Juvinile Diabetes

My grandson was diagnosed at 2. When he went into a coma. Don't take any chances - take your child to a doc. If he truly is a diabetic it's very serious. It's not just "sugar" you have to count in his diet, it's the carb intake as well. Everything that goes in has to be counteracted with insulin.

Juvinile diabetes (aka Type One Diabetes) is something that CANNOT be regulated with diet alone. Type One Diabetics MUST take insulin, 3 times a day, every day with meals, and also a long acting form of insulin either once or twice a day. Don't assume that just because you have limited the diet that your child doesn't have it. It is impossible to control through diet alone. My husband has it, and I am a nurse, so please take this seriously. If you think your child has the symptoms then please take him to see a doctor! The longer you wait the more organ damage will occur. Don't try to diagnose and treat this on your own, please.

Oh lordy, I just read your "so what happened?" and I'm even more worried. You checked his blood sugar with your blood sugar monitor from when you had gestational diabetes? THat is not the way to diagnose juvinile diabetes. No more self diagnosing, and no more withholding water. If he's thirsty from diabetes then he needs to drink. It's the only way his body can get rid of the excess sugar, through his urine. See the doctor first thing Monday. Juvinile diabetes is nothing like the diabetes you had when you were pregnant so please take him to someone who knows what they're doing.

The others are correct...Type 1 (AKA Juvenile) can't be regulated by diet. Type II diabetes is what can be regulated by diet. Type 1 is an auto immune disease. Take your son to your ped and ask for a random blood sugar...actually at Kroger this am, I saw a sign that they would do a random blood sugar (RBS) test for like $20. You may have a place similar and can do it over the weekend before even getting into your ped if it will make you feel better. It is just a fast finger prick. If the test comes in over 200, its indicative of diabetes. High scores under 200 require additional testing. My son is also 3 and recently went through a temporary phase of increased thirst/ urination. He had a high RBS of 193 and the Dr ordered many other blood tests to determine if he had diabetes. We were lucky, tests came back fine and a second, third and fourth RBS were taken with great scores under 100. They now think the first test calculation was an error and the stress of our move was causing his increased urination/accidents etc. My cousin was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 3. She could have died. She fell into a coma and no one knew what was wrong with her. At the ER, they were about to hook her up to an IV when the anesthesiologist near her caught wiff of her sweet breath and stopped them. Her sugar was through the roof..the IV could have killed her. I believe that is why I always keep my eyes open for any symptoms. Besides the excessive thirst, the biggest symptoms include excessive urination, increased hunger and rapid weight loss. I always recommend getting checked out when your mama instinct makes you question anything..better safe than sorry. If your son has diabetes, you want to catch it early. Wishing you a healthy diagnosis.

I will echo the please get him to the doctor ASAP to have your suspicions checked out. Type 1 diabetes is not related to diet at all. And please don't give your kid artificial sweeteners. Kool Aid with "diabetic sugar" is a million times worse than regular old soda - if you must avoid refined sugar, try some of the newer drinks made with Stevia. Crystal Lite makes a line of "pure" drink mixes now that have no artificial colors or flavors and are sweetened with Stevia.

Type 1 diabetes, if not present from birth (and you would have known that by now), develops in children after some sort of illness. It's an immune disease, not a dietary one.

Call the Dr. Take him in and have them check his blood sugar. Its a tiny finger poke and takes 30 seconds to show important stuff. My daughter was diagnosed at 12. The most common newly diagnised type 1 diabetic is a 12 yr old girl, but we know plenty who were found to have it at 2, and 4 and 19 and 45. yes type 1 can come on at any age. It can be caused by a virus, stress, or other things. You CAN NOT CONTROL IT WITH DIET. That is why it is also refered to as "Insulin Dependant." A person with type 1 will die without insulin. Other signs besides excessive thirst are, peeing all the time, sometimes even bed wetting when they have been night trained for years. Losing weight without trying is another. We saw all 3 signs in our daughter along with moodiness, cranky, mouthy, tired, hungry, and depression. So, please take him to the Dr, or a clinic, or even if you know someone with a glucometer to test blood sugar have them do it and if it shows any number over 100 take him to the ER. Do it now. Please, I know how it goes, and it isnt something to mess with.
Added: diabetes can run in families but not always and more often than not there is no family history. My daughter was the first with type 1 that we can find in any family records. Scientists have isolated a gene that happens to be present that can be set off and cause the diabetes. My husband and I have been part of a world wide test and neither of us have that gene, but she does. She is now 28 and has a 3 yr old daughter. The Drs have told her that her daughter has no more or no less chance of being diabetic in the future. Let's hope she doesn't.

