both intensive self-care and medical care. Without proper care, the disease can cause both acute problems- immediately dangerous and even life-threatening- and chronic problems that can affect your child’s quality of life and progress to long-term complications.
The good news is that diabetes is controllable, and current treatment methods have an excellent success record. By taking insulin, watching blood sugar levels, and getting regular exercise, children with type 1 diabetes can lead healthy and active lives.
What are the most severe long-term complications?
Without proper management, type 1 diabetes can cause eye disease and blindness. It can also damage nerves, kidneys, and the large and small blood vessels, which can lead to other health problems such as stroke and heart disease. If untreated over the long run, it can lead to arteriosclerosis, leg sores, hypertension, edema, chronic infections, and even death.
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What is the treatment for type 1 diabetes?
Diabetes treatment is tailored to the individual child and should be planned in consultation with a doctor and other health professionals. Children with diabetes can expect to grow up normally. Because type 1 diabetes means your child’s body produces little or no insulin, however, its treatment generally requires a strict regimen, including a well-planned diet, physical activity, blood sugar testing several times a day, and insulin. (Self-monitoring for blood glucose involves pricking the finger or arm for a drop of blood that is placed on a strip and read by a small, portable meter.)
Although the treatment for type 1 diabetes always includes insulin, this hormone can be administered either by injection (usually in multiple injections throughout the day) or through a device placed under the skin with an externally worn insulin pump, which delivers exact amounts of insulin throughout the day and night.
If you have a small child, you will probably have to monitor and test him or her until your child is old enough to do it independently. At any given moment, your child’s blood sugar level may be too high, which requires an insulin shot or increased physical activity, or too low, requiring glucose from food or drink, from candy or glucose tablets, or perhaps an injection of the hormone glucagon for severe lows. This means you’ll need to ask your doctor or diabetes educator about the physical and behavioral cues that indicate a change in blood sugar levels among infants and young children, who can’t talk about the symptoms they’re experiencing.
As your child gets older, some of these necessities can be hard to adjust to. Teenagers, in particular, may become impatient with caring for their disease, so managing diabetes can be a tough balancing act. Parents need to work with their children to keep diabetes under control, and this requires both education and practice.
Working closely with both doctors and diabetes educators will help you manage the disease by creating a successful partnership with your child.
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With the help of an adult, older children can learn how to manage their condition on their own. Children with diabetes do not generally need special medical attention. Most schools allow children to get their blood sugar tests and insulin shots at school.
However, a student who needs to be on a regimen of blood testing, insulin injections, and a special eating schedule to control diabetes may raise issues for some schools. It’s important to meet with teachers and other school staff to discuss your child’s needs. Many health organizations, such as Children with Diabetes, offer excellent resources to parents and teachers on caring for children with diabetes at school.
Further Resources
The American Diabetes Association.
The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NIDC), part of the National Institutes of Health.
