Diabetes in the Very Young

Fortunately the same diabetes symptoms that occur in older children and adults are the ones that are present in children too young to speak or describe why they aren’t feeling well. This is why as parents we need to be vigilant about any symptom that may trigger a red flag.

If your child has an inordinate amount of wet diapers or a diaper rash that just doesn’t seem to go away with standard treatment and keeps recurring, if your child is more hungry or thirsty than usual or seems more fussy and unable to settle themselves and if they sleep more than they usually do, these could be diabetes symptoms.

By themselves they seem innocuous; however, those parents who take their child to the doctor just be on the safe side will be very thankful that they did. Your pediatrician will have your child see a pediatric endocrinologist.

There are many diabetes supplies to help manage your child’s diabetes. The most important will be the glucose monitor to help you identify when your child’s blood sugars become too high or too low. There are different types of monitors and meters so you will have to find one that works best for your child.

Your job is going to be to find that balance each day, before and after every meal. Enlist the help of a nutritionist to find meals and snacks with a low glycemic index. Together with your pediatrician and your endocrinologist, you will be formulating a team of support to help with your child’s treatments and finding new ways to incorporate these changes into your family’s new way of life.

A Short Guide to Selecting Glucose Monitors for Diabetes Control

Glucose monitors are a mainstay of the treatment regimen for anyone with diabetes.  Glucose monitors can differ greatly in form, but they all share a universal function–to measure the amount of glucose in the blood. Most glucose monitors utilize a test strip that contains chemicals that react to the blood in predictable ways that vary according to blood glucose concentration.  This reaction can be measured electronically by glucose monitors to obtain a value for blood glucose concentration. While all approved blood glucose monitors are highly reliable, there are a number of differences in terms of weight, appearance, testing speed, testing convenience, and other factors that are important to diabetics. Remember that the need to test blood glucose levels is the single most important facet of diabetes control, so it is worth while to do some research before selecting glucose monitors.

One important component to consider when looking at the features of different glucose monitors is the size and ease of use of the glucose monitors. The monitor should be large enough to be easily used yet should be small enough to easily carry on your person. The actual optimum size will clearly vary by individual, so it is impossible to make a sweeping recommendation on the best size of glucose monitors. If possible, look at glucose monitors that require the least number of steps possible. Many glucose monitors can give consistent results after only a couple of steps, whereas others can be quite complicated to operate. Glucose monitors that are easy to use and operate have less of an impact on the patient’s life.

When shopping for glucose monitors, the diabetes patient should evaluate the quality of the glucose monitor’s display. A display that is difficult to read is clearly more difficult to use than other glucose monitors but, more importantly, a display that is difficult to read increases the likelihood of errors which could result in compromised treatment. Display quality is of particular importance to those who suffer from some of the eye difficulties that are a common side effect of diabetes. It is preferable to use glucose monitors that are backlit rather than using a dimmer front lit display. A backlit display is much easier to read in poorly lit areas.

For those who are considering using a form of continuous insulin delivery such as an insulin pump, the ability to keep track of historical glucose levels is vital. Many glucose monitors will save results for a week or more, but more data is needed to create the sort of base line that one would like to have when using automated insulin injection systems.  For those who are familiar with basic computer accounting and/or charting software (think of spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel), some of the higher end glucose monitors offer the ability to interface with a computer (typically via universal serial bus (USB) connections) and download the results which can then be charted and shared with your physician.