if you truly think your child may be diabetic and you don't get him checked, you're not necessarily crazy, but you WOULD be neglectful. it your child has type 1 diabetes, he needs insulin, regardless of you controlling his sugar intake, type 1 is FAR more complex than that. please take your child in and have him checked - hopefully he's just going through a little thirsty phase - i wouldn't wish type 1 diabetes on anyone, but fortunately, with proper treatment, he can do VERY well - without it, he could go into a VERY severe crisis and potentially die. not trying to be rude or harsh - but you are messing with a very serious, yet very treatable, disease. they can EASILY check his urine and go from there.

Sadly the juvi type can't be regulated via diet.

Basically his body can't absorb any sugars and is starving to death (they drink water because the liver sees any sugar as poison and needing to be flushed out). He will need to get injections to break down the sugar into something absorbable to his body.

With the adult type, the body is still making SOME insulin, but the body is too big for the insulin to be enough (so missing a does or two won't really hurt you, and losing weight is soooo important (less you, but the same amount of insulin)).

The juvi type the body is making NO insulin, so basically get medical help or start saving for a grave spot, if you are against medical treatment. It is really black and white.

Hate to put it like that but it is the truth.

You can control his dietary sugar intake all you want -- if he has Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, it won't matter. He would need insulin injections as well as a new eating and testing regimen.

This may or may not be diabetes but you cannot tell and neither can we. Please get him to the doctor ASAP for a test and say you are concerned about the excessive thirst and want a diabetes test right away. If it is diabetes, he needs to get started on his lifelong treatment immediately or you risk his becoming seriously ill. Please don't wait -- better to rule it out now than to wait and find out it was diabetes after all. Diabetes can have a host of grave health consequences (blindness, organ damage, circulatory problems, coma, worse) if untreated. If he doesn't have it -- be glad and please don't say, gee, I was silly to bother the doctor (which lots of women on Mamasource seem to say before they even CALL a doctor). Better to find out it isn't than to stay away because you were afraid you'd be fussed at by the doctor. Let us know what happens. And yes, we do have Type 1 diabetes in our family so we know it's nothing to mess with. I hope he doesn't have it but if he does, he will be able to cope well with today's medications.

You cannot control juvinile diabetes by controlling sugar intake. Also, bananas and cantalope are carbs and all carbs turn to sugar...which are good sugars and his body needs those for energy and growth. Type 1 diabetics require insulin in all cases. Take him in ASAP, if he is Type 1 it is dangerous to wait!!

My daughter was diagnosed at 3 and is now 11 and doing most excellent.

Good luck,
DH

Have him tested immediately. Juvenile diabetes is a very serious condition which can emerge at any age during childhood to young adulthood. Good luck.

Type I diabetes, which is often called juvenile-onset diabetes, is not controllable by diet. It's an auto-immune disease in which the pancreas completely stops producing insulin. A child will not survive for long with no insulin, no matter what you feed him, because he will not be able to utilize any of the sugar/carbohydrate in the diet. All sugar remains in the bloodstream, and the kidneys struggle to reduce the load by creating more urine to dump the excess sugar (which increases thirst). This doesn't work for long. Meanwhile, none of the needed sugar is getting into the cells that are starving for energy.

Type II diabetes is a metabolic problem which usually sets in after insulin control has been disordered for many years, and can be aggravated or brought on earlier (even in early childhood) if the person has the genetic makeup putting them at risk, if too much sugar and other carbohydrates are part of the diet, and if the child does not exercise enough to make the muscles burn sugar. There is a possibility of minimizing symptoms through proper diet and exercise, but it's still a very serious disorder, and you can't deal with it without careful education and medical care.

