This articles is all about educating the family after a child has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Included are the five pieces of information that diabetic families need to know, what type 1 diabetes is, how it is diagnosed, and how to put together a treatment pack for the child to take with them where ever they go.
What is Type 1 Diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes is the most common chronic illness that can develop in childhood, and it affects 1 in every 600 children in the United States. While the exact cause of this disease is really not known at this time, it is suspected that it is caused by an autoimmune disorder that affects the islet cells in the pancreas which are responsible for the production of insulin. Without an adequate amount of insulin, the body’s cells are not able to use glucose to generate fuel for metabolism, and as a result the cells basically starve to death. In addition to cell degeneration, the build up of glucose in the blood can also lead to conditions like Hemochromatosis, Frozen Shoulder, organ damage, blood vessel damage, blindness, and eventually even organ failure. In order to reduce the chances of developing these serious conditions, type 1 diabetics need to take supplemental or replacement insulin through regular injections of synthetic insulin. These insulin injections help to regulate blood sugar levels, and help to maintain a diabetic’s health. Children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes do have an advantage over adults, as they usually don’t develop the serious health complication like organ failure, blindness, and lesions that adult diabetics tend to develop, however, because they are still growing and developing, children face challenges that adult diabetics don’t.
The Importance of Early Intervention
Diabetes can have a major impact on a child’s ability to grow and develop. If a child’s blood sugar is not kept under control, then they will develop slower than non-diabetic children will. This means that not only will they tend to be shorter than their peers are, but also, they will enter puberty later than their peers will. In addition to affecting a child’s growth and development, diabetes also affects their immune system. Children with type 1 diabetes are more prone to catching colds and getting infections then their peers. In order to help diabetic children have as healthy and normal a life as possible, it is important to diagnose type 1 diabetes as early as possible to make nutritional adjustments and insulin injection schedules that can help offset any negative effects diabetes has had, or will have on their development.