Talking about Diabetes to a Teenager
Talking to a teenager about Diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose, a sugar that is the body's main source of fuel. Just as an iPod needs a battery, your body needs glucose to keep running. Here's how it should work:
1.You eat.
2.Glucose from the food gets into your bloodstream.
3.Your pancreas makes a hormone called insulin.
4.Insulin helps the glucose get into the body's cells.
5.Your body gets the energy it needs.
The pancreas is a gland near your stomach that helps your body digest food. It also makes insulin. Insulin is like a key that opens the doors to the cells of the body. It lets glucose in. Then the glucose can move out of the blood and into the cells.
But if someone has diabetes, the body either can't make insulin or the insulin doesn't work in the body like it should. The glucose can't get into the cells normally, so the blood sugar level gets too high. Excessive sugar in the bloodstream can make people sick if they don't get treatment.
There are two major types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2.
In type 1 diabetes (which used to be called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes), the pancreas can't make insulin. The body can still get glucose from food but the glucose can't get into the cells where it's needed. Glucose stays in the blood, which makes the blood sugar level very high and causes health problems.
To fix the problem, someone with type 1 diabetes needs to take insulin through regular shots or an insulin pump.
Type 2 diabetes is different from type 1 diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas still makes insulin, but the insulin doesn't work in the body like it should and blood sugar levels get too high.
No one knows for sure what causes type 1 diabetes, they do know it can't be prevented. Doctors can't even tell who will get it and who won't. People who have diabetes usually pee a lot because the body tries to get rid of the extra blood sugar by passing it out of the body in the
Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose, a sugar that is the body's main source of fuel. Just as an iPod needs a battery, your body needs glucose to keep running. Here's how it should work:
1.You eat.
2.Glucose from the food gets into your bloodstream.
3.Your pancreas makes a hormone called insulin.
4.Insulin helps the glucose get into the body's cells.
5.Your body gets the energy it needs.
The pancreas is a gland near your stomach that helps your body digest food. It also makes insulin. Insulin is like a key that opens the doors to the cells of the body. It lets glucose in. Then the glucose can move out of the blood and into the cells.
But if someone has diabetes, the body either can't make insulin or the insulin doesn't work in the body like it should. The glucose can't get into the cells normally, so the blood sugar level gets too high. Excessive sugar in the bloodstream can make people sick if they don't get treatment.
There are two major types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2.
In type 1 diabetes (which used to be called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes), the pancreas can't make insulin. The body can still get glucose from food but the glucose can't get into the cells where it's needed. Glucose stays in the blood, which makes the blood sugar level very high and causes health problems.
To fix the problem, someone with type 1 diabetes needs to take insulin through regular shots or an insulin pump.
Type 2 diabetes is different from type 1 diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas still makes insulin, but the insulin doesn't work in the body like it should and blood sugar levels get too high.
No one knows for sure what causes type 1 diabetes, they do know it can't be prevented. Doctors can't even tell who will get it and who won't. People who have diabetes usually pee a lot because the body tries to get rid of the extra blood sugar by passing it out of the body in the