When diabetes occurs in children below the age of 16, it is referred to as juvenile diabetes. The most common form of juvenile diabetes is Type 1 diabetes. This type affects about 90-95% of the children. This condition is caused due to the inability of the pancreas to create the hormone insulin.

Type 1 diabetes is considered to be an autoimmune disorder, where the body’s cells treat its own beta cells as enemies and attack them, thereby compromising the body’s immune system.

How often can one find the occurrence of juvenile diabetes?

Childhood diabetes, per se, is not very common. Besides, it varies in relation to several countries across the globe. It is found that about 17 children in 1,00,000 are annually affected in Wales and England. In Scotland, the number is 25, while in Japan it is 3.

What is really alarming is that the number has increased by triple in the last 3 decades or so! Type 2 diabetes has now been found prevalent among youngsters in Europe and America. This may be the direct result of obesity and bad eating habits among the said generation. However, this does not explain the heightened occurrence of type 1 diabetes among children.

Causes of diabetes in children

There is no one cause that can be targeted for juvenile diabetes. This could be triggered by a variety of instances in his / her life and also several environmental situations. The children suffering from type 1 diabetes need not necessarily have a family history of the same.

How you can detect juvenile diabetes

The symptoms of child diabetes are much like those of adult diabetes. If you see the following symptoms in your child for over a reasonable period of time, you should know to fix an appointment with your healthcare professional.

The symptoms include extreme thirst, frequent urination, weight loss, unexplained fatigue, stomachaches, headaches and sometimes, sudden even behavior problems. Sometimes, there occurs what is known as diabetic acidosis before the disorder is actually diagnosed.

Treatment

In most cases, a child suffering from diabetes will have to be given insulin treatment. Since this disorder is insulin dependent, he needs detailed treatment and constant observation of his condition.

- He should be given fast-acting insulin during the day and the slow-acting variety at night.
- Very young children may not need this night shot at such an early age. But they might require it after a certain age.
- Many children are now instructed to use insulin pumps.

A child suffering from diabetes will end up living a much longer life than one who has developed the condition during adulthood. Of course, it goes without saying that the longer he suffers with the disorder, the more chances there are of his developing complications in the vital organs of the body, such as the heart and the kidney. Though some children are unfortunate enough to display alarming symptoms after puberty, these usually show up a lot later in one’s life.

Diabetes in children, particularly really young children, can be difficult to diagnose. Even so, every year over twelve thousand children in the country are diagnosed with type one diabetes. Taking care of a child can be so time consuming and overwhelming in even the best of cases that the signs can be easy to miss, even if the adult is fully aware of the symptoms.

So what, exactly, are the symptoms of children with diabetes?

1) The need to urinate a lot – If you notice your child having to go to the bathroom a lot more than normal, or if he starts wetting his bed all of a sudden, be aware that this is one of the symptoms that many children exhibit when they develop diabetes. However, you should not be too concerned if this is the only symptom of diabetes that your child exhibits. There can be other reasons for increased urination such as urinary tract infection, the inability of the child to completely empty his or her bladder, or even Pollakiuria – known informally as Daytime Urinary Frequency Syndrome. Nevertheless, if your child is having to urinate a lot more than normal, you should take him in to see his pediatrician for a check up.

2) A dramatic loss in weight – This is one of the more extreme symptoms of diabetes in children because children do not normally lose weight. They gain weight. Other causes of dramatic weight losses in children are side effects of drugs and cancer. But, a child losing a drastic amount of weight in a short period of time is a dangerous sign, regardless of whether diabetes is involved, or not, and he should be taken to see the doctor without delay.

3) The need to continually drink water or other liquids – In children with diabetes, fluids are pulled from the tissues of the body. This is because as sugar builds up in the bloodstream, it eventually reaches the point where the body has to get rid of the excess glucose. It does this by eliminating the excess sugar via the urine. The body, however, cannot create urine without water. If the blood does not contain enough water, the body has no other choice than to extract water from the surrounding tissues. This, in turn, causes the body to become dehydrated which results in the thirst mechanism kicking in.

