Causes of Juvenile Diabetes
Your child will probably ask many questions about diabetes, Just as you will. Why your child? The causes of diabetes in young children and adolescents are not known. Heredity plays a role, but heredity alone is not enough to cause diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, recent research indicates that certain viruses may combine with an inherited susceptibility and playa role in the development of diabetes. Of the 5 million Indians who have diabetes, many cases began in childhood Or adolescence. A child’s diabetes is not the result of anything the parents do or do not do.
If your child is old enough, he or she will be able to understand that diabetes is a condition in which the body doesn’t utilize food appropriately because of the lack of insulin, the hormone produced in the pancreas. The lack of insulin causes sugar (in the form of glucose) to build up in the blood and urine. It isn’t distributed throughout the body to produce energy as it should.
You may have noticed that your child was weak, was constantly thirsty and hungry, and urinated frequently. Many cases of diabetes in children under age 15 appear suddenly. Unlike non insulin-dependent diabetes, which is often related to obesity in adults, diabetes in children has little to do with weight. While losing weight may contribute to your diabetic child’s comfort and self esteem, the weight loss alone probably will not be enough to stabilize the blood sugar level. If your child’s case is like many of the juvenile onset type, it is very likely to be insulin dependent and will require daily insulin injections.
Your child may be admitted to a hospital after the diagnosis is made so that additional tests can be performed and the optimal level of insulin can be prescribed and monitored for a few days. Your learning process and the child’s learning process will begin at that time. You will both learn how to function at home within the family structure and, if the child is old enough, how to feel secure with self care.
The health care team’s educational approach and care plan for your young child with diabetes will be geared to encourage independence. Your physician will strive to preserve your child’s previous lifestyle as much as possible and center the diet and insulin needs around it. For example, if your child is sports minded, athletic activities will not have to be curtailed if the child has fairly good control of the disease. With an older child the health care team’s goal will be to enable the child to assume responsibility for injections and insulin measurement, diet, and self monitoring without being totally dependent on you or the doctor.
The health care team will work with you to help you combat any tendencies toward over protectiveness and possible guilt concerning your child’s disease. You will learn to cope with your child’s adaptation to regulation and new sense of discipline necessary” to control the disease properly. Health care professionals will be available to provide advice, instructional materials, and emotional support for you.
Tagged under:cause diabetes causes of diabetes Diabetes Information insulin dependent diabetes insulin injections juvenile diabetes juvenile onset losing weight produce energy