Many children are living with undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes, which puts their wellbeing at risk, and can even have fatal consequences. However, Cambridge’s leading specialists are trying to reach them sooner.
Unlike type 2 diabetes, which is often caused by a poor wellness lifestyle, type 1 diabetes develops when your immune system begins to attack and destroy your insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. This can be triggered by factors such as stress or illness, and if it isn’t controlled with the correct insulin levels, your blood glucose levels increase and can seriously damage your organs.
Based at the Weston Centre in Addenbrooke’s, the paediatric diabetes team is trying to make sure symptoms are picked up before young people become really ill, and come through the emergency department’s doors. This happens in many children, as parents and doctors can miss or misdiagnose the early signs of the condition, and fail to notice them until the children become very ill.
According to Dr Carlo Acerini, consultant paediatrician and chair of East of England Paediatric Diabetes Network, ‘The signs are often non-specific and can be confused with other common conditions. And there is a concern that general practitioners don’t think of a diagnosis of diabetes before the child becomes very unwell and a child can then present in A&E. That is potentially life threatening.’ He explained that the symptoms to watch for include an excessive thirst, urinating more frequently, feeling tired and weight loss. However, people don’t necessarily exhibit all of these.
A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes can be daunting for both you and your child, which is why the team contains specialist nurses who can support parents and children through the initial weeks and months until they are confident with the insulin treatment. This can come in either an injection pen or a pump attached to the abdomen, which can take a while to master and feel comfortable with.
Aside from this, the team, which is made up of 14 diabetes experts, even has a play specialist. Jacqueline Welch works with children and helps them to understand the condition and their treatment, and shows them than, most importantly of all, they can live a normal life. She even has props to help young people comprehend the disease, including a teddy bear that allows them to see where injections will go on the body, and a pump for a doll to show a little girl how the pump works.
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