4) Extreme hunger – a child with diabetes can show exhibit hunger urges, eat constantly, and still never gain weight. This is because his body is unable to utilize the food that he eats. In effect, the food just flows through his body.

It is extremely unlikely that your child will recognize diabetes symptoms in himself. He has no idea of the symptoms and will generally look to you, as the adult, to care for him.

Fortunately, for you, however, when the symptoms of childhood diabetes manifest, they make their appearance rapidly and over a short period of time. The changes are not subtle. They are dramatic and should be hard to miss.

When a woman becomes pregnant she is concerned about the health of her baby. Most pregnancies do not have any medical problems. However, it is important to recognize gestational diabetes symptoms and signs when pregnant because it can impact the health of both mother and child. Discovering these signs early can help to keep a pregnancy safe.

If a woman, who is pregnant, suddenly wants to drink water all the time it should be investigated further. This is one of the signs for gestational diabetes symptoms. Excessive thirst can lead to swelling of the hands and feet, especially if foods are eaten with plenty of sodium. The mother will want to reduce the amount of sodium in her foods.

One might think that being pregnant is the main reason for going to the bathroom all the time. It is common knowledge that the baby will increase the need to urinate. As the baby grows, he or she will often apply pressure to the bladder making the mother feel the need to evacuate her bladder. While this may be the cause of the urge to urinate, it may instead be a gestational diabetes symptom to be aware of.

A lot of changes occur during pregnancy. The mother-to-be, prior to pregnancy, would not usually have any form of diabetes, but her pancreas may not produce enough insulin to meet the needs of both herself and the baby, just like often occurs in diabetes. When there is insufficient insulin, the blood sugar level will spike and increase. It is also a combination of the additional hormones that the mother is producing to create the baby that also hinders the production of insulin. When women contract these symptoms they will normally arise during the last three months of pregnancy.

To determine with certainty whether gestational diabetes exists, it is necessary to be tested. Most doctors will have the expectant mother eat a certain amount of carbohydrates for a specific period of time and test her blood sugar levels during certain time periods after eating. If the levels do not fall to normal levels, she may be provided with methods or drugs to help lower it. A high reading is considered above 140 mg/dl.

It should be noted that it is possible that a pregnant woman might exhibit no symptoms of the disease at all, even though she may actually be gestationally diabetic. In this case, if not treated, harm can be caused to the baby and also the mother. There are certain factors that can increase the chance that a mother will develop diabetes symptoms during her pregnancy. If she currently has high blood pressure, a family history of diabetes, is overweight, over age 30, and even carries too much amniotic fluid, these are all key factors that call for being tested, even if no outward symptoms show.

The only way that a person will know that he has this condition is when he undergoes a blood test. A person will know if he has pre diabetes if he or she has a relative who is obese, has type 2 diabetes, is forty five years or above, prone to high blood pressure, belongs to a high risk ethnic group like being an American, Asian, or Latino. Additionally, consumes too much carbohydrate and does not exercise too often, or lives a sedentary lifestyle. Also to be considered is a person’s weight, height, size of the baby (for pregnant women) and the family medical history.

To prevent this scenario from happening, one must have a healthy diet and do away with junk food or meals that have too much sugar or carbohydrate content. Exercising will burn fat and improve one’s well-being and also reverse the onset of insulin resistance. Those who sacrifice eating their favorite foods that may be unhealthy may find it hard at first, but this is a small price to pay. The scary thing about pre diabetes is that no one will know the symptoms until he or she has diabetes and the result is that daily insulin injections are needed to balance a person’s blood sugar. Fortunately, there are products that help reverse pre diabetes symptoms wherein they enable the body to undergo metabolic changes and make one healthier.

