Type 1 Diabetes
Print Overview Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone needed to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy. Different factors, including genetics and some viruses, may contribute to type 1 diabetes. Although type 1 diabetes usually appears during childhood or adolescence, it can develop in adults. Despite active research, type 1 diabetes has no cure. Treatment focuses on managing blood sugar levels with insulin, diet and lifestyle to prevent complications. Symptoms Type 1 diabetes signs and symptoms can appear relatively suddenly and may include: Increased thirst Frequent urination Bed-wetting in children who previously didn't wet the bed during the night Extreme hunger Unintended weight loss Irritability and other mood changes Fatigue and weakness Blurred vision When to see a doctor Consult your doctor if you notice any of the above signs and symptoms in you or your child. Causes The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown. Usually, the body's own immune system — which normally fights harmful bacteria and viruses — mistakenly destroys the insulin-producing (islet, or islets of Langerhans) cells in the pancreas. Other possible causes include: Genetics Exposure to viruses and other environmental factors The role of insulin Once a significant number of islet cells are destroyed, you'll produce little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone that comes from a gland situated behind and below the stomach (pancreas). The pancreas secretes insulin into the bloodstream. Insulin circulates, allowing sugar to enter your cells. Insulin lowers the amount of sugar in your bloodstream. As your blood sugar level drops, so does the secre Continue reading >>
Why Are So Many Kids Dying From Undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes?
An Open Letter To The Non-Diabetes Medical Community At Large and All Parents With Kids of Every Age, Everywhere! Dear pediatricians, nurses, medical staff, medical office personnel, hospitals, hospital staff, school nurses, physicians, ER medical staff, urgent care facilities, and any other medical office/facility that treats sick kids: I have a question for you. Why are so many kids dying from undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes? Why are they not being tested for Type 1 diabetes when their parents bring them to you when they’re sick? I know that sometimes, Type 1 symptoms can be similar to the flu or a stomach bug, so as a matter of caution, why can’t a 5 second finger stick be done as a matter of protocol just to try to potentially rule out the chance that it could be Type 1 diabetes instead of the flu? Why? Yes, I know, I know. You’re extremely busy, understaffed, and buried in mountains of paperwork at your medical offices. I get it. You’re working twice as hard for half as much, (or less- I’m a woman, so I get that too, but I digress) and you have to carry outrageously expensive liability insurance, etc. Yes, I get that too, loud and clear. Welcome to the club. We are busy too and many of us experience similar situations in our businesses as well. But, that is a lousy excuse for not trying to rule out Type 1 diabetes in your little patients who are counting on you to help them when they are sick. It was you who chose a profession that is designed to take care of sick people. So, take care of sick people. I’m Trying To Figure This Out Countless healthcare professionals have told me that their patients (or parents of patients) are much more informed and that these patients often come into the office with health information printed from online resources. So, are Continue reading >>
> Carbohydrates And Diabetes
Keeping your blood sugar levels on track means watching what you eat, plus taking medicines like insulin if you need to. Your doctor may also have mentioned that you should keep track of how many carbohydrates (carbs) you eat. But what exactly are carbohydrates and how do they affect your blood sugar? The foods we eat contain nutrients that provide energy and other things the body needs, and one of these is carbohydrates. The two main forms of carbohydrates are: sugars such as fructose, glucose, and lactose starches, which are found in foods such as starchy vegetables (like potatoes or corn), grains, rice, breads, and cereals The body breaks down or converts most carbohydrates into the sugar glucose. Glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream, and with the help of a hormone called insulin it travels into the cells of the body where it can be used for energy. People with diabetes have problems with insulin that can cause blood sugar levels to rise. For people with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas loses the ability to make insulin. For people with type 2 diabetes, the body can't respond normally to the insulin that is made. Because the body turns carbohydrates into glucose, eating carbohydrates makes blood sugar levels rise. But that doesn't mean you should avoid carbohydrates if you have diabetes. Carbohydrates are a healthy and important part of a nutritious diet. Some carbohydrates have more health benefits than others, though. For example, whole-grain foods and fruits are healthier choices than candy and soda because they provide fiber, vitamins, and other nutrients. Fiber is important because it helps you feel full and keeps your digestive system working properly. In fact, eating lots of fiber can even help to slow the body's absorption of sugar when eaten together with s Continue reading >>
How Many Carbs Should Your D-kid Eat Each Day?
