V. Blood Sugar and Serum Electrolytes Following Insulin and Dextrose, Alone or in Combination

It has been adequately demonstrated that the patient with muscular dystrophy can readily dispose of carbohydrate loads * and that the response to insulin, as reflected in capillary blood sugar levels, is somewhat less than in healthy children.⁶ The fact that in muscular dystrophy the muscles which form the bulk of the body tissues in which glucose may be utilized are diseased suggests that the effective disposal of such carbohydrate loads is achieved by a greater reliance upon pathways other than those in muscle. This is evident in the electrolyte changes herein reported following acceleration of carbohydrate metabolism by glucose, insulin, or insulin and glucose in children with muscular dystrophy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS  Healthy boys and girls in a well-run home for children and children with a diagnosis of the juvenile form of muscular dystrophy were given crystalline insulin,† 0.1 units per kilogram of body weight, and dextrose, 0.5 gm.