I know fruity breath is one of the diabetes symptoms, but my daugther has no other symptoms. I still worry when I smell her fruity breath when she gets sick. I think she produces ketones when she gets sick, which causes the sweet breath. It goes away when the cold is over. Has anyone noticed similar breath smell when your kids have a cold? Thank you so much!!!
Thanks for all your input. About 1 and 1/2 years ago my daughter had a bad cold and fever of 104. We took her in and her doc measure her glucose which was high and she recommended an endocrinologist. So we took her to a specialist who performed an A1C glucose test to calculate her average glucose for the past 3 months and the results were normal. He said she was not diabetic just had a spike in glucose due to a strong virus which apparently is normal in kids. I didn't think about diabetes again until I noticed the sweet smell of her breath when she had her last cold. Again no other diabetes symptoms. I am going to talk to her pediatrician at her next check up and see what she thinks, in the mean time I was checking here to see if anyone had ever noticed similar smells. I am not very worried because the smells is gone and was only noticeable when she was sick. Thank you all very much!
I don't know about the diabetes link but I can absolutely tell when they are or are getting sick just by the way their breath smells, definitely a different 'sick' smell in my 3! Good luck
Everyine's breath odor changes when they are sick, especially if it is a GI or upper repiratory bug.
And those bugs CAN temporarily upset your blood sugar balance because whenyou're sick, you don't want to eat, so your blood sugar goes wonky. If it goes away once she is well and resumes a normal diet, I wouldn't worry about it.
I wouldn't worry about it one bit if it goes away. I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that she produces ketones, but if you are that knowledgeable, you should be talking to equally or even more knowledgeable medical professionals, such as her pediatrician.
If she gets sick so often that you are smelling this a lot, I'd stop worrying about diabetes and start thinking about her overall immune system and supporting that.
What does her doctor say?
No.
Never noticed anything like that with our son.
It's a good question for your pediatrician - take her in when she's sick and see what the doctor says.
If this only happens when she's sick what does she eat when she's sick?
Sure everybody jumps to the 'diabetes' conclusion but there's another situation that can cause something similar (and probably a few more that only a doctor would know about).
Benign Dietary Ketosis is something that can happen to people when they are on a low carb diet (like Adkins).
It goes away when they eat more carbs.
No, I've never experienced this. But as someone noted below--if you know enough to know about ketones, you should know that what you're smelling isn't usual. You say she has no other symptoms of diabetes but have you ever had her tested? I would, just to eliminate it. My friend's daughter turned out to have Type 1 diabetes and had no fruity breath, no symptoms at all except some tiredness one summer (not even noteworthy in the heat and humidity we have here).She didn't even have the thirst that can be a symptom. Just passed out momentarily one day and the hospital found she had Type 1. No one on either side of the family has it so dont' rely on that as an indicator either. So don't trust to lists of symptoms -- get a test done.
No. When most people get sick, they will have more of a metal smell to their breath - it is not a sweet smell.
No, my kids do not get this when they are sick. I would ask the pediatrician bc it is kind of curious.