Please remember that I never give medical advice. Ask your endocrinologist or pediatrician for advice about your own child. Make your own informed decisions for your own child. Dietary Guidelines I’m going to refer to the 2010 Health.gov dietary guidelines. The 2015 guidelines are forthcoming. I’m also going to use my own child’s age and gender when referring to the suggested calories and carbs. The following two tables I’ve taken from “Dietary Guidelines For Americans, 2010” linked to above and will call it “dietary guidelines” here. According to the dietary guidelines, “Carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram.” For girls aged 9-13 they recommend 1,600-2,000 calories per day if they are moderately active. Of these calories, carbohydrates should make up 45-65% of those calories. Using these numbers, and if I did my math correctly, here are the two extremes and the middle: 1,600 calories x 45% carbohydrates (at 4 calories per carb) = 180 carbs per day 1,800 calories x 55% carbohydrates (at 4 calories per carb) = 247.5 carbs per day 2,000 calories x 65% carbohydrates (at 4 calories per carb) = 325 carbs per day So really, if my child is moderately active and eats between 180 and 325 carbs in a given day, we are within the recommended guidelines. My Thoughts Sometimes when we carb count a meal I’m amazed at how many carbs it is. For instance at Wendy’s if Q is particularly hungry, she might ask for a junior hamburger (25 CHO), small chili (16 CHO), value sized fries (30 CHO) and a junior frosty (32 CHO). And every time I think, wow, that’s a lot of carbs! A hundred and three, to be exact. But what are kids who don’t have type 1 diabetes having at that same meal? They probably aren’t going for the lower carb kid-size frosty! And they are prob Continue reading >>
Obesity-linked Diabetes In Children Resists Treatment
Obesity and the form of diabetes linked to it are taking an even worse toll on America’s youths than medical experts had realized. As obesity rates in children have climbed, so has the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, and a new study adds another worry: the disease progresses more rapidly in children than in adults and is harder to treat. “It’s frightening how severe this metabolic disease is in children,” said Dr. David M. Nathan, an author of the study and director of the diabetes center at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It’s really got a hold on them, and it’s hard to turn around.” Before the 1990s, this form of diabetes was hardly ever seen in children. It is still uncommon, but experts say any increase in such a serious disease is troubling. There were about 3,600 new cases a year from 2002 to 2005, the latest years for which data is available. The research is the first large study of Type 2 diabetes in children, “because this didn’t used to exist,” said Dr. Robin Goland, a member of the research team and co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She added, “These are people who are struggling with something that shouldn’t happen in kids who are this young.” Why the disease is so hard to control in children and teenagers is not known. The researchers said that rapid growth and the intense hormonal changes at puberty might play a part. The study followed 699 children ages 10 to 17 at medical centers around the country for about four years. It found that the usual oral medicine for Type 2 diabetes stopped working in about half of the patients within a few years, and they had to add daily shots of insulin to control their blood sugar. Researchers said they were shocked by how poorly th Continue reading >>
- Children's Diabetes Foundation The 2017 Carousel Ball - Children's Diabetes Foundation
- Type 1 Diabetes in Children: Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Treatment
- Relative effectiveness of insulin pump treatment over multiple daily injections and structured education during flexible intensive insulin treatment for type 1 diabetes: cluster randomised trial (REPOSE)
Does Cow Milk Prevent The Risk Of Developing Type 1 Diabetes In Children?
