Diabetes

The twelve o'clock lunch bell sounds in a high pitch but is quickly drowned out by the 4th grade students getting out of their desk and hustling to the front of the class room talking loudly about what they are going to do at recess. As the students file out of the classroom one young boy remains standing at the teacher's desk. His name is Jack. As he waits impatiently for his teacher, he rips off the Harry Potter band-aid on his left hand middle finger tosses it in the garbage and says "Score!" His teacher finally walks back into the classroom and ushers him out the door and they head down the hallway. This has been Jack's routine everyday since he has been in elementary school. His teacher drops him off at the nurse's office and they part ways for lunch. Although Jack only spends a few minutes in the nurse's office, it seems like hours everyday. He is always late to lunch never getting to pick who he sits next to because Jack has diabetes. Everyday when Jack is at school he has to go to the nurse's office before lunch to check his blood sugar and to give himself an insulin shot. Some days when he is not feeling well he has to go up to the teacher in the middle of class and ask her for a candy bar or go to go to the nurse. While most of the other students do not understand why Jack gets candy from his teacher or is allowed to go to the nurse so often, Jack knows that having to eat a candy bar in front of his classmate is not fun at all. Jack does not like having diabetes, but after having it for 7 years of having it, he knows that it is part of his life, and it is what makes him unique. Much like Jack more than 125,000 American children have a similar lifestyle of being a Type I diabetic (MacDougall n.p.).

The scientific name for diabetes is Diabetes Mellitus Diabetes is a chronic disease that both adults and children can get at anytime. In simplest terms diabetes is disease that does not allow your body to use the foods that you consume for energy. Energy is something that is needed in everything that humans do from thinking to sleeping. Humans get their energy from the various foods that they ingest, which are eventually broken down in the digestive system. After food is broken down insulin is used to convert the food to energy. People with diabetes do not have enough insulin or their body does not use their insulin correctly; therefore diabetics can not get any or enough energy without the help of insulin.

An estimated 10.3 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, and an additional 5.4 million are estimated to have the disease unknowingly (Jefferson n.p.). The two types of diabetes that are most common are Type I and Type II diabetes. Type I diabetes is commonly found in children and young adults, whereas Type II is more common in older adults. But there are cases where children get Type II and adults get type I. Although Type II is more common, this paper will discuss how Type I diabetes effects children.

Type I diabetes is an extremely serious disease because it makes individuals dependent on insulin to survive. Only a slim percentage of the estimated total of individuals with diabetes have Type I diabetes, 1.7 million people (MacDougall n.p.). Type I diabetes is a very serious disease that needs to be treated correctly and promptly to obtain a healthy lifestyle. "Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas" (MacDougall n.p.). A person's body who is a Type I diabetic does not allow the body to produce insulin which is required to use the sugars from the foods they eat. In particular, insulin is required for the body to use glucose which is found in most foods as a simple sugar after it is broken down in the digestive system. Without insulin a body cannot absorb these essential sugars which are necessary to live. If a body does not have insulin it will starve to death (MacDougall n.p.). That is why people with Type I diabetes must inject themselves with insulin, so they can obtain a normal, healthy life.

As it was stated before, more that 125,000 children in the United States have Type I diabetes, and 13,000 additional cases are found each year. That is an average of 35 children being diagnosed daily! (Type I... n.p.). Formerly called Juvenile Diabetes, Type I diabetes strikes children suddenly. It is unknown of its exact cause(s) but scientists believe that children diagnosed with the disease have a genetic predisposition to it and they believe that environmental triggers factor in also (MacDougal n.p.). When a child is diagnosed with diabetes there are often very clear signs leading to the diagnostic from classic symptoms: excessive thirst, excessive urination, excessive hunger, weight loss, fatigue, fatigue, blurred vision, high blood sugar level, and sugar in the urine (Kids... n.p.). These are serious symptoms, which need to be taken seriously, and a child with any of these symptoms needs to see a physician right away. Often when a child is diagnosed with diabetes it is extremely hard to explain to why or how they obtained the disease. It is crucial to explain what diabetes is and how it is going to be another important aspect of their life, even to a child who is only at the tender age of two. Diabetes, being a lifelong disease, is something that the child will be dealing with on a daily basis, multiple times a day, for the rest of their life.

The first step to enjoying a normal life for a child with diabetes is developing a nutritional plan. Developing a plan consist of many different thing that will ensure a happy and healthy life. Before making the actual plan, the most important is to educate the child and family all together. It is essential to educate the family as well as the diabetic because this is going to be a lifestyle change for everyone. Family, being the core of the child's life is their main source of support. Not only will the family aid in supporting the child in difficult times but they also serve as extra eyes and senses for the child. Since most Type I diabetics are diagnosed at an early age, it is not always easy for a child to deal with adjustments of having the disease. Also, many young children are not capable of monitoring themselves when it comes to eating, their blood sugar, and how they are feeling so family members serve as an extra pair of eyes to look for specific symptoms such as: fatigue, signs of fuzzy eyesight, and grumpiness. (Kids... n.p.). These are just a few of the common symptoms that diabetics face when their blood sugar is not normal. Often diabetics also have their own personal signs of when they are not doing well that family members can also look out for. Education of diabetes is a never ending ordeal, so until there is a cure it is important that everyone be open to learning more about the disease as the child's