Today is the 5th Annual D-blog Day. This year's topic is "6 Things You Want People to Know about Diabetes"..... so here we go.- No, she is not going to outgrow it. There is no cure for Type 1 diabetes. She won't get "better" by eating a better diet, taking miracle cures, exercising more, etc. She won't get "better" until we get a cure. Please understand when we say that this is our top priority with charity donations. I don't want to see my girl hooked up to an insulin pump and testing her sugar for the rest of her life.
- No, she didn't get it by eating too much sugar or by having a "bad" diet or being lazy. Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease. There is nothing she (or we) did that caused her to get it. Her immune system went wacky and attacked the insulin producing cells in her pancreas, and now they don't work. Not even a little bit. So she has to be on insulin 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's a fact of life.
- Under control? Really? She's a teenage girl with hormones... what is control? One of the questions we get asked is "Is her diabetes under control?". In a word, no. Is it being managed? Absolutely. You don't "control" diabetes. Not in a hormonal teenager, not in a growing toddler, not in anyone. She can eat exactly the same thing (same amount and everything) twice, and her body will react to it in different ways each time. There will only be control when there is a cure.
- Yes, she really can eat that. While a balanced diet is most helpful in managing Type 1 diabetes, she is not restricted on what she can eat. She can have sweets, pizza, etc. She can hang out with her friends at the mall and eat what they do. Whether she has a apple, a piece of pizza, an ear of corn, or an ice cream cone, she has to take insulin for the carbs. A carb is a carb for a Type 1 diabetic. Her insulin pump makes it easier for her to be a normal teenager.
- Just because she looks "okay" doesn't mean she feels "okay". Looks can be deceiving. When her blood sugar is high or low, she feels it and it doesn't make her feel good either way. She can have a headache and have problems focusing when she her numbers are high. When they are low, she can have problems talking, thinking, may have numbness in her tongue and fingers. The lows are especially scary. Because of this she carries fast-acting sugar with her and a Glucogon shot. Ask her to show you how to use it. Hopefully you never have to, but it will mean the world to her if you care enough to ask how it works.
- Learn the signs of Type 1 diabetes. Left undiagnosed and untreated, Type 1 diabetes can be deadly. From the Mayo Clinic website:
- Increased thirst and frequent urination. As excess sugar builds up in your bloodstream, fluid is pulled from your tissues. This may leave you thirsty. As a result, you may drink — and urinate — more than usual.
- Extreme hunger. Without enough insulin to move sugar into your cells, your muscles and organs become depleted of energy. This triggers intense hunger that may persist even after you eat. Without insulin, the sugar in your food never reaches your energy-starved tissues.
- Weight loss. Despite eating more than usual to relieve hunger, you may lose weight — sometimes rapidly. Without the energy sugar supplies, your muscle tissues and fat stores may simply shrink.
- Fatigue. If your cells are deprived of sugar, you may become tired and irritable.
- Blurred vision. If your blood sugar level is too high, fluid may be pulled from your tissues — including the lenses of your eyes. This may affect your ability to focus clearly.
There are so many other things, and these six are in no particular order, but they are the first ones I came up with. Please, if you have questions, ask us. We would much rather you ask questions you think might be "dumb" or even "insensitive" rather than just assume you know the answer.
