What is Juvenile Diabetes?

Read about the Causes, Signs, and Symptoms of Juvenile Diabetes.

Being diagnosed with any condition or disease can be very scary, especially when it happens to our children. Will the disease affect their ability to lead a normal teenage life? Will they struggle even more when they become adults? In the case of Type 1 Diabetes, which is also referred to as juvenile diabetes, the important and good news is that the condition is totally manageable. Here are some of the things you need to know about the symptoms, causes, risk factors, and treatment of juvenile diabetes.

What is Juvenile Diabetes?

Juvenile diabetes (Type 1 Diabetes) is an autoimmune disorder that is usually diagnosed in adolescence or childhood but can also occur in adults aged between 30 and 40 years. It’s a chronic condition in which the pancreas makes little or no insulin and as a result, sugar starts building up in the bloodstream, which can cause a wide range of life-threatening complications. Therefore, people with Type 1 diabetes must take insulin in order to prevent complications and live healthy lives.

Insulin is an important hormone that allows glucose (sugar) to enter cells and be converted into energy. Various factors including some viruses and genetics may contribute to juvenile diabetes.

Despite active scientific research, juvenile diabetes has no cure and treatment mainly focuses on diet and lifestyle and managing blood glucose levels using insulin to prevent complications.

According to recent studies, about 193,000 children and adolescents have diabetes; about 77 percent of those cases are Type 1 Diabetes (juvenile diabetes).

How Does Glucose Work?

After eating, the body breaks down food into various substances including glucose, which is then absorbed into the bloodstream. The pancreas is mainly responsible for producing insulin, which helps fat cells and muscles absorb glucose (sugar) and use it for energy.

In people with juvenile diabetes, the immune system attacks the beta cells that make insulin, reducing or stopping production. With little or no insulin to help cells absorb glucose, sugar builds up in the blood, leading to various health issues.

What a the Common Causes of Juvenile Diabetes?

Researchers don’t know exactly what causes juvenile diabetes because it’s not linked to any specific gene that can be tested for. Although some autoimmune disorders tend to run in families, a large number of juvenile diabetes cases happen randomly. According to studies, some of the possible factors that contribute to the development of the condition include:

Geography and ethnicity: Juvenile is more common among people who live further away from the equator. Research shows that children and adolescents in Scandinavian countries generally have a higher risk of developing the condition. Caucasians of Northern Europe ancestry also have a higher risk of being diagnosed with the disease than other ethnicities.
Infections and toxins: Researchers believe that in a large number of cases a virus or toxin triggers the start of juvenile diabetes by triggering the immune system to mistakenly attack beta cells in the pancreas.
Family history: Children from families with a history of autoimmune conditions are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. If a parent or sibling has juvenile diabetes, children are 15 times more likely of being diagnosed with the disease than people without a family history of autoimmune diseases.
Genetics: While there’s no specific Type 1 Diabetes gene, there are some mutations and genes that have been linked to an increased risk of developing Type 1 Diabetes. For instance, mutations in HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) class of genes can increase the risk of various autoimmune conditions, including juvenile diabetes.

What are the Symptoms of Juvenile Diabetes?

Although having these symptoms does not automatically mean your kid has juvenile diabetes, it’s critical to consult their pediatrician if you notice one or more of these symptoms.

Extreme thirst: Too much glucose in the bloodstream triggers the body to pull water from surrounding fat cells and tissue to dilute it. This makes some kids extremely thirsty and dehydrated. Kids with diabetes may feel that no matter how much water (and other fluids) they drink, their thirst can’t be quenched.
Frequent urination or having pee accidents: In a bid to reduce sugar in the bloodstream, the kidneys filter it and try to dump it into the urine. As a result, more pee is created and the need to urinate increases. Children with juvenile diabetes may start having frequent pee accidents both at night and during the day, despite having been potty-trained. Some kids with juvenile diabetes may feel the urge to urinate frequently. The risk of UTIs (urinary tract infections) is also higher in kids with juvenile diabetes.
Dry mouth and bad breath: When the body starts breaking stored fat for fuel, the process creates chemicals known as ketones that may cause children to have bad breath (stale smell). The same thing tends to happen to people who go on low-carb diets.
Weight loss: For children who are eating normally and are otherwise healthy, sudden weight loss could be a symptom of juvenile diabetes. This usually happens when the cells are not getting the glucose they need out of the bloodstream. As a result, they start breaking down muscles and storing fat for energy instead.
Fatigue and general weakness: Kids with juvenile diabetes may feel weak and tired because their body systems including the brain and muscles are not getting the energy they need to function optimally. Fatigue can also be a result of dehydration from peeing frequently. Sometimes, weakness and listlessness can be a sign of serious complications such as ketoacidosis, which can be deadly and requires immediate attention.
Vomiting, belly pain, confusion, and fainting: Ketoacidosis can cause vomiting, and severe stomach aches, and usually causes kids and young adults to lose consciousness or act confused.

What are the signs of an emergency with juvenile diabetes?

Belly pain
Fruity smell to the child’s breath
Confusion and shaking
Loss of consciousness (rare)
Rapid Breathing

Managing juvenile diabetes can be challenging for both parents and their kids. However, the growing number of support systems and treatments for people with the disease has made it easier than ever to live a happy normal life.

Read more about the signs and symptoms of diabetes in toddlers HERE!

