Common Symptoms of Juvenile Diabetes

Juvenile diabetes normally occurs in children, and even in teenagers and young adults. This kind of diabetes causes the body to destroy insulin producing cells; insulin is what helps the glucose in our body to be made available to us as energy. Thus without insulin, our bodies will start deteriorating as they will be unable to get energy from the food that we eat. This terrible disease may happen to a child with juvenile diabetes in running in the family or even to child with no family history related to this form of diabetes. It is therefore essential to recognize the symptoms early on so that treatment can be started. There are a number of symptoms of juvenile diabetes.

One of the main symptoms of juvenile diabetes is that the starts child urinating quite often and will also start wetting the bed or wet the bed more frequently. Resultantly, the child also feels thirsty more often and gets rather fond of juice instead of water. This happens because the unused glucose needs to be gotten rid of by the body and it does so through increased urination.

Another one of the main symptoms is that the child stays hungry all the time regardless of how much he or she eats. This is because of the fact that glucose, the source of energy for the body, does not get utilized, hence the child remains hungry and even starts losing weight. The child starts craving for snacks, particularly sweet ones such as cake etc, all the time.

Yet another symptom of juvenile diabetes is that the child feels fatigued all the time and starts sleeping a lot. This not the only change in behavior as the child becomes more irritable and may refuse to play and be around other people. Once again this has a lot to do with the lack of energy in the body since there is no insulin to help use glucose to energize the body.

Blurriness of vision is another one of the main symptoms of juvenile diabetes as well. Similarly the child may also start vomiting and complain of nausea. Such a condition requires immediate medical attention as it could lead to a serious diabetic condition.

The child may even go into a coma. This is another very serious situation and needs immediate medical attention. If this situation persists for too long, the child may be exposed to an increasing risk of brain damage or even death.

What a Parent Needs to Know About Juvenile Diabetes

Juvenile diabetes can occur in children and can be any parents’ nightmare. This is why every parent should know at least a few important things regarding juvenile diabetes.

 The first thing that any parent needs to know regarding diabetes, primarily parents who have a family history of diabetes is the list of symptoms of diabetes. Some of the symptoms of diabetes are:

• Increased urination
• Increased thirst
• Increased hunger
• Weight loss regardless of the increased appetite
• Being fatigues too often and irritability
• Nausea and vomiting
• Blurry vision
• Fruity odor in breath

Knowing these symptoms is important so that any parent can identify the sign of juvenile diabetes and start getting their child medical attention early on.

Parenting a child with juvenile diabetes can be really tough task, however there is no price high enough and no task not doable for any parent when it comes to his or her own child. Raising a child with juvenile diabetes is a lot different than raising a child without it, however once it is gotten used to, the child and the parents can live their lives like they normally would.

Parents who have a child with this form of diabetes need to be alert about their child’s insulin level all the time. Such a parent needs to ask a doctor regarding insulin and giving it to the child properly. The level of insulin in the child must be at the right level when the child takes a meal and parents have to provide insulin according the carbohydrate, fat and protein intake of the child. There are various other things regarding insulin that a parent must know in order to ensure the well being of his or her child, therefore the best idea is to learn everything from a good doctor.

The blood glucose of the child has to be monitored before meals and before bedtime. The amount of glucose in the blood obviously depends on the age of the child and other such factors. This matter also has to be discussed with a doctor who can give guidance regarding the matter according to the needs of the child.

Parents also need to get as much information as possible regarding a good diet plan for the child. Eating right is essential for any child particularly a child with diabetes. Exercise is an issue that is closely related to nutrition and it is equally important for a child with diabetes in order to maintain his or her blood glucose level. However parents must make sure that the child’s blood glucose level does not fall too much during or after exercise; if it does then the child should be given a snack with carbohydrates and made to rest till the glucose level returns to normal.

Perhaps the most important thing that any parent with a diabetic child needs to know is how to manage a situation in which the child has low blood sugar. The signs of low blood sugar shakiness, sleepiness or confusion, irritability and so on. If this is the case then the parent must give an adequate amount of candy or anything sweet that can restore the blood sugar to the right amount.

