or get rid of it if she loses weight?
Um...no!
If I had a *penny* for every time I have heard either of those two questions I'd be a rich woman.
There are 2 *main* types of diabetes; Type 1 and Type 2. There are other types, but these are the two main ones that the majority of people think of when they hear the word diabetes. Actually, most people think of Type 2 (or Adult Onset) which is why we get the two above questions.
Every 24 hours in the United States, there are 4230 people diagnosed with diabetes. Roughly 40 of those are Type 1, or less than 1%!
The American Diabetes Association has this to say about Type 2 diabetes:
In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use glucose for energy. When you eat food, the body breaks down all of the sugars and starches into glucose, which is the basic fuel for the cells in the body. Insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells.
In contrast, they say this about Type 1 (juvenile onset) diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar (glucose), starches and other food into energy needed for daily life.
**********************************************************************************************
Insulin is REQUIRED for life. In Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas still produces insulin, but either the body is not able to use it, the body is resistant to it, or the pancreas does not produce *enough* insulin, so the glucose levels remain high in the blood stream. Diet & exercise are both able to control Type 2 diabetes to a great extent. Some times people have to go on oral medications that allow the body to use the insulin it produces. Sometimes, when not enough insulin is produced or the body is resistant to insulin, injections need to be given. In the majority of cases, weight loss alone CAN reverse the disease.
In Type 1 diabetes, because of an auto-immune reaction (I'll discuss the auto-immune process in a later blog entry), the pancreas no longer produces insulin at all. None. With no insulin at all, life ceases to exist. The amount of time for death to occur once the pancreas no longer produces any insulin at all varies from a few hours to a few days. But death is inevitable. The only thing that can buy a person time with the absence of insulin would be a diet with ZERO carbohydrates (no sugar, vegetables, grains). A diet such as this, in and of itself, would eventually lead to death through starvation.
I am very thankful for synthetic insulin because without it my daughter would be dead. Insulin is NOT a cure, it is life support. Her pancreas is still broken. She will always have Type 1 diabetes. But synthetic insulin keeps her alive daily and for that I am very, very grateful.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Start at the very beginning...
that's a very good place to start.
December 10, 2008
I was about 14 weeks pregnant with our 6th baby. I had had blood sugar issues in a previous pregnancy so I wanted to start monitoring my blood sugar levels early on this time around. I got my meter out and checked myself and decided that the next day I would check all of the kids too. We have a family history of Type 1 diabetes, so it (having a diabetic child) was always in the back of my mind as a possibility. So every once in a while, maybe once a year, I'd check the kids. I decided to make the next day THAT day.
We got up the next morning (December 10, 2008) and went about our morning as usual. Breakfast, school work, fun. Then we had lunch. 2 hours after lunch is when I decided to bring out the meter and poker and check the kids blood sugar. NO ONE wanted to do it, lol. The poker scared them, and I don't blame them. But this is something I was insisting that we do. Finally I got the kids lined up youngest to oldest. I figured if the littles could do this without screaming, then surely the older two would be great at it. Wrong.
Thing 5 went first and she did great and her number was perfect. Thing 4 was next and he did great and his number was perfect. Thing 3 went and same as the above. Thing 2's turn. He did not do great. He started screaming and crying and doing everything humanly possible to get out of this. Even though he had just seen 3 littler kids do this without a tear and he was a big 8 1/2 year old boy. Finally I got the drama to settle a bit and I poked his finger. His blood sugar was fine.
Thing 1 was last. She was really hesitant but just wanted to get it over and done with. So I poked her finger and brought that little drop closer to the end of the strip that would suck it up and tell me how much sugar was in her blood.
Normal blood sugar 2 hours after a meal should be LESS than 140.
Thing 1's blood sugar was 539. I panicked, but remained calm enough to tell her to hurridly wash her hands with soap and water. She came back and we went through this again. I was hoping beyond all hope that she had had the remnants of pancake syrup or had dipped her hands in kool-aid or something. Anything that would have meant that 539 was a completely false reading.
I poked her finger and brought that tiny, life changing drop of blood to the end of the strip. We waited 5 seconds that seemed like an eternity. 527.
I dropped everything and went for the phone. I called the nurse at our pediatrician's office and told her what was going on. She said to bring Thing 1 in in the morning for a fasting BS test. I half laughed, half cried and told her NO, she needs to be seen NOW. So we made an appointment for 4:30 that afternoon. I hung up. And I called my mother.
Daddy answered the phone and all I said was "Hi daddy, I need to talk to mom". He handed her the phone. I asked her if using strips that were expired by 2 months would have given a discrepancy in readings. She said probably not and asked me why. So I started bawling (remember too that I was dealing with pregnancy hormones) while I told her the story of the last half hour. The first thing she said to me was, "honey, don't panic". And I cried some more.
You see, my little sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 5 years old. I KNEW what this would mean for my daughter. My mother KNEW what this would mean for my daughter. I have never asked her, but I bet that after we hung up the phone, my mom probably cried too.
So we loaded the kids up in the suburban and headed to WW. On the way we stopped at a pharmacy and bought a small vial of brand new strips and I retested her. 411. So it wasn't the strips. This was really happening.
