“How to help a child with type 1 diabetes?”
My son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. What are the best resources for him?
3 Answers
The best resource is to have a health diabetic team with a pediatric endocrinologist, nutritionist, diabetes educator, and counselor.
Type 1 diabetes is the commonest metabolic disorder and the second commonest chronic disease of childhood. About 90% of type 1 diabetes (type A) is an autoimmune disease were as the 10% is idiopathic type 1 diabetes (type B). There are about 200,000 children with type 1 diabetes in America. It is increasing by about 3% annually. It will triple in the next 30 years to 600,000 children in America, with an incidence rate of about 20,000 newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes children in America.
Type 1 diabetes is a constand challenge that reguires balancing of insulin injections, physical activity and food consumption especialy the carbohydrates. Even under best circustances blood sugar levels can out of the desired range. Even though this may lead to frustration, you can still find success by balancing your insulin needs, and adhering to your daily exercise routine and meal plan.
Once type 1 diabetes shows up in your life, overcome the challenges by seeking help from any one who is in a position to help. The following are some of the resources.
1) Your family; you need them for support
2) Caregivers; You will need them for support and help you manage the diabetes at least untill you are comfortable to manage the diabetes on your oun.
3) Any one who lives with type 1 diabetes with good experience and who is willing to help.
4) Your Doctor. feel free to ask the doctor of his diabetes staff to get all the resources you want. The team will be very helpful not only to educate you but to give you enough resources.
5) Your diabetes educators. The diabetes educators will be very helpful not only for education but also to guide you where to get the resources.
6) Dieticians: They will guide you about nutritional resources better than any one.
7) Look on online diabetes educational materials and resources such as the websites by various diabetes centers in America Including the Joseline diabetes center, Barbra Davis diabetes center, stanford diabetes center, UCSF diabetes center and many other centers..
8) American Diabetes Association type 1 resources page.
9) NIH clincal tools and patient education resources.
10) Juvenile diabetes resources center
12) Type 1 diabetes TrialNet; These people conduct prevention studies.
Type 1 diabetes is a life long disease until a cure is discovered. It should be managed well with insulin diet and regular physical activity.
Good luck
Type 1 diabetes is a constand challenge that reguires balancing of insulin injections, physical activity and food consumption especialy the carbohydrates. Even under best circustances blood sugar levels can out of the desired range. Even though this may lead to frustration, you can still find success by balancing your insulin needs, and adhering to your daily exercise routine and meal plan.
Once type 1 diabetes shows up in your life, overcome the challenges by seeking help from any one who is in a position to help. The following are some of the resources.
1) Your family; you need them for support
2) Caregivers; You will need them for support and help you manage the diabetes at least untill you are comfortable to manage the diabetes on your oun.
3) Any one who lives with type 1 diabetes with good experience and who is willing to help.
4) Your Doctor. feel free to ask the doctor of his diabetes staff to get all the resources you want. The team will be very helpful not only to educate you but to give you enough resources.
5) Your diabetes educators. The diabetes educators will be very helpful not only for education but also to guide you where to get the resources.
6) Dieticians: They will guide you about nutritional resources better than any one.
7) Look on online diabetes educational materials and resources such as the websites by various diabetes centers in America Including the Joseline diabetes center, Barbra Davis diabetes center, stanford diabetes center, UCSF diabetes center and many other centers..
8) American Diabetes Association type 1 resources page.
9) NIH clincal tools and patient education resources.
10) Juvenile diabetes resources center
12) Type 1 diabetes TrialNet; These people conduct prevention studies.
Type 1 diabetes is a life long disease until a cure is discovered. It should be managed well with insulin diet and regular physical activity.
Good luck
I'll try to answer it in general terms. 1) Get him under the care of a pediatric endocrinologist who is well trained in diabetes care of children. 2) See a dietician to learn the best diet for him & how to calculate his insulin based on how much he eats (especially carbohydrates). 3) Find a diabetes education class & you & his father attend the class to learn all you can about diabetes. Take him to class with you if he is old enough. 4) Join a diabetes support group of parents who have children with diabetes for mutual support.
I hope this helps & good luck, your son's life depends upon good diabetic control, so use all the resources you can find. Also, contact the American Diabetes Association. They have a lot of resources to help you, some of which I helped to write.
All the best.
I hope this helps & good luck, your son's life depends upon good diabetic control, so use all the resources you can find. Also, contact the American Diabetes Association. They have a lot of resources to help you, some of which I helped to write.
All the best.
