Type-1 diabetes (or also familiar known as ‘IDDM’ or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus) is less common than type 2 diabetes. It is a lifelong disease that can occur when the pancreas organ cannot make any insulin. It can develop at anyone and any age, but typically develops in young adults and children (particularly before 30 of the age). What else you should know about type 1 diabetes in children?
What causes and how do you get type 1 diabetes?
Generally, diabetes (either in type 1 or type 2 diabetes) can develop when the body is no longer to control or regulate blood sugars.
This can be caused by 3 conditions:
- A fatal inability condition of pancreas to produce insulin (pancreas is not able to make any insulin).
- A condition when pancreas can make insulin, but there is not enough insulin to meet the body needs.
- And a condition what we call as ‘insulin resistance’!
The 3rd and 2nd points are relatively more common in type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is a condition when (without a clearly reason) the body cannot appropriately respond to the activation of insulin.
And the 1st point is the key of the reason (more common) in type 1 diabetes. In other words, the immune system in people with type 1 diabetes (without a clearly & unknown reason) destroys the mechanism of pancreas to produce insulin. Insulin is usually produced by the insulin-producing cells (or familiar known as ‘beta cells’) of the pancreas.
Then the glucose builds up in the blood can develop after the mechanism of insulin to absorb and convert sugars or ‘glucose’ (the body gets it from food that we eat) to be energy doesn’t work properly. And finally the blood sugar levels will be easy to rise.
People or children with type 1 diabetes usually need to take external insulin injection in order to supply their insulin for their body to regular blood sugars.
What else you should know:
- There are still unclear about all factors that can cause type 1 diabetes! But about the susceptibility to the condition, many doctors believe that it can be inherited.
- Moreover, an environmental trigger is also believed may has a role in causing & developing type-1 diabetes.
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes in children
What are short term effects of type-1 diabetes? The symptoms of this disease usually develop quickly. Flu is usually one of the most often signs that can be first noticed after an illness. Other early warning symptoms include: eye problems (particularly blurry eyesight), easy to get hunger (in several cases), weight loss problem, without a clearly reason the body will get an extreme thirst, and frequent urination.
The next developing-symptoms (in line with the increasing process of blood sugar levels) include: shallow & fast breathing, vomiting, abdominal pain, drowsiness, and loss of appetite
However, the diagnosis is not enough from these symptoms. Contact your doctor to get more advices and clearly diagnosis. Read also some type 2 diabetes symptoms!
Can type 1 diabetes be reversed?
Unfortunately, unlike type-2 diabetes that has several modifiable risk factors to lower our risk for the disease -- there are still no clearly ways to prevent and reverse type-1 diabetes (in other words it cannot be prevented)!
The only one of the effective treatment for people with type 1 diabetes is by keeping their levels of blood sugars as close as possible to the normal range. And this can be done by taking insulin properly, having regular exercise, and a proper diabetes diet.
The last, don’t forget to always keep contact with your doctor to get more advices, treatment and the update information associated with type-1 diabetes!
-- Image credit to ‘Getty Images’ for illustration