We got to the doctor and the nurse used the same type of meter that we had and in the office Thing 1's blood sugar was 416. So at that moment, they were confirming what I had known for a few hours. My first born child, my eldest daughter, had Type 1 diabetes.
A few more blood tests also confirmed. Her Hba1c was 9.9%. The lab's blood glucose reading was 516.
We needed to be transferred to a children's hospital and we had 2 choices. Spokane, WA or Portland, OR. Both were at least 4 hours from home and she would have to go every 3 months for the rest of her life. There are no endocrinologists where we live. We chose Portland because we have family close by.
We got to the hospital at 1:30 in the morning and were checked in just a short time later. And that is where the "fun" began. I'll save that for another day. Time to go check on my daughter.
blood sugar is still high at 329, but no ketones! yay! I also did a temp basal to raise her basal by 10% over the next 4 hours. I've not tried that before, but hopefully it helps. I really need to get some sleep as we're supposed to have a big day tomorrow.
Good night & God bless--
D's Night Time Angel
December 10, 2008
I was about 14 weeks pregnant with our 6th baby. I had had blood sugar issues in a previous pregnancy so I wanted to start monitoring my blood sugar levels early on this time around. I got my meter out and checked myself and decided that the next day I would check all of the kids too. We have a family history of Type 1 diabetes, so it (having a diabetic child) was always in the back of my mind as a possibility. So every once in a while, maybe once a year, I'd check the kids. I decided to make the next day THAT day.
We got up the next morning (December 10, 2008) and went about our morning as usual. Breakfast, school work, fun. Then we had lunch. 2 hours after lunch is when I decided to bring out the meter and poker and check the kids blood sugar. NO ONE wanted to do it, lol. The poker scared them, and I don't blame them. But this is something I was insisting that we do. Finally I got the kids lined up youngest to oldest. I figured if the littles could do this without screaming, then surely the older two would be great at it. Wrong.
Thing 5 went first and she did great and her number was perfect. Thing 4 was next and he did great and his number was perfect. Thing 3 went and same as the above. Thing 2's turn. He did not do great. He started screaming and crying and doing everything humanly possible to get out of this. Even though he had just seen 3 littler kids do this without a tear and he was a big 8 1/2 year old boy. Finally I got the drama to settle a bit and I poked his finger. His blood sugar was fine.
Thing 1 was last. She was really hesitant but just wanted to get it over and done with. So I poked her finger and brought that little drop closer to the end of the strip that would suck it up and tell me how much sugar was in her blood.
Normal blood sugar 2 hours after a meal should be LESS than 140.
Thing 1's blood sugar was 539. I panicked, but remained calm enough to tell her to hurridly wash her hands with soap and water. She came back and we went through this again. I was hoping beyond all hope that she had had the remnants of pancake syrup or had dipped her hands in kool-aid or something. Anything that would have meant that 539 was a completely false reading.
I poked her finger and brought that tiny, life changing drop of blood to the end of the strip. We waited 5 seconds that seemed like an eternity. 527.
I dropped everything and went for the phone. I called the nurse at our pediatrician's office and told her what was going on. She said to bring Thing 1 in in the morning for a fasting BS test. I half laughed, half cried and told her NO, she needs to be seen NOW. So we made an appointment for 4:30 that afternoon. I hung up. And I called my mother.
Daddy answered the phone and all I said was "Hi daddy, I need to talk to mom". He handed her the phone. I asked her if using strips that were expired by 2 months would have given a discrepancy in readings. She said probably not and asked me why. So I started bawling (remember too that I was dealing with pregnancy hormones) while I told her the story of the last half hour. The first thing she said to me was, "honey, don't panic". And I cried some more.
You see, my little sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 5 years old. I KNEW what this would mean for my daughter. My mother KNEW what this would mean for my daughter. I have never asked her, but I bet that after we hung up the phone, my mom probably cried too.
So we loaded the kids up in the suburban and headed to WW. On the way we stopped at a pharmacy and bought a small vial of brand new strips and I retested her. 411. So it wasn't the strips. This was really happening.
We got to the doctor and the nurse used the same type of meter that we had and in the office Thing 1's blood sugar was 416. So at that moment, they were confirming what I had known for a few hours. My first born child, my eldest daughter, had Type 1 diabetes.
A few more blood tests also confirmed. Her Hba1c was 9.9%. The lab's blood glucose reading was 516.
We needed to be transferred to a children's hospital and we had 2 choices. Spokane, WA or Portland, OR. Both were at least 4 hours from home and she would have to go every 3 months for the rest of her life. There are no endocrinologists where we live. We chose Portland because we have family close by.
We got to the hospital at 1:30 in the morning and were checked in just a short time later. And that is where the "fun" began. I'll save that for another day. Time to go check on my daughter.
blood sugar is still high at 329, but no ketones! yay! I also did a temp basal to raise her basal by 10% over the next 4 hours. I've not tried that before, but hopefully it helps. I really need to get some sleep as we're supposed to have a big day tomorrow.
Good night & God bless--
D's Night Time Angel
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