Type 1 Diabetes Is On The Rise In Kids: Here’s What Parents Need To Know

Type 1 diabetes is on the rise in kids: Here’s what parents need to know

More kids are being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Here’s how to manage the disease and keep your kid healthy.
Photo: iStockphoto
“We just thought he had a stomach bug,” Rebecca Cook recalls, thinking back to the day two years ago when her only child, 10-month-old Theo, became ill. “He was throwing up, seemed really thirsty and was peeing a lot.” But then Theo took a turn for the worse. “He started doing this strange breathing pattern and he was actually borderline unconscious.”
Cook and her husband called the public health nurse who got an ambulance to bring their limp, non-responsive son to Janeway Children’s Health & Rehabilitation Centre ER in St. John’s. A blood test conducted by the paramedics revealed that Theo had type 1 diabetes. His extreme thirst and vomiting were classic signs of the disease, which can also include symptoms such as extreme tiredness, frequent urination and sudden weight loss despite constant hunger.
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The Cost of Diabetes in the U.S.: Economic and Well-Being Impact

IN HONOR OF WORLD DIABETES DAY AND NATIONAL DIABETES AWARENESS MONTH
According to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index™, the national prevalence of diabetes increased from 10.6% in 2008 to 11.5% for the first nine months of 2017. This increase has had a direct impact on health care costs and health outcomes.
If the diabetes rate had remained at its 2008 level, approximately 2.3 million fewer U.S. adults would have the disease today, and healthcare costs due to diabetes would be an estimated $19.2 billion less than current levels.
Costs to employers are significant with more than $20 billion annually in lost productivity, stemming from 57 million additional unplanned missed workdays by workers with diabetes.
Further, the residents of the U.S. communities with the highest prevalence of diabetes have higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack and depression and are less likely to engage in healthy behaviors than residents in the lowest prevalence communities.
This Gallup and Sharecare research also examines diabetes and its relationship to key well-being and productivity outcomes. It also addresses how health systems are leveraging best practices to expand diabetes management both within the hospital setting and out to the communities they serve.
To learn more, click here The Cost of Diabetes in the U.S.: Economic and Well-Being Impact. Continue reading

Healing Numb Feet

Overview of treatment approaches:
• Nondrug therapies
• Relaxation and biofeedback
• Anodyne therapy
• Exercise
• Massage
• Daily foot care
Diabetes is hard on feet. Because the feet are farthest from the heart, any problems with blood flow can leave feet without enough circulation. Results can include numbness, loss of foot strength, and worse. Fortunately, there are some good ways to heal and protect your feet.
As Birgitta I. Rice, MS, RPh, CHES, wrote here, much of the pain and numbness people with diabetes experience comes from nerve damage. The nerves are injured both by poor circulation and by high glucose levels.
We really need healthy nerves. (As a person with a nerve disease, I know about this.) According to Rice, “Loss of nerve fibers can result in muscle weakness, numbness, loss of reflexes, foot deformities, change in gait, and impaired balance and coordination. Loss of sensitivity to pain or temperature can also occur, leading in turn to blisters and sores from foot injuries that go unfelt.”
Numbness is dangerous. Sometimes, people can have a pebble in their shoe and not notice it. Others may get in a hot bath and not realize their feet are being scalded. These kinds of seemingly minor things can lead to infections, which don’t heal because of having poor circulation. This is the major pathway to losing a leg to amputation. People with diabetes are eight times more likely than other people to have a lower leg amputated.
If you just woke up one day with numb feet, you would notice a big difference and ask about ways to treat it. It doesn’t wo Continue reading

Treat type 2 diabetes 'like cancer': How THIS major complication can lead to early death

"Diabetes can be more significant than many forms of cancer," said Dr David G. Armstrong, professor of surgery and director of the Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.
"This is a concept that's misaligned right now in medicine.
“As we move toward diseases of decay, as I call them — things like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes — our goal as physicians, surgeons, scientists and policymakers is to delay that decay."
Dr Armstrong focussed on foot ulcers - a prevalent complication for millions of people with diabetes.
Estimates indicate that as many as one-third of people with the disease will develop at least one foot ulcer over the course of their lifetime.
These wounds can lead to further complications such as strokes, heart attacks, infections, loss of limbs and premature death.
The expert said morbidity and mortality directly associated with foot ulcers often go unrecognised by doctors and patients alike.
Currently, the clinical focus is on repairing an ulcer's surrounding tissue and healing the wound.
Instead, physicians and patients need to focus on ulcer remission — that is, extending the time between the formation of ulcers, Dr Armstrong argued.
Armstrong said extending patients' ulcer-free days using treatment and prevention is essential.
"This paper is the first of its kind to call attention to remission," he explained.
"The word 'remission' has been mentioned in the literature over the last few years.
“But this is the loudest call yet, and more than any other work before, (it) lays out d Continue reading

The Connection Between Type 2 Diabetes and Hearing Loss

How common is hearing loss in people with diabetes?
About 30 million people in the United States have diabetes, a disease characterized by high blood sugar levels. Between 90 and 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2, which can develop at any age.
Management of this disease is crucial. When blood sugar levels aren’t well-controlled, your risk of developing hearing loss may increase.
Read on to learn more about the connection between type 2 diabetes and hearing loss and what you can do about it.
Studies show that hearing loss is twice as common in people who have diabetes than in those who don’t.
In a 2008 study, researchers analyzed data from hearing tests of adults between the ages of 20 and 69. They concluded that diabetes may contribute to hearing loss by damaging nerves and blood vessels. Similar studies have shown a possible link between hearing loss and nerve damage.
The study’s authors made no distinction between type 1 and type 2, the two main types of diabetes. But almost all participants had type 2. The authors also cautioned that noise exposure and presence of diabetes was self-reported.
In 2013, researchers analyzed studies carried out from 1974 to 2011 on diabetes and hearing loss. They concluded that people with diabetes were twice as likely to have hearing loss than people without diabetes. However, these researchers did note several limitations, such as the data being based on observational studies.
What causes or contributes to hearing loss in people with diabetes isn’t clear.
It’s known that high blood sugar can damage blood vessels thro Continue reading