There are other products that enhance the body’s glucose and insulin levels and they are scientifically designed to increase insulin sensitivity that will help every cell in the body. Insulin will be decreased and lower pre diabetes symptoms. Lastly, pre diabetes can be prevented if a person follows the proper diet, exercises regularly and is able to take the necessary nutrients.

But it’s what you don’t see that is so bad.

The disease elevates the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood. As blood sugars remain high, over time, complications such as blindness, kidney failure, amputations, heart disease, and severe nerve damage can occur.

The quality of your child’s life may depend on being able to recognize the symptoms of diabetes in children.

Diabetes in children has reached almost epidemic proportions. The incidence of this chronic and sometimes deadly disease is predicted to continue to rise.

Unfortunately for parents, sometimes it can be hard to identify the symptoms of diabetes in children. Read the list below and you’ll understand why often symptoms of diabetes aren’t recognized early.

When they are, doctors can help immediately with treatment and help you to maintain and control the diabetes.

Symptoms of diabetes in children and adults are:

o Frequent thirst – You may just be thinking your child drinks a lot.

o Frequent infections – Many consider this just a part of childhood.

o Blurred Vision – Your child may not tell you as the blurred vision can come and go. It’s not always constant.

o Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal – It’s easy to think the injury was just a “bad one” and it’s taking longer to heal.

o Tingling/numbness in hands or feet – Again you child may not notice or tell you about it as it’s not usually constant.

o Frequent urination – Many just think it comes from drinking more.

o Extreme hunger – Often parents think their child is going through a “growth spurt” and just requires more food.

o Unusual weight loss – This symptom does normally make parents concerned. If the child has bee overweight, parents sometimes think …..Great, the weight is finally coming off.

o Irritability – Can often be labeled as parent/child confrontations. Also many parents of teens just think it’s a normal part of the teenage years.

You won’t see all of this at once. You will notice one of them, then a month or two latter something else…

What To Do If You See Symptoms Of Diabetes In Children

Get your child tested for diabetes IMMEDIATELY. Don’t wait. The test is simple and painless. The longer you wait the more difficult the disease can be to control.

These symptoms may not even be noticed until the disease in is full force. It’s important to learn to recognize these symptoms. With early detection children with type 2 diabetes can learn to control the disease with diet and exercise.

Left untreated the symptoms of diabetes in children results in more defined and difficult treatment. Medications and insulin must often be used to control diabetes. Diabetes is a disease that should not be taken lightly.

There are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body no longer produces insulin.

Type 2, the most common type of diabetes occurs when the body develops a resistance to insulin, or does not produce enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes, once labeled adult onset diabetes, has become more and more prevalent in children.

Research has documented two primary factors contributing to the rise in type 2 diabetes in children. The factors are: 1) children today are more inactive, and 2) unhealthy diets in children. Today’s lifestyle of fast-food meals, TV, computers, and hand-held games has put many at risk of developing symptoms of diabetes in children.

Diabetes in children is a serious threat. Take control of your child’s future today. Make sure they have a healthy diet including fresh fruits and vegetables. Keep your children active. They won’t be deprived if they don’t spend hours a day watching TV or playing computerized games. You could be saving their life.

Most symptoms of juvenile diabetes are very similar to early diabetes signs and symptoms in general. In most people, you’ll see high blood sugar effects in plenty of time to treat them

But sometimes not in kids.

That’s because they have no history of diabetes and you’re not expecting it to hit so young. So you can mistake it for something else and when it gets serious you must act quickly to keep your kids safe.

So what are the symptoms of juvenile diabetes?

Generally, they relate to starving cells for glucose at the same time that excess glucose builds up in the blood. I you Google type 1 diabetes symptoms, you’ll find lots of articles on it – frequent peeing and drinking, weight loss and wasting, weakness, and incessant hunger.

But some kids sometimes will experience very serious symptoms for diabetes. These come from ketone bodies building up in the blood and urine, leading to diabetic ketoacidosis.

