslin Diabetes Center: New to Type 1 Diabetes? Information for Parents
- Cornell University; Sugar Does Not Cause Hyperactive Behavior; May 31, 2000
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Hypoglycemia; May 20, 2009
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