With either form of diabetes, frequent blood testing is needed for good control. With Type I, control is achieved by injecting insulin, NOT through withholding sugar. With Type II, limiting sugar is important, but still not enough for proper control – you can't guess how high the sugar is based on how thirsty a child is.

If you think there's any chance your son might be at risk, please get him to a doctor immediately. Diabetes, if untreated, can cause tremendous damage in the body, to nerves, kidneys, blood vessels and heart, and other organs. And it can ultimately result in death.

(I've had Type II diabetes for 7 years, since I was 55, and taken care of myself with diet, excersize, medication, regular blood testing, and regular visits to my doctor for more thorough monitoring.)

Does it run in your family?

~Juvenile diabetes runs in my family, both my maternal grandfather and my 1st cousin (on the same side) had juvenile diabetes (both have since passed away)...I know my cousin Shelley was diagnosed very early on, I want to say right around or directly before she was 5.

It never hurts to speak to a Dr. about your concerns!

you should get him checked. sounds like a crazy diet. i was told that banans turn to sugar quickly in the system. i am not sure why your allowing those two fruits??? but non others?? for potassium ? i understand they are both high in that?? i would take him to the doctor just to find out why he is drinking excessively and what diet he really needs to be on.

I grew up being allergic to lots of things. as an adult i found out i have such a hard time with loosing weight because i am insulin resistant. its not diabetic but close too. so much so that i have the signs of a diabetic but when tested with main stream doctors it comes out negative. but after going to a specialest it is still not diabetic but it has a name . turns out those foods i could not eat as a child i still cant eat as an adult. i basicaly ate most green veggies and lean meat. the only fruit i have are apples. but i do drink plenty of water, take vitimans, and oils. good luck with your son. hopefuly with the right diet it can be fixed...or he just might be thirsty.

You need to get him checked out.

Diabetes is nothing to play around with.

It is not about sugars. It is about how many Carbs you in take and if your body can even process that.

Fruit and breads are high in sugars and Carbs. It does not matter how nutritious.

I would certainly call his DR & ask to get him in let them know what your concerns are,sorry but we can't say that yes he has JD these are signs but after having multilpe yeast infections did they not check his sugar levels?Has the DR mentioned JD at all?How many has he had in the past year are they occuring from another source such as UTI or E-Coli type of infection has he ever had a UTI to go along with his yeast infections?
No your not crazy I thought my son who was that age might have it but reassured that he is a boy & very active so he will eat & drink what he burns up my kids play non stop outside for hrs on end running jumping riding bikes etc etc so they burn what they take in alot faster.

Hello D.. My daughter was diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus 1- or DM 1 as we say in our house (used to be called juvenile diabetes, most commonly referred to as Type 1 diabetes), at age 19 months. My son was diagnosed when he was six years old.
You need to get him tested right away. My daughter had never had refined sugars prior to her diagnoses. You cannot prevent DM1 no matter how hard you try, I am very sorry to say.

Take him to the doctor as soon as you can. And, just so you know, "diabetic sugar" or fake sugar, is very dangerous to the body and can have a worse effect on blood sugars than regular sugar.
It sounds like you did a great job getting rid of the yeast infections! Your attentiveness to his diet is wonderful! Great job!

I just want to say that Peg M. gave an EXCELLENT post about the differences between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, and how to best regulate blood sugars for both types. *applause!*

Keep us posted, D.! I hope everything turns out okay!

Get him checked. Kids can show signs of type I diabetes at any age. Your intuition is up. Listen to it. If only for peace of mind.
Just because you are controlling how much sugar he is getting, doesn't mean it's not out of whack. There is hidden sugar in everything, especially in bread.

I have a good friend whose grandson was diagnosed at 10 months when he went into a coma. They almost lost him. PLEASE get this checked out before he has a similar experience. If it is DM-1, you will minimize his chances of complications. If it isn't, your mind will be relieved. As others have said, it can't be controlled by diet. And I truly believe in a mother's intuition. Perhaps it is something else going on, but have it checked out ASAP.