And this, you must get help for at once.

How to recognize it: Your son will be hit with nausea, abdominal pain, and at times, vomiting. His blood will get thick like syrup. He’ll get drowsy and may fall unconscious. And if the situation isn’t corrected quickly, he may die. (If you ever have any question that this may be going on, call your doctor immediately).

The treatment is straightforward and uneventful when the problem is handled quickly.

The best course of action for you, is to never let your child get that advanced with symptoms of juvenile diabetes. The challenge with kids often is that they don’t want to follow the diet and exercise program you put them on.

It’s just not cool.

And peer pressure is more powerful than the specter of health problems for a young person.

As a result, there is improper processing of glucose in the body and hence, glucose travels back to the bloodstream causing various health problems like this.

What exactly happens?

Once you take in food, a portion of that food is kept aside and broken into sugar. Later on, this sugar passes through the blood and reaches body cells. (With the help of special hormone called insulin produced by pancreas)

In normal conditions, the pancreas efficiently produces a certain amount of insulin to control the sugar level in the blood. However, the pancreas of a juvenile diabetic child is unable to excrete insulin and that’s why cells do not have sugar control.

Sugar keeps on accumulating in the blood and passes out unused.

Juvenile diabetes brings along many complications in the body like heart trouble, vision problem, effect on kidneys and nerves, etc. That is why it is very important to take medication if you are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

What are the signs?

There are mainly 2 types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 diabetes: this is the early diabetes which is diagnosed in children only. Basically type 1 diabetes is called juvenile diabetes and most children are on insulin due to this. Insulin keeps them working as it converts the sugar into energy. Moreover, juvenile diabetes is grouped in “auto-immune” diseases with other diseases like sclerosis and arthritis.

Type 2 diabetes: this type of diabetes usually occurs in obese adults. But recent research unfolds that youngsters can also be prone to type 2 diabetes. In type 2 diabetes you do not need insulin treatment. It can be controlled with a proper diet and exercise routine only. This mainly happens due to heredity. In this type pancreas produce less amount of insulin in the body.

Type 1 juvenile diabetes symptoms in children are:

recurrent urination
hazy vision
excessive irritation and thirst
vomiting and unsettled stomach
weight loss due to exaggerated desire to have food
extreme weakness and fatigue
difficulty in breathing
feeling of exhaustion or sluggishness
fruity stink on the breath

So if your child has any of the above symptoms then you should immediately consult a doctor.

What is the treatment of juvenile diabetes?

Symptoms in children can be a great risk to their other body organs and need immediate treatment. There is no complete cure for it. Regular treatment is done with the help of insulin injections or pump.

If you are not nodding your head towards left and right, then this is the right time to spend your few minutes here. This article would be worth reading as it will help to detect the signs of diabetes in children.

Diabetes is a chronic ailment. It increases the amount of sugar in the stream of blood. If this chronic condition is left untreated it may cause many health related complications and many severe problems in the future.

Excessive Thirst: The most usually seen diabetic symptoms in children are frequent urination and excessive thirst. If your child is feeling thirstier than routine then there are chances that underlying reason is diabetes. The elevated level of sugar in the bloodstream causes the child to feel thirsty. The thirst is not their routine quench of water; they drink plenty of liquid and still in search of more. Varieties of different liquids are not enough to fulfill their unquenchable thirst. However it forces the children to make plenty of trips to the restroom.

Blurriness In Vision: The next alarming signs of diabetes in children is blurriness in their vision. The major dilemma with this sin of diabetes is that children are unable o explain their feeling. They are unable o detect that there is something going wrong with their vision. The blurriness in vision comes in episodes. Most children are unable to explain these blurry episodes to their parents.

Numbness And Tingling Sensation In Hand And Feet: Diabetes suffering children also undergo tingling sensation in their extremities. This feeling is not easier to explain for the adults even. So the young children remain completely blank about this feeling.

