A BRIEF EDUCATION ABOUT TYPE 1 JUVENILE DIABETES

Type 1 Diabetes is an auto-immune disease. T-cells in the body get confused and attack the beta cells (insulin producing cells) in the pancreas. The pancreas starts to shut down and stops producing insulin. Diabetes begins. Your body needs insulin to “unlock” the cells to give them energy in the form of glucose. People with diabetes cannot produce insulin and so the body starves. Glucose builds up in the blood and there is extreme thirst and frequent urination to get rid of the excess sugar. Once diagnosed, treatment can begin. Insulin pump therapy needs blood glucose finger pricks 8-10 times daily and Infusion sets (tube from pump to body) every 2-3 days.

Insulin is not a cure, it is life support.

You do not out grow Juvenile Diabetes, you have it until you die or a cure is found.

One in 500 children get Type 1 Diabetes and 90% of those children DO NOT have family history. A combination of genes, environment and certain viruses contribute to predisposition of diabetes.

Diabetes shortens a life span by 15 years. It is like having a heart attack, it is that traumatic to the body.

Diabetes is NOT a communicable disease.

35 children are diagnosed every day with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes.

A non-diabetic blood glucose level is 80-120. A diabetic person’s blood glucose can be anywhere from 20-1000. If blood glucose is too low (from too much insulin) you risk imminent seizures, coma, death. If blood glucose runs too high (from not enough insulin) for a long period of time you will get the long term complications: blindness, limb amputation, kidney failure, stroke, heart disease.

You can “manage” diabetes but you can NOT control it. Without your body’s natural insulin producing cells keeping blood glucose in a normal range it is like walking a tightrope. NOT EASY. Even though you’re doing everything in your control to keep it managed, there are outside factors which effect the blood glucose: stress, excitement, illness, exercise, hormones.