At the close of world diabetes awareness day, I hope that you have learned something from one of my posts. Im not looking for sympathy. I just hope to educate. Most young children diagnosed with diabetes receive their diagnosis in the ICU after going into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Fortunately, Jakobs T1 did not progress this far. We knew the signs and caught it early. Instead of a week long stay in ICU, we were only hospitalized for 4 days. Jakob remained stable and was only ever mildly Ketotic. If we hadnt known the symptoms, he might not be alive. T1, especially pre-diagnosis, can cause brain damage and death. Jakob had been slightly off for a while. I knew something was wrong, but didnt know what. He had developed horrible, raging temper tantrums, especially after naps. He would cry for hours. I know now that he was likely having terrible headaches. He was drinking and urinating a lot. This came to a head the day before diagnosis, when I stepped in an actual puddle of urine in his floor after his nap. That evening he drank at least 3 cans of soda. Any time I got myself a drink he would beg for it and drink the whole thing. He swallowed pool and bath water. He drank anything he could get his hands on. These symptoms finally hit me over the head, and we tested his blood glucose with his grandmas glucometer. His fasting blood sugar that morning read HI. I had no idea what that meant (over 600). I made my dad test himself as control, and he was 120. We tested Jakob again and he was 543. This was his morning BG. In all likelihood, his BG had been in the 1000s after eating. We went immediately to Wolfson Childrens hospital where he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Had we not known (or ignored) the signs, he might not be with us today. T1 is the second most common chronic illness in children, second only to asthma. Know the signs. You might save your child, or someone elses childs life.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 05:21:30 +0000