School Days and Hypoglycemia

If your child has diabetes and takes insulin or another blood glucose-lowering medication, he or she is at risk for low blood sugar (less than 70 mg/dl). This is called hypoglycemia and can occur at any time during the day, or night. When your child goes off to school in the morning their diabetes goes with them, so it’s important to make sure your child is safe at school.

The more you and those around your child at school – teachers, nurses, administrators, class mates, lunchroom workers, bus drivers – know about low blood sugar, its symptoms and how to prevent a low and correct it, the more help they can give your child if necessary. Planning ahead and always being prepared to correct a low helps minimize problems with diabetes at school.

Lows can occur during the school day just like they can at home. On a daily basis lows may result from changes in activity levels, food intake or diabetes medicines. Common symptoms are trembling, tingling, sweating, dizziness, hunger and having trouble thinking. A severe low may lead to irritability, emotional outbursts, seizures and loss of consciousness.

Naturally, you want the people who are around your child during the day to recognize a low and know how to correct it. Younger children may not even realize they are low.