Fish Oil and Diabetes

Can you take fish oil if you have diabetes — fish oil and diabetes

Fish Oil and Diabetes

Fish oil is a helpful supplement to take in order to maintain your diabetes properly. It can also be a great dietary supplement to take, not only for diabetes, but for many other different medical conditions in order to help stabilize these .

Diabetes is caused by insufficient insulin production or lack of responsiveness to insulin, resulting in hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels). There are 2 primary types of diabetes mellitus, type I (insulin-dependent or juvenile-onset), which may be caused by an autoimmune response, and type II (non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset). Diabetes insipidus is typically due to hormonal dysregulation. While fish oil supplementation does not provide a cure for type I or type II diabetes a diet high in fish oil may help to treat or alleviate many of the health disorders and risks associated with diabetes. Thus being why fish oil is good for diabetics to take on a regular basis.

Fish oil is a great supplement because it can help lower your blood glucose levels and also help clean out your system therefore being able to allow yourself to take care of your body and live a healthier life. Research demonstrates that including fish oil into your diet, reduces the risk of coronary heart disease considerably.

Effects of Fish Oil and Diabetes

People tend to think that fish oil has no detrimental effect on diabetic patients, however it has been documented and known that fish oil can help lower your triglycerides and should be considered helpful in managing diabetes. People with diabetes are also exposed to the risks of suffering from cardiovascular diseases. Consequently, any form of dietary intervention like fish oil would significantly work to lower blood pressure and the risk of heart disease, in addition to lowering the levels of triglycerides in blood. Fish oil and diabetes is a great thing that goes hand in hand with knowledge and being able to take care of your diabetes.

What is the use of Comparing glucose meters?

What is the use to compare glucose meters? Diabetes is a seriously serious condition that affects the body in a bad way. Diabetes is where the body has a high blood sugar and this can because of several reasons. There are actually three different types of diabetes and each is caused by something different.

The first and main form is where the body creates too little of the chemical insulin. This first form is usually diagnosed when the person is young and a still a child. This first form is really hard on a family as it requires full diet changes to everything. The second form is due to the body not producing enough of the insulin and the body not responding well to the insulin that it is given. This is also most commonly associated with people who are way overweight and do not exercise enough. This second kind affects more people than any other form of the condition. This is because of the vast amounts of sweet stuffed foods people in the United States eat every day.

The third and last type is called gestational diabetes and only forms when a woman is pregnant and usually ends after the woman has delivered the child. The problem with gestational or any form of diabetes is that it damages the body. The main damage that is caused by diabetes is permanent and damages the cells of the heart, nerves, eyes, and kidneys; it also increases the chances on contracting heart and kidney disease. This damage is all permanent and is usually not noticed till years later. This makes controlling a diabetic’s blood sugar extremely important. So what is the use of compare glucose meters?

To compare between glucose meters is extremely important. Diabetics have to use these daily so they must know how to use it properly and effectively. So comparing monitors is necessary to pick your best monitor. So now you know what compare glucose meters is for.

Normal Blood Sugar Count

There is really no such thing as a normal blood sugar count, since so called “normal” sugar levels can be effected by the patients weight, build, age, and other health conditions. Only a physician can determine what a normal blood sugar count is for the individual and it is of utmost importance that sugar levels be maintained as close to “normal” as possible to head off the myriad of detrimental effects that come from constantly elevated or decreased sugar levels.

For starters there are two types of diabetes, type one which usually begins to cause problems in early childhood, and type two which usually becomes a problem during the adult years. The body needs sugar to function, not table sugar, but a special sugar called glucose which the body processes from the foods we eat. In order for glucose to be used by the cells it requires a hormone called insulin to be present in the blood.

Insulin is produced by the pancreas and in type I diabetes the pancreas has either a decreased or completely absent insulin production and requires that the patient inject themselves with insulin in order to keep their normal blood sugar count somewhat normal. Type two diabetes also results from poor or absent insulin production but is often manageable with special diets or oral medications.

As a general rule the normal blood sugar count for a healthy person should be between 80 and 100 milligrams per deciliter. As stated before this is a general rule and cannot be applied to every person in every circumstance. When it comes to the correct answer for what a specific persons normal blood sugar count should be the person’s physician should be the one to make the ruling because they are familiar with all the person’s healthcare needs and how they may affect individuals normal blood sugar count.

Blood sugar level chart

Blood sugar level charts are a great way for people or diabetics to maintain their blood glucose levels. Blood sugar level charts although may not be standard for some people it is generally standard for most.

The blood sugar level chart was first created because doctor’s, physicians and people in the medical field need a general guideline to go by in order to help them determine diabetes with patients. They also needed a general number system so that people could see the difference between different readings in order to know how their body was reacting and possibly why.

The blood sugar level chart is a great little handy tool to have so that you can compare between different types of diabetes, the levels and also if your blood sugar levels are too low, too high or okay. A blood sugar level chart can be accessed through your doctor’s office, library, online through the American diabetes association, online through other various diabetic websites or through your local health department.

Why spend hours guessing why you are feeling the way you are because your blood glucose numbers are low or why you may be feeling anxious and dizzy cause they are too high when you can look directly at the chart and see why. For many new diabetics they are confused, anxious and often times aren’t really sure why things are happening to them. By having a blood sugar level chart to often times refer to it is a great little handy device to have on hand in your car, pocketbook, brief case or at home so that when in doubt you can look at it. Often times having something as simple and as handy as a blood sugar level chart to look at in when doubt may be saving you time and money from having to call the doctor’s office and go in for an appointment because your answers may be answered simply by looking at the blood sugar level chart.