Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic condition where your body can't effectively use the food you eat as energy. Every time you eat, your body takes the sugar from your food and makes it into fuel. This fuel is called glucose. Your body uses glucose for energy, so it can do things like breath air, swim, and play video games. But glucose can't be used by the body on it's own - it needs a hormone called insulin to bring it to the cells in your body. Think of it this way - the cells in your body are like a house. Inside the cell all sorts of activities go on to make your body work. But in order for your cells to do their jobs, they need fuel, or glucose. Insulin is the "key" that opens the house for the glucose to get inside to help your body's cells do their work.Most people get the insulin they need from the pancreas, a large organ near the stomach. The pancreas makes insulin, insulin brings glucose into the cells, and the body gets the energy it needs. When a person has diabetes, it means that their pancreas is not making insulin. So someone with diabetes could be eating lots of food and getting all of the glucose he needs, but without insulin, there is no way for the body to use the glucose for energy. The glucose can't get into the "locked" cells without insulin.
Kids with diabetes have to give their bodies insulin. Insulin comes in a liquid form that has to be injected into the body with a needle. When the insulin goes into the body, it does the same job that insulin from a pancreas would do - it brings glucose to the body's cells so the cells can do their job to make the body work.
A special diet is also used along with insulin to treat diabetes. This special diet means eating more healthy foods and less "junk-food". Kids with diabetes need to think about all the things they eat, because the food they eat affects the amount of glucose in their body. Diabetics need to keep the glucose in their body at a certain level in order to keep them healthy. Too much and too little glucose in their body can be dangerous to a person with diabetes.
Kids with diabetes are no different from anyone else. They can still play sports, go out with friends, go on fieldtrips, and sleep over at their friend's house. If you know someone with diabetes, you probably have more things in common than things that - because friends are all about having fun together, not whether or not they have a perfect pancreas!
Always remember that kids with diabetes are still kids.
Helpful Link www.diabetes.org
Relevant Forms
Diabetes Medical Management Form
