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.

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 study, published in the journal Diabetologia, analysed data from more than 400000 ... Diabetes in pregnancy ups birth defects riskTimes of India Diabetes 'raises birth defect risk'The Press Association Women with diabetes warned to take precautions when having a babyThe Guardian Daily Mail all 209 news articles »

US Drug Watchdog Expands Their Initiative for Diabetics Who Used the Diabetes ... San Francisco Chronicle (press release) The US Drug Watchdog says, "We totally underestimated the number of diabetics in the United States, who used the diabetes drug called Actos, and now have bladder cancer. We now believe the number of diabetics, who used the diabetes drug called Actos, ... and more »

TopNews United States

Diabetes: Celebrating The Silent Killer Leadership Newspapers With the worsening incidence of diabetes sweepiing across the world, EZRA IJIOMA examines the different types of diabetes and reasons for its high incidence in Nigeria. In 2003, when he was 21 years old, Ken developed a puzzling, unquenchable thirst. A Stomach Bug and DiabetesdailyRx Diabetes is his daily challengeBlacktown Sun Former office manager, a diabetic, sues Casper company for discriminationCasper Star-Tribune Online MLB.com -The Cypress Times -TopNews United States all 11 news articles »

Take steps to detect, reverse pre-diabetes Wisconsin Rapids Tribune Pre-diabetes is a condition in which a person's blood sugar is elevated but not high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. It's a very important condition to understand because there are so many people who, if they realized they had pre-diabetes, ... The Diabetic Week in Review -- Week Ending 4 February 2012Examiner.com all 2 news articles »

Research and Markets: Brazil Diabetes Care Devices Market Outlook to 2017 ... SunHerald.com GlobalData's new report, Brazil Diabetes Care Devices Market Outlook to 2017- Glucose Monitoring and Insulin Delivery provides key market data on the Brazil Diabetes Care Devices market. The report provides value (USD million), volume (units) and ... and more »

Diabetes amputations drop, but disease expands SouthCoastToday.com By ANIKA CLARK The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published good news recently for the nation's diabetic adults. In 2008, substantially fewer of them 40 and older received lower limb amputations than they had 12 years prior.

PR Web (press release)

Diabetes is One of the Fastest Deadly Growing Diseases around the World PR Web (press release) According to the Centers for Disease Control in the USA: Diabetes is an epidemic. 17 million Americans have diabetes with 5.9 million completely unaware that they even have the disease. Diabetes is the 5th leading cause of death in the United States ...

Medical experts meet in S'pore for diabetes workshop Channel News Asia SINGAPORE: Leading international experts in type 2 diabetes are in Singapore to address specific challenges and opportunities of bariatric or metabolic surgery for Asian patients and health care systems. The Asia-Pacific Workshop on Metabolic Surgery ... and more »

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.

Artificial Pancreas' Revolutionizing Diabetes Treatment Today's Medical Developments According to a new report by iData Research, the leading global authority in medical device market research, the US diabetes diagnosis, treatment and drug delivery device market was valued at almost $12 billion in 2011 and is expected to reach almost ...

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