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AGSD-UK Conference 2010
The Conference will be in central London on weekend of 20th-21st November. More details soon.
Walk over Wales... every step counts 2 July to 2 August 2010 Sponsored walk raising money for AGSD-UK. 210 miles. Details.
Walking with McArdle's - Wales An opportunity to enjoy a week's walking holiday in Snowdonia and learn how best to cope with McArdle's. July 2011. Details.
Also known as Von Gierke disease or glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency.
Children with GSD I are unable to release glucose from liver glycogen. If untreated this results in prolonged periods when their blood sugar level is too low. They become unwell in early childhood with sweating, irritability, poor growth and muscle weakness. Their livers become enlarged because of excessive accumulation of glycogen that cannot be broken down normally. In addition to these problems, children with GSD I can develop frequent mouth ulcers and are at increased risk of infection.
Treatment primarily consists of giving glucose drinks frequently during the day and, in most cases, continuously overnight through a tube passed down the nose into the stomach (a nasogastric tube). As children get older, treatment with cornstarch, which releases glucose slowly into the gut, may be very effective.
With such intensive treatment most children do well and their symptoms improve as they reach adulthood.