First, let’s learn a little about your body. You have a small organ called the pancreas, which sits just behind and a little below your stomach. The pancreas has beta cells that have the special job of making insulin.
People with diabetes either don’t have any insulin, not enough insulin or the insulin they do have doesn’t work very well. When you have diabetes, sugar doesn’t get into your cells, which means too much sugar stays in your bloodstream and your cells don’t have the energy they need.
What is Glucose?
Glucose is a simple form of sugar. Glucose, or sugar, is your body’s main source of energy. When you eat, your food gets digested and the sugar from the food travels through the blood stream to the parts of your body that need it. Insulin comes from the pancreas when the amount of sugar in your blood stream starts to go up. The insulin helps the sugar get into your body’s cells to be used for energy.
What is type 1 diabetes?
In type 1 diabetes, your pancreas no longer makes insulin. That’s because your immune system is attacking your beta cells, which are the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. The symptoms of type 1 diabetes are having to pee a lot (called polyuria, which means increased urination), being very thirsty (called polydipsia, meaning increased thirst) and eating a lot (called polyphagia, which means increased eating). The weird thing is that even when you’re eating more and feeling hungry a lot, you could be losing weight. Another weird thing is that some kids may actually start to wet their bed because of the need to go to the bathroom so badly. These symptoms usually happen quite quickly and go away once you have diabetes in control. Type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed at any age, but most often starts in younger people, which is why it is sometimes called juvenile diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes in kids, however only about 10% of all people with diabetes have type 1.
What is type 2 diabetes?
In type 2 diabetes, either your pancreas can’t make enough insulin to keep up with your body’s needs or your body doesn’t use the insulin that is made very well. For people with diabetes, type 2 is the most common type of diabetes. While type 2 diabetes is more common in adults, kids can get it too. It’s related to family history, being overweight, lack of activity, and race or ethnicity. Of all the people with diabetes, about 90% have type 2 diabetes.
Why Do I Have It?
You may be wondering why you have diabetes. The truth is, no one knows exactly why some kids get diabetes and others don’t. One thing’s for sure—you didn’t do anything wrong to get diabetes. In fact, there is nothing that anyone could have done to keep it from happening.
Maybe you feel alone because you don’t know anyone else who has diabetes. But there are over 186,300 people in America age 20 or younger who have been diagnosed with diabetes and over 23.6 million if you count adults, too (three million of the 23.6 million Americans have type 1). In fact, over 15,000 children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the U.S. each year. That's 40 kids per day. *Source: CDC 2007 Facts
Because each type of diabetes is different, and because every kid has unique needs, it’s normal for kids to have different plans for managing their diabetes.