Signs of Type 1 Diabetes

Before my 8 year old was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, I knew little to nothing as to what diabetes are or its symptoms.  Neither mine nor my husband's family has any history of type 1 Diabetes.  So when my daughter started with all the symptoms of Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes for over a month I did not recognize any of it.  We ended up in the emergency at 3 AM to find out she has Type 1 Diabetes.  My purpose of this page is to educate and inform parents with children from infancy to young adult age.

Knowing the signs of Type 1 diabetes or Juvenile Diabetes can prevent a trip to a trip to the Emergency room. Had I known these signs prior to my daughter diagnosis with Type 1 Diabetes we could have prevented a trip to the emergency room and also the Pediatric ICU.

Who need to know these signs?

Everyone! If you have young children or even young adults the more so to you or if you know someone who have children.  While it may not ever happen to you but having the knowledge of these signs, you may be able to help someone else.

You don't need to know everything about Juvenile diabetes or every signs to prevent a trip to the emergency. But knowing just these few can alert you to call your child's doctor if he or she needs to be seen. Here are the signs I had noticed in my daughter prior to being diagnosed with the disease.

She was unusually thirsty and no matter how much water she consumed, the thirst was never satisfied. At the time I didn't realized how frequent she made her visits to the bathroom. So frequent bathroom use is another sign. She was nearly eight and I didn't had reason to pay attention to how often she used the bathroom.

She complaint about occasional stomach pains. I checked her temperature it was normal and I thought maybe her pants were too tight at the waist. I had even talked to my next door neighbor who is a registered nurse, about her stomach pains but she did not know what that could be.

We had noticed rapid weight loss within a month time. Since she seemed to be active and well, we thought she was going through a growth spurt. The shape of her face slimmed down, not that she was fat in the first place. She was just average size kid for her age.

The skin on her face was very dry and scaly . Here in Idaho, we have very dry cold winters. So we thought it was the weather that caused the dry skin. Then that week came she was tired and didn't feel good. She had low energy.

We kept her home from school for a couple of days and she seemed to feel better. We sent her back to school Wednesday (it was only a half day) and also on Thursday and Friday. Her energy seemed to be up and down.

I didn't realized then but it was the effects of the X2O water that had boost her energy level somewhat some time of the day. But by Friday after school, her energy level was so low she just lay on the couch the rest of the day. we had been trying figure out what she was coming down with. She didn't have a fever. She was just weak.

Her appetite was not very good either. We thought we keep watch on her and if she doesn't improve we would take her to the doctor on Monday. We talked with some of our friends about Abby's very low energy. One told us maybe it was Mono because it sounded like something her son had recently.

By Sunday evening she was so weak she couldn't even manage to go to the bathroom on her own. That was when I realized how often she needed to use the bathroom. It was every few minutes! I had her sleep in my bed so I could help her when she needed to use the bathroom that night. We plan on taking her to the doctor's the next morning.

By 3 AM I helped her to the bathroom and she complained of difficulty in breathing. I woke my husband and told him we needed to take her to the emergency immediately. Our lives were forever changed after that.

When to call your child's doctor?

If your child shows signs of unusual thirst, frequent bathroom trips, weight loss, very dry skin, very low energy, call your child's doctor. Tell the doctor those symptoms and see if you need to take your child in to have him/ her glucose checked out. All it takes is a simple finger prick to check the glucose level. Had I known about these signs I could have prevented the trip to the emergency room and Pediatric ICU for my daughter.

It has been nearly a year now since my daughter had been diagnose with Juvenile diabetes and I have become quite educated about the disease. Though I am not an expert in the matter but I can share with you in this site as I continue to be educated through my personal experiences. I hope to help educate and make aware that Type 1 Diabetes or Juvenile Diabetes can happen to anyone who has the gene makeup for the disease and it doesn't necessary inherited.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Misconceptions of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

While Type 2 diabetes can be prevented through healthy eating and exercise, Type 1 Diabetes or Juvenile Diabetes cannot be prevented. Most people think if a child has diabetes, it's because of lack of exercise and over eating. That is farther from truth.

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 diagnose 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's own antibodies for some 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 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 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 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 they will still produce some insulin until eventually all their pancreas cells are completely destroy. 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 need 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 most scary experience we went through was when she had her first seizure when her blood glucose dropped too low too fast. 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 didn't seem to under what I said or knew who I was. she continued to scream and then I felt he body jerked and I knew she was going through a seizure which I had read about since she was diagnosed.

We checked her glucose immediately and she was very low. We tried to give her some juice to bring her sugar up but she was unable to swallow. I watched the color drained from her face within seconds. she turned grey and went stiff. We had been taught to use the Glucagon shot (it's a large syringe for emergency) and I administered it to her. This injection is a sugar solution that will raise the blood glucose very quickly. within seconds her body went limp and her color came back so was not conscious. I tried to wake her up but she just lay on my arm not responding. Then I started panicking because I thought she may have go into a coma, which can happened. Since that was our very first experience we really didn't know what to expect. I husband had called 911 when all these was happening. I don't remember how helpful the operator was but we decides to just take her to the emergency.

Meanwhile I kept trying to wake her, we would get an occasional eye movement. by the time we reached the hospital which was about a hour hour she gave her first respond, she nodded when I asked if she can hear me. This first response from her was only half an hour later. But it was the longest half hour of my life that left me shaking for a few days. I really thought I lost my little girl that night. It was a very scary feeling. We had been through this twice in these nine months. The second time was scary but at least we knew what to expect.

Just recently our local news interviewed Abby, my daughter and I about Juvenile Diabetes but they had linked the Type 2 diabetes by this doctor who specialized in Type 2 Diabetes. His comment was that Diabetes is brought on by poor diets and lack of exercise. This doctor should have clarified that he was speaking of Type 2 Diabetes (Sadly, there is an increase in children today, diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes because of poor diets and lack of exercise). Because of this doctor's comment, when people reads that article written by our local news reporter, would give people who don't know the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, a misconception.

With modern technology people with type 1 diabetes can live quite a normal lifestyle. As a parent caring for a child with diabetes is costly and sometimes sleepless nights when her insulin pump warns us of her highs and lows in the middle of the night. Since Abby has been on the pump we had prevent two seizures. It was worth the extra expenses to get her into an insulin pump.

So can Type 1 diabetes be cure? No, unless someone can create her a new pancreas and her antibodies wouldn't destroy it too. Maybe in future there will be answers to how to tell these antibodies not to destroy their own pancreas cells. But those who are already have the disease, we can hope for continual improvement in caring for the disease.