Some precautions are essential to maintain health and prevent the disease from getting worse.
Diabetes is a chronic disease, still without a cure. Diagnosis in childhood usually causes fear in children and parents, who have to face a disease that will last a lifetime. The best way to live with the problem is with the help of suitable professionals, healthy eating and general improvement in quality of life.
“Diabetes is characterized by an insufficient production of insulin by the pancreas, resulting from an autoimmune destruction. The defense cells that the body produces to destroy invaders (viruses and bacteria) recognize our cells as aggressive and, with that, there is their destruction”, explains endocrinologist Dr. Paula Pessin Fabrega.
Symptoms and consequences of the disease in children
Parents should be aware of the first symptoms, as delay in diagnosis can cause serious damage to the child’s health. “When the diagnosis is not made at the first symptoms, people with diabetes type 1 can even go into a coma, that is, lose consciousness, an emergency and serious situation”, warns Dr. Paula Pessin Fabrega.
The endocrinologist explains that some children may open the picture with a severe decompensation of diabetes and, in this case, hospitalization in the ICU – Intensive Care Unit is usually required. The disease, at this stage, can be characterized by symptoms such as:
- Nausea;
- Abdominal pain;
- Dehydration;
- Somnolence;
- Faster breathing cycles.
In other cases, symptoms can be more insidious, such as:
- Weight loss;
- Increased thirst and hunger;
- Increased urinary volume;
- Tiredness;
- Visual clouding and frequent infections.
Adaptation to the new reality
Along with the diagnosis comes the difficulty in dealing with the new situation that the child will have to face, as continuous medical follow-up and changes in food. “Type 1 diabetes is characterized by the failure of insulin production by the pancreas, so the treatment is done with insulin applications, usually one slow and one fast, requiring at least three applications a day”, explains the endocrinologist.
How to make children’s lives better
Some treatments help to improve comfort and children’s welfare. “Diabetes control is easier and more comfortable with more modern insulins, smaller needles, smaller blood glucose measuring devices and a greater variety of foods suitable for diabetics”, analyzes the endocrinologist.
food care
The variety of foods for diabetics greatly improves the lives of children, but families need to be aware, as an imbalance in food can bring serious problems to the treatment. “If the ingestion of sugars is higher than the insulin dose applied, hyperglycemia will occur, which in addition to presenting several symptoms, increases the risk of vascular accidents and, in the case of carbohydrate intake lower than the insulin dose applied, hypoglycemia will occur, which may evolve to a state of coma”, reports pediatrician Dr. Sylvio Renan Monteiro de Barros, from MBA Pediatrics.
Importance of establishing new habits
From the moment a child is diagnosed with diabetes, a nutritional education and the support of the whole family. “Daily food intake must be disciplined, divided into several meals, adjusted to the practice of exercises and the insulinization or oral antidiabetic regimen, in order to prevent excessive consumption of food at meals and prolonged fasting”, says nutritionist Natália Nicolau Villa, graduated from Centro Universitário São Camilo.
Source: Maxima
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