Archive for 'Diabetes'
LIVING WITH DIABETES: MANAGING DISEASE IN CHILDREN
The child with diabetes passes copious urine and has to drink more
Naturally a child who is producing so much urine will need to drink more to replace the water lost, so the child with diabetes will become thirsty and drink large amounts of water and other fluids. Without treatment he may reach the stage where he cannot drink enough fluids to replace the losses, and his body may thus become depleted of water or ‘dehydrated’.
Body fat is used up excessively
In addition to the problem of glucose mounting in the blood, with consequent excessive production of urine, thirst and drinking, there is another consequence of insufficient insulin. As the body cells cannot rely on glucose for fuel, they may use fat instead. With the wastage of glucose in the urine and the burning up of body fat by the cells, the child with diabetes will of course tend to lose weight. Moreover, the large-scale burning of fat is harmful, and leads to accumulation of toxic products which also mount up in the blood, and make the untreated child with diabetes feel ill.
The toxic substances are called ketones, and the illness caused by their accumulation in the blood is called ketosis or ketoacidosis. Ketosis, if it should develop, makes the child drowsy, and eventually he may become unconscious, or go into a coma. It also leads to nausea, and later vomiting. He may develop a sickly sweet smell in his breath which is due to the ketones. They also appear in urine, and can be detected by testing for them.
Other problems may also arise in the untreated or uncontrolled person with diabetes. His resistance to infections and injury may be reduced, and skin or other infections may develop or be hard to clear up. Injuries may take longer to heal.
Of course, how sick a child with diabetes may get depends on how quickly his condition can be diagnosed, and treatment begun. Some children develop illness from their diabetes very much more rapidly than others, and these children may become very ill before anyone has suspected the cause. Once a child is known to have diabetes, however, it should be possible to prevent him from becoming sick in this way again.
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