Juvenile diabetes symptoms are often not recognised due to misconceptions and myths about this disease. People often confuse juvenile diabetes, which is actually type 1 diabetes, with late onset diabetes that is type 2 diabetes. People often associate diabetes with obesity and bad eating habits. However juvenile diabetes is not cause by lifestyle habits such as poor diet and physical inactivity. The cause of juvenile diabetes is still unknown but it is known to result when the body attacks the beta cells that produce insulin. Once this happens the body stops producing insulin and the symptoms have a relatively quick onset.

 What To Look Out For

As mentioned earlier, juvenile diabetes symptoms are completely different from the type of diabetes affecting adults. One of the first symptoms of juvenile diabetes is frequent trips to the bathroom. When the body stops producing insulin there are increased levels of glucose in the blood. To get rid of all this excess glucose the kidneys then respond by producing more urination.

The second symptom to look out for is an increase of water intake. A child who is frequently making trips to the bathroom will feel thirsty all the time and so to counteract the first symptom will drink more water than usual. It is easy to miss these two symptoms as you might think your child is going to the bathroom all the time because of all the water he is drinking when in actual fact the opposite is true.

The most obvious symptom of juvenile diabetes is dramatic weight loss. You might think that a child who has an increase in weight would have diabetes. Obesity and diabetes are links found in type 2 diabetes. Weight loss in a child suffering from juvenile diabetes is due to insufficient levels of glucose being used to feed the cells in the body. The body is starving. Another symptom that is linked to weight loss is constant hunger. Because the body is not being fed your child will be complaining of being hungry all the time.

Immediate Testing

Juvenile diabetes symptoms happen very quickly and develop over a period of weeks and months. If such a sudden change in behaviour happens it is best to have your child screened immediately. This is because left untreated juvenile diabetes symptoms can be deadly. Even if you may feel like you are overacting a combination of the above symptoms is an indicator that something is wrong with your child.

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