Cow milk has known to be a healthy potion for many; thanks to the many health benefits it has to offer. However, a study published in the journal JAMA says that drinking cow's milk does not prevent type 1 diabetes in children with genetic risk of type 1 diabetes. Previous studies have indicated that early exposure to complex foreign proteins, such as cow's milk proteins, increases the risk of type 1 diabetes in individuals with genetic risk for type 1 diabetes. In the year 2002, the researchers had embarked on a large scale study on 2159 infants with a family member affected by type 1 diabetes and with genetic risk of type 1 diabetes to find an answer to the question whether delaying the exposure to complex foreign proteins will decrease the risk of diabetes. After breastfeeding, the babies were weaned either to a special formula, with the cow's milk proteins split in to small peptides, which are small pieces of proteins, or to regular cow's milk based formula with intact cow's milk proteins. Babies received the study formula for at least two months until the age of around six to eight months and at the same time avoided cow's milk proteins from all other food sources. All the subjects of the research were followed for at least 10 years to assess the numbers of children who developed diabetes. The results of the research showed that in this large international randomized trial weaning to an extensively hydrolysed casein formula during infancy did not result in a reduction in the incidence of type 1 diabetes compared to regular intact cow's milk based formula after about 11.5 years of follow up. Accordingly there is no certain evidence to revise the current dietary recommendations for infants at high risk for type 1 diabetes. Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes Facts
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease that occurs when a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, the hormone that controls blood-sugar levels. T1D develops when the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells are mistakenly destroyed by the body’s immune system. The cause of this attack is still being researched, however scientists believe the cause may have genetic and environmental components. There is nothing anyone can do to prevent T1D. Presently, there is no known cure. Who T1D affects Type 1 diabetes (sometimes known as juvenile diabetes) affects children and adults, though people can be diagnosed at any age. With a typically quick onset, T1D must be managed with the use of insulin—either via injection or insulin pump. Soon, people who are insulin dependent may also be able to use artificial pancreas systems to automatically administer their insulin. How T1D is managed Type 1 diabetes is a 24/7 disease that requires constant management. People with T1D continuously and carefully balance insulin intake with eating, exercise and other activities. They also measure blood-sugar levels through finger pricks, ideally at least six times a day, or by wearing a continuous glucose monitor. Even with a strict regimen, people with T1D may still experience dangerously high or low blood-glucose levels that can, in extreme cases, be life threatening. Every person with T1D becomes actively involved in managing his or her disease. Insulin is not a cure While insulin therapy keeps people with T1D alive and can help keep blood-glucose levels within recommended range, it is not a cure, nor does it prevent the possibility of T1D’s serious effects. The outlook for treatments and a cure Although T1D is a serious and challenging disease, long-term management options cont Continue reading >>
32 Famous People With Type 1 Diabetes
Test strips, blood sugar monitors, and insulin pumps are all part of a day in the life of someone living with Diabetes. Several famous actors, musicians, and athletes have Type I Diabetes. Some of these celebrities were diagnosed with diabetes when they were children, while others developed the disease later on in life. Who is the most famous person with Type I Diabetes? Sharon Stone tops our list. The "Basic Instinct" star was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. Mary Tyler Moore was diagnosed with Type I diabetes around the time she was filming "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." She is now an outspoken advocate who brings awareness to the disease. "American Idol" alum Crystal Bowersox has been hospitalized due to complications with Type I diabetes. Several famous men also have Type I diabetes. Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 2008. Poison front man Bret Michaels was diagnosed with Type I diabetes when he was 6 years old. Pop star Nick Jonas was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 2005. In 1957, Jackie Robinson was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. Are you surprised that so many celebrities have Type I diabetes? Share your thoughts in the comments section. Continue reading >>
Type 2 Diabetes Statistics And Facts
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. Read on to learn some of the key facts and statistics about the people who have it and how to manage it. Risk factors Many risk factors for type 2 diabetes include lifestyle decisions that can be reduced or even cut out entirely with time and effort. Men are also at slightly higher risk of developing diabetes than women. This may be more associated with lifestyle factors, body weight, and where the weight is located (abdominally versus in the hip area) than with innate gender differences. Significant risk factors include: older age excess weight, particularly around the waist family history certain ethnicities physical inactivity poor diet Prevalence Type 2 diabetes is increasingly prevalent but also largely preventable. