What are the Signs and Symptoms of Childhood Diabetes...?

Usually, childhood diabetes has a dramatic presentation

 A seemingly healthy child starts passing urine very often, starts drinking a lot of water especially waking up in the night and asking for water. The large volume and frequency of urine is because of the increased blood glucose(sugar) load on the kidneys and the sugar draws out a lot of water from the body as urine. Because of the losses , he/she starts losing weight and the clothes start becoming loose. This despite the fact that the appetite and thirst are very much increased. The child may be really irritable and tired all the time. Often a subtle clue may be that ants are crawling around the place where the child urinates in the toilet or the courtyard.
This happens because the child is passing large amounts of glucose (sugar) in the urine and the ants are attracted to the sugar in the urine . These symptoms may start suddenly or sometimes occur over a period of 2 to 3 weeks. Children with these early signs and symptoms of diabetes can be safely treated on an OPD basis with insulin. They do not need hospitalisation .

But if not picked up and treated in time the child may land up in complications. The most dreaded complication is diabetic ketoacidosis(DKA). Diabetic ketoacidosis occurs because of loss of large amount of water from the body and building up of ketones in the bloodstream due to lack of insulin. These ketones are acidic in nature and their buildup in a dehydrated child results in drowsiness, extreme tiredness, vomiting, tummy pain, fast breathing and in serious cases unconsciousness and brain swelling leading to coma. This is a very serious condition and it has to be treated in a hospital by a specialist doctor and intensive care. Every year thousands of children in India die due to the complications of diabetic ketoacidosis because the diagnosis is not made in time for the doctor to act. They are already late by the time they reach a competent doctor.

If we are aware about the early signs and symptoms of childhood diabetes then we can prevent children from landing up in Diabetic Ketoacidosis and they can be treated without hospitalisation. Hence it is important for everyone to be aware of the signs and symptoms.

To summarise , the symptoms of Childhood Diabetes are 

• Urinating often

• Feeling very thirsty

• Feeling very hungry even though you are eating

• Extreme fatigue

• Blurry vision

• Weight loss even though you are eating more

      So remember, your knowledge can educate a family moving towards an unfortunate occurrence.....