Juvenile Diabetes- Early Symptoms
July 20, 2009 by Christine Smith
Filed under Awareness & Hope
As a parent, you’ll never forget the day your child is first diagnosed with a disease that affects him for the rest of his life. In September 2001, a few weeks before the 9/11 attacks, my two year old nephew was diagnosed with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes.
Just a few days before his diagnosis, my sister called me with concerns about her sons health. Lizard Boy (he asked me to use this as his nickname) was a small toddler with a limited vocabulary. His Mom observed that he was sleeping more and more during the day, and was constantly asking her to carry him or pick him up. It was difficult for a two-year-old child to describe what was happening to him other than express “Tired.” As the family researcher, I looked up some medical websites on the internet, called her back and suggested she take him to the pediatrician for a diabetes evaluation.
That same week on a Friday evening, Lizard Boy was attending a children’s birthday party. Two Emergency Medial Technicians (EMT) were also attending the party with their child. They observed my nephew being carried and his low energy and asked my sister “Do you mind if we evaluate him, he looks like he might be sick.”
Now I’m crying because right after that my sister calls me with terror “Chris, I’m following behind an ambulance. Lizard Boy is seriously sick and we’re going to the Emergency Room. I’m terrified something is seriously wrong. He could have diabetes”
Hours later, I received another phone call from my sister. “They’re transporting him to Childrens Hospital in Oakland. They said he could have diabetes and is almost in a coma. If the EMT’s were not at the party, he would have died.” She cried and I cried and we just kept going forward.
My first thought was “here we go again Lord. It’s happening again.” My husband was still recovering from his near death illness just three months before this. I was 8 months pregnant and another person I loved was now going into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). I resisted the temptation to panic or crawl into a safe warm bed, and instead looked for ways I could be useful to my family.
I quickly prepared a backpack for my sister and her son. I scrambled around my home for some children’s books, snacks for my sister, money for the hospital cafeteria, notepaper and pen, and a baby blanket that I had waiting for my newborn child. My 3 year old daughter tucked one of her stuffed animals inside. I arrived at the emergency room with these things and was allowed a brief visit just to deliver the backpack and a warm hug to my sister.
Driving home from the hospital, overflowing pregnancy hormones and my husband’s own recovery from ITP sent me into a wailing fit of tears that never seemed to end.
My precious nephew probably had Diabetes and though I did not know much about it at the time, I knew it was really bad. I also knew we had a family history of diabetes, though everyone was diagnosed as an adult.
For the next two weeks, my nephew stayed at Childrens Hospital with both his Mom and Dad while he was treated for Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes.
Juvenile Diabetes Symptoms
Type 1 diabetes happens most often in children and young adults but can appear at any age. Symptoms may include
- Being very thirsty
- Urinating often
- Feeling very hungry or tired
- Losing weight without trying
- Having sores that heal slowly
- Having dry, itchy skin
- Losing the feeling in your feet or having tingling in your feet
- Having blurry eyesight
A blood test can show if you have diabetes. If you do, you will need to take insulin for the rest of your life.
Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Juvenile Diabetes Resources
For more information about symptoms of Juvenile Diabetes, please visit the US National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
The author of this article is not a member of the medical community and not qualified to assist or diagnose any medical condition.
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Juvenile Diabetes- First Two Weeks After Diagnosis
Author Note: this first post was very difficult to write as it reminds me of a painful year in my life. In 2001 my dog died, a month later my husband had a rare blood disease and almost died, a month later my nephew had Type 2 Diabetes and then we had the terror attacks. More tomorrow, thank you for reading my story.
Hi! My family has a history of diabetes, also. All of the females become diabetic in adulthood. Now we have a trend of Juvenile diabetes in our children. My niece was the first to be diagnosed at 9 years old. And my son (5) has pre diabetes signs that the doctors are watching. One of the signs I was unaware of is a discoloration in the arm pits. Thank You for sharing your story.
Thank you for the comment Cynthia. My youngest daughter makes me nervous and she’s been tested twice. We now have the “numbing cream” prescribed by her doctor before she gets a blood test. When she had the flu last year, she was so ill the advice nurse told me to take her to the ER. Instead, I gave her a glucose tablet and 5 minutes later she was her normal self. When she had mono in First grade this year, we tested her again.