Diabetes In Children

Hi,

I am Dr. I. P. S. Kochar. Today I will telling something about diabetes. So diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases which results in high blood sugar. There are many types of diabetes: type 1, type 2, gestation diabetes. Now there is something called as neonatal diabetes, then there is something called as MODY maturity diabetes of the young. So here we will be today we talk about childhood more of childhood diabetes. In childhood we normally have you know type 1 diabetes and we have type 2 diabetes, we also have MODY mature onset diabetes of young. Now in type obesity what is happening is either the pancreas is not functioning or the pancreas functions but insulin not able to act on the cell. So that's why you have type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Now diabetes is not discriminated between old and young. You can have diabetes in children even in a you know a toddler, infant they can also have diabetes. There are approximately 1.2 lakh children at presently in India who are suffering from diabetes, mainly type 1diabetes. Although type 2 is also coming up because of the you know obesity and other problems of the lifestyle resulting in type 2 diabetes in adolescence population, even in children of 10 years old. So it's very important to understand the type because many times it will miss.

There're a lot of you know there are not very good sign or there are no such sign very subtle, so you miss diabetes. Even physician can miss diabetes in you know children because it's like it's similar symptom with other other conditions. Now why you should suspect diabetes if the child is passing excessive amount of urine and if the child is very thirsty, if the child is losing weight, if the child is getting some infections in the body or if you feel the child comes to you after playing and you see lack of energy, he is always feeling tired very faster. Then this is there. So one should think of diabetes also if you know the child is passing urine someplace and a lot of ants collect there or the child was free you know was free of bed wetting and now starts fresh bed wetting, so one should think of that. One a child who is having who was ill and is having lot of urine passing, so in child with mild dehydration and still having polyurea passing by and you think of diabetes. So there are something if the child is unconscious, comatose, drowsy one must think of diabetes in children.

So therefore you have to think of it and keep it in mind because it can be neglected, never thought of or may not be known. So the important thing is what should be done for this? It's very simple. You have to be told that insulin is life saving for them. They have to be told nothing to worry. Now very important is education diabetes education is very very important in diabetes management because if they are just told that you know if they are taking control of their sugar, they'll lead a normal life. They'll be going to school like any other children, they'll be having a normal life, they'll play like any other children, they'll eat also like. See as we tell any normal child to have a healthy diet, we tell them also to take a healthy diet. So we're not you make them eat unnecessary things which are not good for them. You know many many like processed food, we don't advise it to any child. So basically they'll be like any other child but only they'll be taking insulin. So they have to be counselled very well, the parents have to be told because when it comes the parents are very much depressed, my child got diabetes, why this happened, why the so they have to be explained to them, counselled well that everything will be normal and life will go on and they'll only have to take insulin.

Keep a good control of their sugars so that the complications do not occur, there're very good modalities now in the available like using of insulets between the past and the insulin syringes. Now we have lot of pens, we have new insulins, we have analog insulins, we have got good insulins also, decided. The delivery of insulin method has been changed for like you are either told you have pens, now pumps are available, insulin pumps. These are devices which deliver insulin in a way like a normal pancreas. So you can deliver insulin in a in the normal pancreas delivery. So you can all as you can have a at the meals time they'll be different insulin and at the time whole day the basal insulin runs and with this the control of the sugar is very good. They can live a very good life. The complication rates become very very less. The main aim idea is to to avoid the complications to occur. So as you see the things have changed a lot now. Children should be reassured, parents should be reassured, counselling should be done well and I think they can fight against diabetes which is not going to be a problem for the small children.

Thankn you