Ilustrasi diabetes. (Shutterstock)
Diabetes is a non-communicable disease which if not controlled will cause many other complications such as kidney failure, heart failure, blindness.
SuaraJatim.id – Diabetes is a non-communicable disease which if not controlled will cause many other complications such as kidney failure, heart failure, blindness, damage to the nervous system and other chronic diseases.
For this reason, the General Chair of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) Piprim Basarah Yanuarso called diabetes the mother of all chronic non-communicable diseases.
Diabetes does not only attack adults. This disease can also attack children from an early age. The problem is, not many parents know how the symptoms of the disease.
For example, parents are only confused when their child is easily hungry and thirsty. However, his weight did not increase but instead became thinner.
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There are also parents who are confused in dealing with their child’s excessive appetite, especially their love for high-sugar foods so that their body weight is increasing. Moreover, black scars appear like climbs on the nape, neck, armpits and elbows.
If your little one has two conditions like the ones above, there’s nothing wrong with having mom and dad check their child’s sugar levels. Because the things that happen to the children above are some of the symptoms of diabetes mellitus.
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic medical condition that causes problems with the body’s ability to convert food – especially sugar (carbohydrates) – into fuel for the body.
As explained by the Head of the IDAI Endocrinology Coordination Work Unit (UKK) Muhammad Faizi in a webinar. He said that there are four forms of diabetes, but only two are the most commonly known by the public, namely type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Both forms of diabetes can occur at any age including children. Type 1 diabetes occurs because the pancreas does not produce enough of the hormone insulin, which can regulate glucose in the bloodstream.
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In contrast, type 2 diabetes occurs due to high levels of the hormone insulin that the body produces, but this hormone cannot work as it should. As a result, glucose levels in the blood become uncontrolled.
“If a child has 3P symptoms and there is a history of diabetes in the family, there is nothing wrong with parents checking the child’s sugar level,” said Faizi, as quoted from ANTARA, Sunday (14/11/2021).
The 3P symptoms in question are the child often feels hungry (polyphagia), often feels thirsty (polydipsia) and often urinates at night (polyuria). The three symptoms that are often called the 3Ps are common symptoms in people with type 1 diabetes mellitus and can occur in children.
These 3P symptoms should be suspected in children with a big appetite but having a thin body and even difficult to fat. In addition, even though they have consumed a lot of food, the child looks tired easily as if he has no energy.
When the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, the body does not have the ability to use the glucose it consumes, so the amount of glucose from food builds up in the bloodstream.
The healthychildren page says that it is important to identify the symptoms of type 1 diabetes early on. High blood sugar levels and dehydration caused by uncontrolled diabetes are dangerous and can cause children to need insulin and intravenous fluids.
While in children with type 2 diabetes, similar symptoms (3P) are also experienced but are accompanied by dark areas of skin, especially around the neck or armpits called Acanthosis nigricans.
Another thing that distinguishes type 2 diabetes from type 1 is, children tend to have a body fat to obesity. This fat body condition is the result of a high-sugar diet (simple carbohydrates) but insulin does not have the ability to process high glucose from the consumption of excess sugar.
Type 2 diabetes is often called “adult” diabetes, because children almost never get it. However, with increasing rates of childhood obesity, more and more children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
One theory states that lifestyle and diet are the main factors triggering the increase in cases of type 2 diabetes in children, especially during the pandemic.
This is triggered by the lack of space and activity of children, but the intake of food with a high glycemic index continues to increase and stimulates insulin release in a chronic period. Faizi also asked parents to be able to maintain a healthy child’s diet and keep active in order to avoid type 2 diabetes.
“In addition to weight or lifestyle issues, other risk factors for type 2 diabetes in children include genetics or a family history of diabetes,” Faizi explained.
Healthychildren also mentions that there are other factors that cause type 2 diabetes in children, such as being born to a mother who had diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes), or other medical problems that affect how the body handles insulin.
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