Juvenile Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic condition caused by the body’s inability to break down and properly store, glucose (sugars). This triggers several long-term problems affecting every organ in the body. Complications include poor circulation (increasing risk for heart attacks and strokes), nerve damage, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and hardening of the arteries.

There are different kinds of diabetes, based on why the body is unable to process glucose. In juvenile diabetes, the immune system goes haywire, destroying cells in the pancreas responsible for producing insulin. Without insulin, the body’s cells can’t use the sugar and fat released during digestion. The sugar “piles up” – creating dangerously high sugar levels.

Juvenile diabetes usually emerges during childhood and early adolescence, but it has been known to strike even adults. It is a lot less common than other types of diabetes.

Symptoms

The symptoms of Type I diabetes often come on suddenly and very severely. They include unusual and exceptional thirst, dry mouth, frequent urination, weight loss, chronic fatigue, and lethargy, blurry vision, nausea, and irritability.

Treatments

One of the most common treatment is insulin injection. There are several types of insulin classified to work at various speed and durations. Your doctor will prescribe one that best suits your child’s needs. For the insulin treatments to work, you will need to teach your child to monitor blood sugars at regular intervals. For milder cases of diabetes, doctors may prescribe drugs instead of injections.

Special Diet

Proper diet and exercise can also minimize complications. Your doctor and nutritionist can design a specific meal plan depending on the severity of the condition and lifestyle. In general, though, diabetics are discouraged from taking alcohol (it can interfere with medicines, and has a high sugar content), should minimize fat, and must carefully balance their carbohydrates and proteins.

Living Normal Life

With proper medication, diet, and exercise, your child can experience the same joys and challenges of anyone else. He will need to be more careful about certain things, and you and your doctor will have to work together closely on certain decisions like which sports to participate in. But in no way should your child be made to feel that he is “handicapped”.

In fact, it is very important for you to remain positive so your child doesn’t inherit your fear. It is your role to give him the emotional strength to face his condition, and the confidence that it will not hamper his life. Do this by explaining to him, in words that he can understand, what is happening to his body. Tell him what he can do to prevent it from worsening. And eventually, as he grows older, teach him to administer his medication and monitor his health.