Myths Surrounding Type-1 Diabetes

Source : www.jdrf.org.au

As you would expect for a disease that has been around for several thousand years, there are plenty of myths about diabetes. Some of them have a tiny bit of truth to them, so they keep being passed around. Unfortunately, thanks to the Internet, a myth can pop up on 10 million computer screens in two hours. But just because so many diabetes myths have been heard and read about doesn't make them true. Diabetologists over the world have compiled some myths and busted big time.

1. Diabetes is sometimes called "the Silent Disease," but that nickname just isn't true. T1DM actually has plenty of symptoms. Some of the symptoms that children complain of early in the disease include:

• Increased urination
• Increased thirst
• Dry skin
• Fatigue
• Blurry vision
• Irritability
• Extreme hunger
• Eating without weight gain
• Unexpected and unusual weight loss

These symptoms aren't severe, so they often go unnoticed by parents and caretakers. Put simply, it's hard to accept the fact that there's something seriously wrong with your 10-year-old. However, with so much emphasis on diabetes in general because of the huge increase in cases of T2DM, people are more aware of a diabetes diagnosis and are having their children checked earlier, long before they reach the stage of complete lack of insulin and ketoacidosis.

1. Parents of children with T1DM would love for their children's disease to be called by another name so it isn't confused with type-2 diabetes (or T2DM). Although T1DM and T2DM share some of the same characteristics, they are hardly the same disease. They differ in the following ways:

• The cause of T1DM is a genetic tendency plus a virus. The cause of T2DM is heredity plus obesity plus a sedentary lifestyle.
• Patients with T1DM have an absolute lack of insulin when the disease strikes. Patients with T2DM may actually have too much measurable insulin when the disease strikes; they have insulin resistance.
• Most cases of T1DM occur in childhood. Most cases of T2DM occur after age 35.
• T2DM can be controlled with diet and exercise alone. T1DM can't be controlled in that way.
• Diabetic ketoacidosis is often the first complaint in T1DM. It doesn't occur in patients with T2DM.
• Most patients with T1DM are thin. Patients with T2DM are generally (but not always) fat.

1. Before 1921, people believed there was nothing that could force glucose into the cells of the body where insulin was required, so the treatment was the elimination of all carbohydrates. The reasoning was that, if a patient didn't consume carbohydrates, then the blood glucose couldn't rise to the high levels that resulted in excessive urination, thirst, confusion, coma, and death. That approach worked for a time, but the liver is fully capable of making glucose from protein despite the fact that the glucose can't get into liver cells to be stored as glycogen once it's made. Today, there are probably more types of insulin available than are needed. A little injected insulin can take care of lots of sugar or other carbohydrates.
2. With T1DM, there's no advantage to eating special diabetic foods. It's difficult enough to deal with all the requirements for good diabetes care to have to eat boring tasteless foods! Food is one of life's great pleasures, and your child can have excellent glucose control with regular food so long as you account for the carbohydrate in it.

Show your child that he can eat delicious meals and still follow his nutritional plan. Prepare meals that the whole family can eat. With food this good, there's no reason that everyone in the family shouldn't eat the same meals as your child with T1DM.

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