Slow Healing Cuts: It is absolutely normal for the children to suffer from bruises, cuts as well as wounds. If the child is suffering from elevated levels of sugar in the bloodstream then there are chances that the parents may think that wound was deeper so it is taking a longer healing time. It is the responsibility of the parents to watch the wound carefully.

Mood Swings: The mostly misunderstood sign of diabetes in children are the mood swings. The children become more irritable. The sharp rise and fall in the blood sugar level cause the sharp swifts in the hormonal levels as well, these results in mood swings.

In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas has an inability to produce insulin in the body… the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, called beta cells, have been destroyed or are unable to produce insulin. With Type 1 diabetes, blood sugar levels stay high because there is no insulin around to deliver the sugar to the cells… blood sugar will remain elevated unless injections of insulin are given. The body actually attacks its own tissue or organs making it an autoimmune disease.

The cause of diabetes in children is a mystery. One theory is it’s in the child’s genes, or environmental. However, most often children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes do not have a family history of diabetes. The symptoms in children are similar to those in adults with a few exceptions. The most common symptoms to look for are:

excessive thirst,
weight loss,
tiredness, or
frequent urination.

There are some differences from adults and children. Children tend to have stomach pains, headaches, and behavior problems. If there are unexplained problems with stomach pains or illnesses in a child for a few weeks, a doctor should consider the possibility of diabetes.

If your child is diagnosed with diabetes they will be assigned a diabetes team. This team, along with the parents, will develop an insulin or medication routine. Most often, a fast acting insulin regimen is used during the day and a slow acting regimen at night. If a child is very young, only one insulin injection at night will be needed, but as they grow older they will need two injections a day. Eventually, they may be able to rely on an insulin pump.

Insulin treatment is not enough. Children need good blood sugar control and they need to avoid low blood sugar attacks, otherwise known as, hypoglycemia. This is important because problems with diabetes increase over the length of time diabetes has been present in the body.

Children with diabetes can put a great stress on the family… children present with special issues that adults with diabetes do not have. Many doctors believe if a child has diabetes, the whole family takes on the burden of diabetes because everyone must adjust to it. It’s important for parents to surround themselves with a support team. Also, a good understanding of the disease and its treatment is crucial.

The diabetes team can teach you how to give insulin injections and educate you on the symptoms of low blood sugar. As your child gets older, there will be certain things you will need to teach them. For example, you will help them learn how to measure their blood sugar levels and how to administer their own insulin injections. It’s also very important to educate your child’s school and friends about the symptoms of low sugar and what to do about it.

Most symptoms of juvenile diabetes are very similar to early diabetes signs and symptoms in general. In most people, you’ll see high blood sugar effects in plenty of time to treat them

But sometimes not in kids.

That’s because they have no history of diabetes and you’re not expecting it to hit so young. So you can mistake it for something else and when it gets serious you must act quickly to keep your kids safe.

So what are the symptoms of juvenile diabetes?

Generally, they relate to starving cells for glucose at the same time that excess glucose builds up in the blood. I you Google type 1 diabetes symptoms, you’ll find lots of articles on it – frequent peeing and drinking, weight loss and wasting, weakness, and incessant hunger.

But some kids sometimes will experience very serious symptoms for diabetes. These come from ketone bodies building up in the blood and urine, leading to diabetic ketoacidosis.

And this, you must get help for at once.

How to recognize it: Your son will be hit with nausea, abdominal pain, and at times, vomiting. His blood will get thick like syrup. He’ll get drowsy and may fall unconscious. And if the situation isn’t corrected quickly, he may die. (If you ever have any question that this may be going on, call your doctor immediately).

The treatment is straightforward and uneventful when the problem is handled quickly.

The best course of action for you, is to never let your child get that advanced with symptoms of juvenile diabetes. The challenge with kids often is that they don’t want to follow the diet and exercise program you put them on.

It’s just not cool.

And peer pressure is more powerful than the specter of health problems for a young person.