Can it be diabetes?

I remember moving through the adult wards  in medical school and the sight of the interns checking the blood sugar of their patients,  from one bed to another without missing any ! Such is the place of diabetes in adult medicine, a very common condition among adults.
In children however, diabetes is not a very common occurrence such that doctors often miss the diagnosis when it occurs in children of resource poor countries. Diabetes in children may disguise as appendicitis, cerebral malaria,urinary tract infections, pneumonia or even typhoid enteritis.
A high index of suspicion is required for diagnosis of diabetes in children.One may need to routinely check the blood sugar of every child that present in the hospital for early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of complications of childhood diabetes.
I have made it a point of duty to bring this to the fore for this week because, it appears there is an increase in its occurrence amongst children seen in my facility in the last few years. This increase is such that in the last one year we have seen three cases, two of whom were initially managed as typhoid enteritis.
I hope to use this medium to educate us about this condition

What is Diabetes? 
Diabetes simply means high blood sugar. It occurs when the sugar in the body (sugar is the end product of almost every thing we eat) is not available for energy generation and also not converted to the storage form, usually the insulin in such a person is not available or insufficient for this conversion, making lack of insulin or insufficient insulin the reason for this excess blood sugar.

Why do people have diabetes? 
The reasons why people have diabetes is not entirely clear;  however, some of the reasons may include:
Genetic abnormalities, infection, and diet.

Family history: children of diabetic parents should be routinely checked as they are often at higher risk.

Infections: some infections are capable of destroying pancreas,  the insulin producing organ in the body, such infections include Mumps,  tuberculosis,  measles, other viral infections

Diet: western diet that predispose to Obesity may in turn predispose to a type of diabetes. Early exposure to "Canned" food with preservatives can trigger allergy/autoimmune reactions that may destroy insulin producing organ (this is hypothetical).

Here is a good news ;  Human breastmilk is protective, it is cheap and unadulterated. Vitamins such as C, D and E vitamins are also protective.
Minerals like zinc ,selenium are also protective .

What are the signs of diabetes in children?
Weight loss: This though not universal and may be subtle is a very common sign,  any unexplained weight loss in childhood must be investigated and the investigation  panel must include blood sugar,  please see your doctor or seek his or her opinion if your child is losing weight, you may even politely request for blood sugar check.

Frequent urination: if you notice that your child is urinating more frequently or too frequently please beckon  on your doctor,. Some of these children may even start to bed wet newly.

 Some children may start to drink water more often.

Some will eat more than before. !

Wounds on their body may not heal on time.

Some may have boil more often .

What to do if any of the above signs is seen?
See your doctor,  preferably  a paediatrician.,
 the complications( stroke,  blindness,  kidney damage to mention a few) of diabetes are serious and may be life long,  these complications are avoidable if diabetes is treated promptly.


To learn more..... Stay tuned.

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