Becoming a Diabetes Expert
I am a diabetes expert. No I'm not a doctor or a nurse. I am a mom. A mom to a 13 year old girl named Ashley who has Juvenile Diabetes. Ashley was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes just before her fifth birthday. She went into a diabetic coma and almost died. None of that would have happened if I had known the warning signs. In this article I am going to give you some information on diabetes and the warning signs.
There are two types of Diabetes. Type I - Juvenile Diabetes and Type II - Adult Onset Diabetes. Here we are going to concentrate on Type I.
With Type I , which mainly occurs in young people, the pancreas produces very little or no insulin. This disease is now being classed as an Auto-immune disease. This is what can happen. A person becomes ill with a flu-like virus. Normally the white blood cells would attack these invading organisms and the person would begin to get better. But, in a person prone to diabetes the white blood cells become confused and attack the beta cells in the pancreas. To better understand this let me explain what the pancreas does. The pancreas is a gland positioned behind the stomach. It has two major functions. The first is to produce enzymes that help to digest food. The second is to produce the hormones insulin and glucagon. These two hormones are important because they play a major part in regulating the glucose (sugar) level in your blood by keeping it at an even or normal level. When your pancreas becomes damaged it is unable to manufacture insulin. Insulin helps your beta cells absorb sugar. Your body needs the sugar to produce energy. Your body, unable to use glucose because of the lack of insulin, is forced to obtain energy from fat instead. This is very dangerous and if not treated eventually leads to a coma.
If you are aware of them the warning signs are very easy to see. The warning signs of Juvenile Diabetes are: irritability, frequent urination which is associated with abnormal thirst, nausea or vomiting, fatigue, weight loss despite a normal (or even increased) intake of food, and unusual hunger. Something usually not mentioned but, which happened with my daughter was nightmares & sleep walking. In children, frequent bedwetting - especially by a child who never previously wet the bed - is another common sign. Just before going into a coma you will notice breath that smells like acetone (ex:fingernail polish remover). This is a sign of ketoacidosis. You should get this person to the hospital immediately.
People with Type I Diabetes are subject to episodes in which blood glucose levels are very high (hyperglycemia) and very low (hypoglycemia). Either of these conditions can lead to a serious medical emergency. To better understand this you should know that a normal blood glucose level is between 70 - 120. When my daughter went into a diabetic coma her level was over 1,000. She has been as low as 19. This is very scary. This is what I notice when Ashley becomes low. You look into her eyes and she looks far away. Her eyes are glassy and vacant looking. She becomes confused, disoriented and sometimes combative. Her speech is slow and often slurred. Her hand will tremble and she says she feels shaky. Sometimes Ashley does not recall these episodes.
Episodes of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) which strikes suddenly, can be caused by a missed meal, too much excersize, or a reaction to too much insulin. The initial signs are hunger, dizziness, sweating, confusion, palpitations, and numbness or tingling of the lips. If not treated the individual may go on to experience double vision, trembling and disorientation; they may act strangely and may even lapse into a coma.
In contrast, a hyperglycemic (high blood glucose) episode can come on over a period of several hours or even weeks. The risk of hyperglycemia is greatest during illness. When insulin requirements rise; blood sugar can creep, ultimately resulting in a coma, a reaction also known as diabetic ketoacidosis. One of the warning signs of developing hyperglycemia is the inability to keep down fluids. Possible long term complications include stroke, blindness, heart disease, kidney failure, gangrene, and nerve damage.
So you see I am a diabetes expert. It was important for me to know my enemy. My enemy is diabetes and with education I can fight it.
Devoting her last 8 years to Diabetes Education, Kimberly maintains her website ElviraDarkNight.com and publishes the Living Life as a Diabetic Newsletter and also dispatches donated Diabetic supplies to needie individuals without Health Insurance. Kim would like to personally invite you to become informed on issues of Health, Nutrition & Diabetes.
MORE RESOURCES:
 The Guardian | Diabetes quadruples birth defects risk, say researchers BBC News By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News The risk of birth defects increases four-fold if the pregnant mother has diabetes, researchers say. The Newcastle University study, published in the journal Diabetologia, analysed data from more ... Birth defect risk heightened by diabetic mums Diabetes 'increases birth defect risk' Women with diabetes warned to take precautions when having a baby |
 TucsonSentinel.com | Girl & dog bond over type 1 diabetes Tucson Citizen They each have Type 1 diabetes and have formed a bond which is helping to heal both. Petey, a 1 year old Terrier mix, came to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona as a stray. He was very skinny, and barely alive with a severely injured back leg that ... Girl and dog form healing bond |
 Science Codex | Diabetes study from Sanford-Burnham finds pancreas can 'taste' fructose Orlando Sentinel “We know a lot about how glucose interacts with the pancreas, but we didn't think the pancreas had much to do with fructose,” said Bjorn Tyrberg, adjunct assistant professor in the Diabetes and Research Center at Sanford-Burnham, and senior author of ... Pancreas May 'Taste' Fructose, Hinting at Links to Diabetes Tasting fructose with the pancreas |
 Waterbury Republican American | Paula Deen talks diabetes, recent controversy Fayetteville Observer By Jennifer Calhoun When celebrity chef Paula Deen announced she has was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes three years ago, no one seemed shocked. But many were frustrated, including local diabetes educators. After all, the down-home, Savannah-based ... A diabetes dialogue |
ACP Guideline Addresses Pharmacotherapy of Type 2 Diabetes Medscape February 6, 2012 — Metformin should be the initial drug for most patients with type 2 diabetes refractory to lifestyle modifications, with a second drug added if needed, according to a new clinical practice guideline from the American College of ... Metformin Preferred Drug for Type 2 Diabetes, Experts Say New Guideline: Metformin Best to Control HbA1c Metformin Is Type 2 Diabetes Drug of Choice |
Diabetes counsellors' crunch ails Bhopal Times of India BHOPAL: With an estimated two lakh people in the city having diabetes, there are barely a couple of diabetes counsellors, according to Centre of Diabetes and Obesity Management (CDOM). Experts view diabetic care not only in terms of equipment but, ... |
 Press TV | Diabetes takes toll on women's hearing Florida Today Diabetes is associated with hearing loss in women, especially if the blood sugar disease isn't well-controlled, new research indicates. The study, done by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, examined the medical records of 990 men and women ... Uncontrolled diabetes can cause hearing loss in women Study links diabetes, hearing loss in women |
Diabetes workshop can help people adjust to disease Fort Morgan Times By Luann Boyer Extension Agent If you have diabetes, reading nutrition labels is often frustrating and doing weekly food shopping can be downright overwhelming. Do you miss favorite foods which you believe are no-no's because of the amount of sugar and ... Medical Myth:Eating too much sugar causes diabetes |
The Curse of Amylin's Diabetes Drug Approval TheStreet.com ... after more than two and a half years, two FDA rejection letters, and at least a dozen amendments to the application, Amylin Pharmaceuticals(AMLN) received FDA approval for Bydureon, a once-weekly formulation of its existing diabetes drug Byetta. Amylin takes 4Q loss as Lilly partnership ends Amylin Pharmaceuticals Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2011 Financial Results Inside Wall Street: Is Amylin a buyout target? |
Hypertension, diabetes rife in Ahmedabad: AMC survey Times of India AHMEDABAD: The entrepreneur Amdavadi across various economic strata now shows chronic signs of being both stressed and diabetic. In one of the recent comprehensive medical camps run by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), for citizens across its ... |
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