Children Living with Type 1 Diabetes

Being a type 1 diabetic for anyone is a struggle let alone a child. Children are going to have a harder time understand when they need juice or to take their next shot. They have to rely totally on their parents until they have an understanding on how to take care of themselves.

Teaching your children how to take care of themselves properly is going to be a huge impact on how their going to take care of themselves when their older. Teach them the proper way or else they will end up with more complications than not.

Checking your sugar level is a necessity of being a diabetic. A normal sugar level range for a non diabetic's pancreas is in between 4 and 7 mmol or 70 to 150 mg. When you're level is in between this range it means that you're doing very well. However, for most type 1 diabetics that's a very hard range to achieve but with diligence and perseverance it can be achieved. It won't always been in this range but the closer you can get to it the less complications your child will have in the long run.

Children are a lot more active than adults which means, that their blood sugar should be checked more often until a routine is figured out. When children run around they burn off a lot more sugar which means they have insulin left in their systems without sugar causing hypoglycemia (sugar low). Candies and juice boxes should always be available for you're kids to get to before it drops to low.

Symptoms of hypoglycemia are:
Dizziness, nausea, shakiness, blurred vision, feeling faint, sweating, weakness and having trouble speaking.

Not every one of these symptoms occur but should be known.
Make your children aware of these symptoms so that if they do start to feel any of them that they either come to you to check their sugar level or hopefully they can do it themselves and can check so see what their level is at.

It's very important to allow your children to learn how to take care of themselves. Parents are not always going to be around to take care of them so they need to be able to depend on themselves.

Hyperglycemia (sugar high) is when your sugar level is beyond 7 mmol or 150 mg. This is when problems start to occur. Diabetes is a very powerful and deadly disease if not taken care of properly. When levels are beyond 7, damage is slowly starting to take place in your body. The time that it takes for complications varies from one diabetic to another. Most doctors will tell you that you will not see any complications start until after you've been diabetic for 5 years or more.

Symptoms of hyperglycemia are:
Thirst, tiredness, headaches, blurred vision, weight loss, frequent urination, mood swings
These are signs and symptoms that your child's sugar level should be checked so that you can get in back into a normal range.

Long term effects of hyperglycemia are:
Neuropathy, heart disease, kidney problems, stroke, eye problems and so much more.

Although some of this information can be scary to read it's more to educate you and to teach your children how serious this disease can be. When children are diagnosed young as they get older can some times slack off with taking care of themselves because they get tired of it. As aggravating as it can be this is simply not the answer they will end up with serious problems just to skip a needle or two.

Encourage your children that they can still live a normal life. The insulin on the market today has been made so that people can live a more normal life. Working with your children can help them achieve this. Make sure they feel comfortable coming to you to ask any questions, they need all the help and support they can get. Most of all stay connected with your doctor, they will make sure the proper tests are being done and will keep you informed and answer your questions as well!