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90 to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes in adults. The CDC also gives us the following information: In general Research suggests that 1 out of 3 adults has prediabetes. Of this group, 9 out of 10 don't know they have it. 29.1 million people in the United States have diabetes, but 8.1 million may be undiagnosed and unaware of their condition. About 1.4 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in United States every year. More than one in every 10 adults who are 20 years or older has diabetes. For seniors (65 years and older), that figure rises to more than one in four. Cases of diagnosed diabetes cost the United States an estimated $245 billion in 2012. This cost is expected to rise with the increasing diagnoses. In pregnancy and parentingAccording to the CDC, 4.6 to 9.2 percent of pregnancies may be affected by gestational diabetes. In up to 10 percent of them, the mother is diagnosed w Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes Killing Hundreds Of Children Before Diagnosis Is Made
It is estimated that over 300 million people in the World suffer from diabetes; about 20 million of these are in Africa. About 9 out of 10 of these have diabetes type 2, which often occurs in adulthood, from middle age onwards. Type 2 diabetes is more common among adults who are overweight or have an inactive lifestyle. In this case, the pancreas makes enough insulin but the body is not able to use it well. One out of 10 diabetics suffer from type 1 diabetes, mainly found in children. It is not clear what triggers it, but the immune systems of these children attack the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas. These children therefore cannot produce insulin. No amount of weight reduction or exercise can prevent the occurrence of type 1 diabetes as it appears to be a mal-functioning of the immune system that leads the body to attack itself. Scientists do not know why the immune system attacks the pancreas. Some think it could be an environmental trigger or perhaps a viral infection combined with genetic susceptibility. Carol Abidha is a final year Masters in Public Health student at Pwani University. She has lived with type 1 diabetes since she was in Class Five. For a year, she struggled undiagnosed. She was constantly drinking water, and as a result needed to use the toilet frequently. Due to the extreme thirst, she carried bottles of water to class and had to repeatedly dash to the toilet. She would also wake up several times at night to use the toilet, which left her feeling fatigued and constantly irritable. Although she was constantly hungry and eating, she got thinner and thinner. Her mother sought help from various hospitals, but it was only when she collapsed and was admitted in hospital that a diagnosis of diabetes was made. Her life changed. “When I was di Continue reading >>
Quantity Of Sugar In Food Supply Linked To Diabetes Rates
Does eating too much sugar cause diabetes? For years, scientists have said “not exactly.” Eating too much of any food, including sugar, can cause you to gain weight; it’s the resulting obesity that predisposes people to Type 2 diabetes, according to the prevailing theory. But now the results of a large epidemiological study conducted at UC San Francisco suggest that sugar may also have a direct, independent link to diabetes. Researchers examined data on global sugar availability and diabetes rates from 175 countries over the past decade. After accounting for obesity and a large array of other factors, the researchers found that increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher Type 2 diabetes rates, independent of obesity rates. Their study was published Feb. 27 in PLOS ONE. The study provides the first large-scale, population-based evidence for the idea that not all calories are equal from a diabetes-risk standpoint. “It was quite a surprise,” said Sanjay Basu, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and the study’s lead author. The research was conducted while Basu was a medical resident at UCSF and working with Robert Lustig, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and the paper’s senior author. “We’re not diminishing the importance of obesity at all, but these data suggest that at a population level there are additional factors that contribute to diabetes risk besides obesity and total calorie intake, and that sugar appears to play a prominent role.” Specifically, more sugar was correlated with more diabetes: For every additional 150 calories of sugar available per person per day, the prevalence of diabetes in the population rose 1 percent, even after Continue reading >>
Study Reveals Sizable Increase In Diabetes Among Children
For years doctors have warned of a rising epidemic of diabetes among children. Yet there has been surprisingly little firm data on the extent of this disease among younger Americans. Now a nationally representative study has confirmed that from 2001 to 2009 the incidence of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes drastically increased among children and adolescents across racial groups. The prevalence of Type 1 diabetes increased 21 percent among children up to age 19, the study found. The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes among those ages 10 to 19 rose 30 percent during the period. Those are “big numbers,” said Dr. Robin S. Goland, a co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who has been in practice for about 25 years. “In my career, Type 1 diabetes was a rare disease in children, and Type 2 disease didn’t exist. And I’m not that old.” The analysis, published on Saturday in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, includes data from more than three million children younger than 20 in five states — California, Colorado, Ohio, South Carolina and Washington — as well as from selected American Indian reservations. The research was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health and is part of a continuing study, Search for Diabetes in Youth, examining the condition among children. In Type 1 diabetes, a patient’s immune system attacks cells in the pancreas that make insulin, a hormone required to control blood sugar levels. Historically, children affected by the disease were more often white. But the new report found the prevalence also has increased among black and Hispanic youths. The greatest increase occurred among 15- to 19-year-olds. “I don’t unde Continue reading >>
