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MatthewRoach7

Juvenile Diabetes - Type 1

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Hello Friends! What a ruff couple of weeks it has been. My 2 1/2 year old son got sick with what we thought was the bug and started loosing weight. After he lost 5 lbs in 2 days and could not keep anything down we took him to the ER. To make a long story short it was not the bug it was because his blood sugar was so high. Turns out he has Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes and will be insulin dependent for the rest of his life. Just wanted to reach out to you all and see if any one has gone through this with a child or has this themselves? Any tips or advice would be great.

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My brother has Diabetes...but he was diagnosed when he was much older. I'm not sure if it would be easier or harder at a younger age....easier in that...he is still learning so much that this can more easily be made part of his daily routine now...whereas as 15 or 16 as my brother was...you kind of have to re-learn routines and diet and things.

Just make sure that you know everything you need to know and can spot the signs of high/low blood sugar. I remember my Mom telling me about my brother ( I was out of the house by the time he was diagnosed). He didn't want to get up one morning...just seemed tired and drained...mom brought him some juice, thinking he just needed a quick boost to get his sugar back up... and he just snapped. Smacked the juice out of her hand and flipped his bed over...kicked a hole in the wall and then collapsed. I'm sure this is a very extreme situation, but just be aware of what can happen.

I know it's hard now...but try to keep a sense of humour. I remember my brother counting holes in his finger from pin pricks. After a couple days he said "I guess if I have to do this 3 or 4 times a day for the rest of my life...I can stop counting"

Over time, he'll manage and learn and so will you. I believe my brother (mind you, he's 30 now) rarely checks his blood more than once a day. He can tell when he's up or down...grabs a snack when needed and uses insulin when he needs to. He has a healthy baby boy and, as far as I know, has no other complications from it.

It's part of him...but doesn't have to define him: If it helps...there are lots of Pro Athletes with Diabetes, so stories of people dealing with it and succeeding dispite of it are easy to come by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sportspeople_with_diabetes

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My brother's friend was diagnosed in his early teens. It was weird for him at first but some 30 years later he's your average happy, healthy family man.

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We have a new guy at work who I noticed was wearing an insulin pump, so I asked him and he said he was diagnosed at a young age (much like your son). Here's a direct quote:

"It may be a chore to keep an eye on my blood sugar, but honestly, I don't know it any other way so it doesn't bother me".

Teach him good habits while he's young and he will be just fine. Good luck to you and I hope this can ease a little of your worry!

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