Archive for March, 2007
As per the AAD (American Association of Diabetes) there are two types of diabetes known to afflict people and they are Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes. Type-1 diabetes normally affects children and adolescents and where as type-2 diabetes will affect grown up people who are over weight.
One of the extreme cases of diabetes is also known to affect people who have genetic problems.
But, when it comes to diabetes and pregnancy, one may wonder about the chances of the expectant mother acquiring diabetes during pregnancy.
There are many questions such as relation between diabetes and pregnancy and whether diabetic woman can get pregnant, etc. However, a woman who is suffering from diabetes should consider many facts before getting pregnant, as there are so many related risks involved.
Is it a Third Type of Diabetes
Besides Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes, there is one more kind of diabetes known to afflict pregnant woman during the later part of the pregnancy cycle. This kind of diabetes in known as gestational diabetes and is known to affect prospective mothers.
In majority of the cases the gestational diabetes will cease to exist once the child is born, but such mothers will be highly prone to develop type-2 diabetes in the later part of their life.
Hence, there has been a wide spread belief linking diabetes and pregnancy that necessitates prospective mothers to be careful during their pregnancy period.
The gestational diabetes is almost very much similar to type-2 diabetes in resisting insulin secretion and where as the related symptoms are bit different from that of type-2 diabetes.
An expectant mother suffering from gestational diabetes may gain weight abnormally due to the increased urination of the fetus that has a higher level of blood glucose. It is strongly advised for the pregnant women to under go tests during their 24th and 28th week of pregnancy so as to rule out the presence of diabetes.
The occurrence of gestational diabetes is very rare and is known to affect only 2 or 3 percent of the total pregnant women. For better management of the gestational diabetes, it is better if one can understand few related factors.
For example, pregnant women are more prone to acquire gestational diabetes if they are over weight, or if they have a history of type-2 diabetes in the family, or if the age of the pregnant women is beyond the recommended productive age, or if the mother have had gestational diabetes in her earlier pregnancy, and if the mother has delivered a baby weighing around 10 pounds in her earlier delivery.
What is to be done in case Diabetes and Pregnancy simultaneously occur
Various studies reveal that majority of the women who has had gestational diabetes during their pregnancy developed type-2 diabetes in their later part of the life and this normally occurs within a period of 5 o 10 years after delivery of child.
Hence, if you had been diagnosed with such type of complications, it is better to consult you doctor and follow all the prescription without fail. Though there is a possibility of leading a normal life with type-2 diabetes, it will be always better to avoid contracting the disease itself through a series of precautionary measures.
Juvenile diabetes or Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes or juvenile diabetes which is also popularly known as childhood diabetes is a condition that afflict the child from birth and is a condition where the body will not produce insulin in sufficient quantity or not produce insulin at all.
Those who are born with this disease need to understand and practice various means and methods to overcome the effects of disease. It is also a pity that many of the childhood diabetes are not diagnosed at all until the children reach their teen age.
Learn to read the Warning Signs of Childhood Diabetes
In case the children are not subjected to tests regularly for diabetes diagnosis, the latent disease may suddenly throw various complications that could be even life threatening.
The early signs of childhood diabetes could be sudden blurring in vision, increase in appetite, steady weight loss, continuous fatigue, frequent urination, excess intake of water due to excess thirst, and a uniquely smelling breath.
Never fail to Consult a Doctor
If you identify few or many of the above-said symptoms in your child, then never delay in subjecting your child to a detailed test, as there is a chance of identifying the symptoms of childhood diabetes mistakenly for other illnesses.
In United States alone around 30,000 people are being diagnosed with childhood diabetes every year, and among them a whopping 13,000 are young children. If you just break the statistics you will get a figure of one child in every hour getting diabetes in America.
Importance of Correct Diagnosis of Childhood Diabetes
Any failure in diagnosing the childhood diabetes could prove to be very dangerous with unwanted complications. If you can learn to correctly interpret the early signs, you can save a life.
If you have not come across any cases of diabetes in your close circle, it may be difficult to keep the symptoms in mind and identify the symptoms correctly.
However, you may keep only the three important symptoms in your mind so as to correctly identifying the disease they are - frequent urination, feeling thirsty always and higher blood glucose levels.
If you can see your child visiting bathroom very often and drinking lots of water, then it may be a sure sign of onset of childhood diabetes. Get your child s blood tested for presence of any high sugar level.
If you can see your otherwise active child little bit lethargic or fatigued, then it is time you had your child examined by a doctor. Your doctor will be able to carry out all tests and assess your child health correctly.
Childhood Diabetes and its associated Health Risks
The main health risks that are usually associated with childhood diabetes could be problems in vision, problems in liver or kidneys, and an increased chance for a stroke or heart attack. Besides these, the child is also prone to a more complicated state of low sugar that may lead to fainting.
Further, due to high blood sugar the child may contract many infections, delay in healing of wounds or non-healing of wounds, and even gangrene from any foot ulcers. In an extreme circumstance, the child may even suffer nerve damage that may lead to pain and irreversible damages.
Technorati Tags: Diabetes, Blood Sugar
Diabetes in child will normally exhibit various signs and if you can have watchful eyes you will be in a position to identify whether or not your child is having diabetes.
You can get your child s urine tested for presence of any sugar and in case of your child having diabetes, then he/she will be urinating often and feel thirsty all the time irrespective of consuming a lot of water. Your child will also start losing weight and feel hungry all the time.
Besides this, your child will become very tired and show signs of irritation even for small causes.
Diabetes being a very puzzling and a problematic disease, it needs to be addressed at the initial stage itself so as to have a better control over the disease.
The first and foremost important thing is to watch for any child diabetes symptom that may indicate the presence of the disease in your child.
If you see your child drinking water more than his/her normal intake, do not jump to restrict it; instead take your child to a doctor for getting diagnosed.
In case you restrict your child s water intake and in the likely event of your child suffering from diabetes, your child may get dehydrated quickly due to the excess urination, a resultant sign of diabetes again.
The classic and the important child diabetes symptom that one could see is that the ever-playful child will throw a tired picture majority of the time.
Children are always playful and never bother about exertion where as the child who suffer from diabetes may show a sign of restraint and look tired always. This child diabetes symptom coupled with frequent urination and heavy water intake is a sure symptom of presence of diabetes in your child.
Of course, whether you have noticed the child diabetes symptom or symptoms correctly or not, it is always better to get your child s blood tested first for confirming the disease. You cannot just decide about your child s diabetes disease haphazardly and need to take the blood test, which is the only available clinical test today to identify diabetes.
When you see your child feeling thirsty always you may be even tempted to believe that the same is due to hunger and you may fail to identify the sign as a child diabetes symptom.
However, if your child feel hungry and thirsty always, then you should not ignore the signs and try to get child s blood tested. Sometimes, despite your child s hunger and eating more, your child may lose weight over a period of time and this also should not be ignored at any cost.
You should learn to read each and every child diabetes symptom correctly and interpret in order to identify whether your child is really affected with diabetes or not. Diabetes is one disease that has to be treated immediately and the patient should take a high level of precautionary measures to reduce the effects of the disease.
Technorati Tags: Diabetes, Diabetes Symptoms
