Can a child have diabetes?

O yeah, diabetes can occur at any stage of life. The type of diabetes that occur in children is called type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes.
 After asthma, diabetes is the second most common chronic disease in children- American Diabetes Association.

Photo: Know your blood glucose level campaign, April 2011 at Akwanga, Nasarawa State, Nigeria.

People with type 1 diabetes are unable to produce insulin (the substances that unlocks the body cells so they can take up glucose from the blood stream), therefore glucose pile up in the blood, causing diabetes.

Symptoms
1. Extreme thirst
2. Extreme hunger
3. Blurred vision
4. Frequent urination
5. Tiredness

 Causes
Scientists are of the opinion that the cause of this lack of insulin is because, for some unknown reasons, the body's immune system in these patients sees the cells (islets of Langerhans in the pancrease) where insulin is produced as foreign body and begin to destroy it, this destruction may take months or years.

Risk factors include:
1. Family history and gene
2. Drugs and chemicals
3. Viruses
4. Race and ethnicity
5. Auto antibodies

Management
Most kids just like adults are not diagnosed early, some even go into coma as a result of very high glucose levels.
People with type 1 diabetes usually get very ill if their diabetes are not well managed.
Management, unlike type 2 depends largely on insulin therapy. Exercise and nutrition also compliments the insulin here.

Contrarily to type 2, juvenile diabetes cannot be prevented. If your child is having any symptoms of diabetes, in addition to the regular malaria and typhoid test in hospitals, let him or her take a #bloodglucosetest, it helps.