As it is Diabetes Awareness month, I like to inform and educate the public about Juvenile or Type 1 Diabetes. Just nine months ago my now eight year old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. We were totally shocked when we first found out because neither my husband nor myself has any history of Type 1 Diabetes. We were explained by our doctor and Diabetes nurse that Type 1 diabetes comes about when the child own antibodies for some unknown reason think that their pancreas cells are foreign bodies and therefore attacks them until eventual kills off all these cells which produce insulin. It can happen to any child, infant and sometimes even in young adults. The misconceptions about Type 1 diabetes is that someone in the family or family history has that disease and/or have poor eating habits, lack of exercise, or is obese. None of those description fits my eight year old or any children with Type 1 diabetes.
Both my husband’s family and my family have no history of anyone with Type 1 Diabetes. We are a family who eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. I had noticed so many of our friends, I know they meant well, tried to help us by sharing with us thing they do for Type 2 Diabetes. While Type 2 can be prevented as well as reverse itself if eating a healthy diet and exercise. Type 1 Diabetes on the other hand can never be out grown the disease or cured. It can be managed by giving insulin shots or through an insulin pump.
So how do children, infants or even young adults get Juvenile Diabetes ?
The child has to be exposed to two things. One is exposure to virus and the second thing is still unknown to doctors or medical researchers, that cause the child’s own antibodies to attacks their own pancreas cells which produce insulin for the body. The child will go through a period call the “Honeymoon” stage where he/she will still produce some insulin until eventually all their pancreas cells are completely destroyed. This “Honeymoon” stage can go on for three months to a years. Until that stage is over it can be very frustrating. For instant with my daughter, the first three to four months she needed very little insulin and we could manage it very well. Then when her insulin production is so random it was very frustrating and something scary. Frustrating because it seemed like no matter what amount of insulin given to her, it was never correct. Her blood glucose would go too high or too low. the scariest thing we went through was when she had her first seizure when her blood glucose dropped too low too fast in the middle of the night.
It was in the middle of the night, we heard her screaming. My husband and I ran into her room to see what was wrong. She would screamed with the most fearful look on her face. At first we thought she was having a nightmare,. I held her and tried to console her but she did not seem to under what I said or knew who I was. She continued her screaming and then I felt her body jerked and I knew she was going through a seizure (which I had read about since she was diagnosed. We checked her blood glucose right away and she was quite low. We attempted to give her some juice to bring her sugar up but she was unable to swallow. I watched the colour drained from her face inside seconds. She turned Gray and went stiff. We were taught to use the Glucagon shot (it is a huge syringe! for emergency) and I administered it to her.
This injection is a sugar remedy that will raise the blood glucose extremely rapidly. Inside seconds her physique went limp and her colour came back but she was not conscious. I attempted to wake her up but she just laid on my armed not responding. I began panicking since I believed she may possibly have go into a coma, which can occurred. Simply because that was our really initial expertise we extremely did not know what to count on. My husband had named 91One particular when all those was taking place. I never don’t forget how valuable the operator was but we decided to just take her to the emergency. Meanwhile I kept attempting to wake her, we would get an occasional eye movement. By the time we reached the hospital which was about a hour she gave her very first respond, she nodded when I asked if she can hear me. This very first respond from her was only half an hour later. But it was the longest half hour of my life that left me shaking for a handful of days. I very believed I lost my tiny girl that evening. It was a really scary feeling. We were by means of this twice in those nine months. The second time was scary but at least we knew what to anticipate.
Just not too long ago our regional news interviewed Abby, my daughter and I about Juvenile Diabetes but they had linked the Kind two diabetes by this medical doctor who specialized in Sort two Diabetes. His comment was that Diabetes is brought on by poor diets and lack of physical exercise. This medical doctor need to have clarified that he was speaking of Kind two diabetes. The sad point is now when men and women study that report written by our nearby news reporter will once again give men and women never know the distinction in between Sort A single and Variety two diabetes a misconception.
With contemporary technologies men and women with type 1 diabetes can reside extremely a standard life style. As a parent caring for a kid with diabetes is expensive and occasionally several sleepless evening when her insulin pump warns us of her highs and lows in the middle of the evening. Due to the fact Abby has been on the insulin pump we had prevent ed 2 seizures. It was worth the additional costs to get her into an insulin pump.
So can Type 1 diabetes be cure? No unless somebody can make her a new pancreas and her antibodies would not destroy it as well. Perhaps in future, there will be answers as to how to inform those antibodies not to destroy their personal pancreas cells and thereby prevent Type 1 diabetes. . But these who are currently have the illness, we can hope for continual improvement in caring for the illness.
Type 1 Diabetes Awareness
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