Life with Juvenile Diabetes is a balancing act between two extremes.
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First there is that of high blood sugar levels this is the effect of not having working islet cells to produce insulin. Without any insulin the body begins to literally consume itself in a process called Diabetic acidosis. The long term damage of high blood sugars results in damage to nerves and blood vessels called complications. The second is insulin itself, it's effect in a normal person, results in the regulation of glucose levels. When given directly to a person without any natural control of the amount released in the body can cause dangerous lows in blood sugar levels, these can lead to insulin shock, leading to coma, or even death. Other factors are exercise, diet, hormones and a multitude of other influences that can push a blood sugar levels into one extreme or another. |
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Life with Juvenile Diabetes requires planing out each move of every day, by using insulin, checks on our blood sugar levels, and the other tools such as diet and exercise to keep our levels from falling into extreme highs or lows. Achieving this isn't easy, and often requires us to regulate out of range sugar levels, in the case of highs with additional insulin, and lows with extra food or sweets.
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Though experience, this process can be fine-tuned so it works almost seamlessly, although there are some days when controlling blood sugar levels are like riding a roller-coaster of highs and lows.
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