Don’t overlook type 1 diabetes
The Colorado School of Public Health nationwide says there are nearly 167,000 children and teens younger than 20 who have type 1 diabetes.
Four-year old Parker Campbell was a perfectly happy and healthy child, until four months ago when his mother, Jylisha Campbell, noticed him drinking more water and experiencing extreme fatigue.
Parker, just like a growing number of young children was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, occurs when the pancreas makes little or no insulin, a hormone that the body needs to let sugar to enter cells and produce energy.
Campbell said the symptoms sounded all to familiar to her, she grew up with a diabetic father who has struggled with type 1 diabetes for 39 years.
“So my father was diagnosed 39 years ago with type 1 diabetes, so I’ve grown up my whole life knowing about it. It’s signs and symptoms,” Campbell said.
However, when it came to her family, Campbell didn’t want to believe that her son had type 1 diabetes.
“I look back and I think I knew. But really you don’t know how to really expect something like that until somebody tells you,” Campbell said.
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes are often mistaken for the flue or other common sickness such as strep throat, she said.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common symptoms are being very thirsty, losing weight, urinating a lot, increase hunger, blurry vision and feeling tired.
“Kids drink which causes them to have to use the bathroom, and kids drink a lot of water. All those symptoms of diabetes are so easily excused for other things,” Campbell said.
There have been a number of reported deaths of young children who have died in the U.S. who were misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all.
In 2015, Kycie Jai Terry,5, from George, Utah, was flown to a Salt Lake City Hospital.
Where an MRI showed that complications from type 1 diabetes caused cerebral edema, resulting in a herniation of her brain and injuring many critical areas of her brain.
Kycie died pneumonia a year ago at home with her parents.
Campbell said many medical professionals over look symptoms, or don’t know how to diagnose it.
“There’s children across the country all the time that are dying because they are not diagnosed properly,” Jylisha said.
She asked why can’t a simple finger stick be protocol just to rule out type 1 diabetes?
She has joined a Facebook support group called Type 1 Diabetic Mod Squad also known as Mothers of Diabetics, “We share experiences and support.”
She also said Parker is doing just fine and living a healthy life.
“They can live a normal healthy life just like anyone else,” Campbell said.
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases diabetes affects 25.8 million people of all ages in the United States, or about 8.3 percent of the population.
