What Is The Cause of Juvenile Diabetes?

Diabetes is caused by the inability of the Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas to produce insulin. Insulin is needed to reduce the amount of glucose in the blood. Glucose then morphs into energy to be used by the cells for fuel. When this metabolic dance doesn't materialize, glucose levels rise and the cells are deprived of fuel. Elevated glucose levels in the blood is called hyperglycemia.

Indications of hyperglycemia, or diabetes, include increased thirst and excessive urination. Factors affecting diabetes includes weight, age, and family history, as well as ethnicity.

What Does Age Have To do With It?

Depending on the age of onset determines what type of diabetes it is. When it happens to the person as a child, it is called Juvenile Diabetes. It is the same form as Type 1 Diabetes but has it's onset in childhood.

What are the Causes?

Juvenile diabetes is thought to originate from some type of autoimmune, environmental, or genetic assault. It is even suspected that a virus could be the culprit, attacking the islets for some unknown reason, rendering them powerless to produce the required insulin the body needs to regulate glucose levels.

What are the symptoms of Juvenile diabetes?

For the most part, symptoms are the same as for other forms of diabetes, such as abnormal thirst and excessive urination. Other signs that exhibit themselves are:

• Increased appetite with weight loss


• Overly tired, no stamina


• Symptoms of cold or flu


• Sweet odor to the breath


• Heavy breathing


• Confusion


• Decreased level of consciousness

Breathing becomes labored due to the lung's attempt to "blow off" the acidic blood ph to correct the acid imbalance caused by accumulation of ketones, or ketoacidosis. This occurs because the cells had no fuel, which was to be provided by glucose being changed into energy via the metabolic action of insulin on glucose. So the body began to feed on itself using fat and muscle for fuel, instead of the fuel provided by energy from glucose. The result is the breaking down of fat and muscle producing toxic levels of ketones in the blood making the blood acidic (ketoacidosis). Keytones will show also in the urine and is called ketonuria.

A person showing signs and symptoms of Juvenile Diabetes will need treatment as soon as possible to get hyperglycemic event under control. Untreated elevated blood sugars can lead to coma and death.

How Can It be Treated?

Once diagnosis has been determined to be Juvenile Diabetes, the child will then need multiple insulin injections daily and blood glucose levels are tested daily before meals and at bedtime. The child will need to change his or her eating habits to a more healthier style, and get physical exercise to lose weight as necessary. Obesity is a risk factor for diabetes, therefore diligence must be used to reduce as many risk factors as possible to prevent complications of the disease. In many cases, diabetes can be managed via dietary changes alone depending on the severity of the disease.

Skin care is also important to prevent breaks or cracks in the skin, particularly in skin folds and between the toes. Keeping the skin clean and dry in these areas decreases the risk for bacterial or fungal infections to occur.

Many well known people developed juvenile diabetes at a very young age. Taking proper care of themselves by eating right, maintaining proper weight, monitoring glucose levels, and correct administration of medications will reduce the risk factors that can cause Juvenile Diabetes.

by Barb Hicks, RN/LMT