Sugar Shock
Do you know how much sugar your child eats? Chances are it's a lot more than you think. By Cynthia Ramnarace; Photos by James Wojick from Parents Magazine Treats and Consequences No mom in her right mind would pack her child's lunch box with nothing but four Twinkies. You probably stick with the classics: maybe peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread, a cup of applesauce, and fruit punch. Protein-rich peanut butter, fruit, fiber-filled bread – it's perfect, right? Maybe not. Sure, your child would get plenty of nutrients, but she'd also get a whopping 76 grams of sugar. That's 16 teaspoons of sugar -- even more than what's in those four Twinkies. Shocking, right? While there are no specific sugar-consumption recommendations for kids, adults on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet shouldn't eat more than 40 grams of added sugar. Yet your child will eat twice that in this one meal. And you haven't factored in the syrup on her morning waffles, the soda she'll drink after school, and the graham crackers she'll munch on before bed. "Most parents have no idea how much sugar their kids eat," says Parents advisor Jennifer Shu, MD. "So much is added to even healthy foods that your child could eat what looks like a pretty balanced diet that's still full of sugar." It's not a news flash that sugar is bad for kids. What is eye-opening is just how unhealthy it is – and how much of it children eat despite the health warnings. The average kid under 12 consumes 49 pounds of sugar per year, according to the USDA Economic Research Service. Even scarier is that a twenty- or thirtysomething adult's intake is actually lower (46 pounds). That means your child is gobbling up more sugar than you are, even though her body may be less than half the size of yours. It's not hard to see why kids lov Continue reading >>
Screentime Linked To Greater Diabetes Risk Among Children
Children who are allowed more than three hours of screentime a day are at greater risk of developing diabetes, new research suggests. The study found that children who were glued to their screens for three or more hours a day scored higher on measures of body fat and had higher levels of resistance to the hormone insulin than their peers who spent an hour or less watching TV, videos or playing computer games. But the authors cautioned that the research does not show that increased screentime itself results in raised levels of risk factors for the disease. “Screentime could be capturing something about your behaviours – how much sedentary time you have and how much you break that up [or] what your dietary habits [are], potentially,” said Claire Nightingale, a medical statistician at St George’s, University of London and co-author of the research. Writing in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, Nightingale and colleagues described how they sought to probe whether for children, as is known for adults, screentime is linked to an increase in risk factors for type 2 diabetes. To do so, they analysed data from the Child Heart and Health Study in England – a survey carried out between 2004 and 2007 of almost 4,500 children, aged between nine and 10, from primary schools in three UK cities: London, Birmingham and Leicester. Among the questions asked, data was collected on the length of time the children spent watching TV, video games or playing computer games. A host of physical measurements were also taken including measures of the children’s body fat and resistance to insulin – a hormone that controls blood glucose levels. In addition, levels of physical activity were monitored for 2,031 of the children. The results revealed that while 37% of children re Continue reading >>
Books For Kids And Teens With Type 1
For children and teens with diabetes, feeling different can be as big a problem as having diabetes itself. Luckily there are several very good books whose main characters are children with diabetes. Children can read these books and view the videos and see that they aren't alone, and can learn that having diabetes isn't as hard as it might seem. Some are also excellent for teachers and classmates. The symbol and link indicates that the title is available for order on-line through Amazon.com. When you order through Amazon.com, we earn a small portion of the sale, which is used to help us deliver this web site to you. 487 Really Cool Tips for Kids with Diabetes by Spike Nasmyth Loy and Bo Nasmyth Loy. Published by the American Diabetes Association, 2004. ISBN 1-58040-191-0. 262 pages, $14.95. Looking for diabetes from a kid's perspective? Try 487 Really Cool Tips for Kids with Diabetes by Spike and Bo Loy, two young men who grew up as kids with diabetes. Parents will learn a lot about how our kids view living with diabetes, while kids and teens will have a chance to learn how other kids deal with everyday issues such as sports, Halloween, eating out, camp, travel, and heading off to college. Bo and Spike include ideas and experiences from many other kids of all ages, which makes the book all the more appealing. The final 100 pages are a "starting a pump" diary of sorts, which can help anyone who is unsure of what going on the pump is all about. Highly Recommended. All the Days of Her Life by Lurlene McDaniel. Published by Bantam Books, 1994. ISBN 0-553-56264-9. All the Days of Her Life, part of the One Last Wish series by Lurlene McDaniel, is an excellent book for young teenage girls. The book deals with diabetes and peer pressure related to eating. In the book, Lacey Duv Continue reading >>
