Does My Child Have Diabetes?

Our blood contains a type of sugar called glucose. This sugar has its main source known as starches which gives the body the energy it needs.

Our bodies contain a hormone known as insulin. Insulin is secreted by the pancreas and its role is to regulate glucose in our blood so it does not exceed the normal limits or be less. So when there is a defect in insulin secretion that’s when you start getting diabetic symptoms.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes can be defined as build-up of glucose in our blood. Basically when the glucose is over produced, you can get many health problems.

Types of diabetes and occurrence with children

Chronic diabetes can be divided into two types;

Type 1 diabetes

This type is when the immune system attacks the pancreas cells that usually secrete insulin. This leads to no insulin being produced, therefore glucose keeps building up in the blood.

Type 2 diabetes

This one happens when your body is not able to respond to insulin – also known as insulin resistance. The results to this is a major increase of glucose in the blood. Over a period of time, the insulin produced by the pancreases also starts to decrease, increasing the accumulation of sugar.

So in the past years, the most common type of diabetes among children has been type 1. It was even once known as juvenile diabetes and everyone believed this was the only type of diabetes that could affect children. However, recently type 2 diabetes has begun affecting children

Symptoms of diabetes in children

There is a number of symptoms that can show you that indeed your child does have diabetes. Below are the most common symptoms;

Thirst and frequent urination.

As sugar builds up in the blood, the body tissues start to withdraw fluids. This then causes the child to be thirsty all the time and urinate as well. This leads to parents having to train them not to wet their beds.

Extreme starvation

The child will starve all the time because the body tissues aren’t able to use the sugar that keeps building up in the blood.

Fatigue and laziness

The child may have mood disorders and because of the diabetes, might also affect his performance in school.

Others

• Breath smell like fruit
• Vision disturbance.
• Fungal infections, especially in females.

Diabetes complications

Doing follow ups and control blood sugar is considered an important thing to do in childhood to prevent complications later on. If it is hard to control the sugar level to normal the patient could be prone to;

• Retinopathy.
• Cataracts.
• Peripheral vascular disease.
• High blood pressure.
• Kidney failure.
• Coronary artery disease.
• Peripheral and autonomic neuropathy.
• Increased risk of infections.

Risk factors

There are factors that may increase the risk of developing diabetes in children, including:

• Weight gain. Most especially in the abdominal area.
• Inactivity and lack of physical activity.
• Heredity or family history.
• Ethnicity – Diabetes is high among Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.
• Age and gender – Girls are affected more than boys.
• Birth weight

Treating diabetes in children

Support and encouragement from family members are among the most important components of diabetes treatment in children. This is because a supportive environment provides a positive feeling for the diabetic child. It also enhances their commitment to the treatment program.

The sick child needs to monitor the level of sugar in the blood daily, in addition to injecting insulin, while paying attention when the dose needs to be changed.

Exercising is also one of the best ways to control the level of sugar in the blood.