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Type 1 Symptoms
January 23, 2009 |
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that’s most commonly diagnosed in people under the age of 20.
Amy Carroll, a certified diabetes educator at Lee Diabetes Care says, “Your body
attacks the cells in your pancreas that produce insulin so a person with type one diabetes doesn’t produce any insulin at all.” But before Type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed and managed, a person must first recognize its symptoms. Classic signs
of new onset Type 1 diabetes include extreme thirst or hunger, low energy and frequent
urination.
Carroll adds, “If your child is lethargic or is up multiple times a night to go
to the bathroom, cannot quench their thirst, those are classic signs to look for
and bring them to the emergency room.” Carroll says it’s important that parents
react immediately
after noticing those kinds of symptoms. “If your blood sugar gets
up really high, I mean if you’re not making any insulin then your body is going
to look for it elsewhere, it can break down its own muscle and fat. It’s a very
tricky game to bring it down slowly without other complications from that so quicker
the child is brought into the hospital and get them on insulin the quicker we can
bring the blood sugar back down and teach the parent and the child together how
to manage the diabetes,” she says.
Children and adults with Type 1 diabetes have to provide themselves with insulin
from outside the body. Most patients use insulin injections or an insulin pump to
accomplish this. |
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