Dieting and Diabetes

Diabetes is affecting more and more people the world over. In America alone, millions of people are suffering and yet millions are unaware of the fact that they are edging closer and closer to diabetes. This is not surprising considering the rather lazy lifestyles that most of us have adopted and the harmful reliance on junk food that we have allowed to dominate over our eating habits.

Changing only two things about our lives can help us avoid or control diabetes; firstly we need to move into a more active lifestyle and even more importantly we need to organize our diet and eat healthy.  Eating healthy does not mean throwing all the goodies away and preparing our kitchens for carrot soup every day. Eating healthy has more to do with a balanced diet than anything else.

The first step into a balanced and healthy diet is to eat consistently without eating too much. Cut down your meal sizes into half and eat 6 meals instead of 3 throughout the day. This will keep your body efficiently burning the carbohydrates away and your blood sugar stable. Any good diet, with or without the need to control or prevent diabetes needs to have well proportioned and timely meals.

The second step is to keep moderation in mind. You do not need to throw away all the carbohydrates; rely on unprocessed food rather than foods that contain simple sugar. This will keep your energy level stable over a period of time and your blood sugar stable as well. You also do not need to shun your favorite deserts either. It is a good idea to not keep any in your fridge or kitchens; you do not want to be thinking about that brownie just a few steps away. Limit your deserts and treats to special occasions or at the very least make sure you have to go out of your way to get your hands on them.

The third step is to substitute harmful foods with healthy ones that taste just as good if not better. Substitute pies with fruit and sodas with sparkling water. You might not like the sound of this but when you see pounds of fat disappear and your body feeling much better; you are going to realize it was worth it.

Following these three steps and incorporating them into your diet will ensure that you stay at a safe distance from diabetes and unexplainable hassle and costs that come along with it.

Can Gastric Bypass Improve Diabetes

A new study from Duke University Medical Center and Columbia University claims that Gastric Bypass sometimes improves type 2 diabetes long before the patients lose weight.

Even thought the study was small; 21 in all. The surgery patients had lower levels of amino acids that have been linked to insulin resistance in their systems compared to the dieters. The 10 gastric bypass patients and the 11 calorie restricted dieters all lost just a fraction of the overall weight when the analysis was conducted. But researcher says the preliminary findings are tremendous and hopefully could one day lead to diabetes treatments.

Study researcher Blandine Laferrere, MD, of Columbia University’s St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospital Center, tells WebMD, “Certainly weight loss by any means improves type 2 diabetes, but there is something else going on with gastric bypass surgery,”

“Surgery puts the diabetes into remission. Most of the research has focused on changes in gut hormones, but we have shown that a decline in specific circulating amino acids also occurs.”

The study only included obese people with a BMI of 35 and greater from the gastric bypass side, while the dieters were strictly monitored on a 1000 calorie restricted diet.

At the time of the study all participants had lost an average of 20lbs. The surgery patients took only one month to achieve the 20lb goal while most of the dieters took two months to reach the 20lb goal for the study.

The analysis revealed that the surgery patients had much lower levels of several types of circulating branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine (Phe) and tyrosine (Tyr).

The greatest achievement for the study was the control in blood sugar for the gastric bypass patients, all were off all diabetes drugs after that one month period. The dieters did not have the same results as almost half still needed treatment after losing the same amount of weight.

They also had greater improvements in blood sugar control. One month after surgery, all of the gastric bypass patients were off all diabetes drugs. About half the dieters still needed treatment after losing the same amount of weight.

Laferrere says this understanding could lead to new diabetes treatments that are as effective as gastric bypass surgery. “It would not be possible to offer this surgery to everyone with type 2 diabetes,” she says. “About 28 million American adults have type 2 diabetes, and about 200,000 of these surgeries are done each year.”

For more information and news on diabetes and diabetes research please check our website regularly. http://anthonycannonmd.com/