There is no other way to treat Juvenile onset Diabetes except with Insluin therapy, maintaing a strict diet, and daily exercise. Without insulin, a diabetic will die. (I have Type 1 diabetes, also.)

Diabetes (Type 1) is both hereditary (genetic might be a better description of that term) and environmental. What her physician meant was that there is a biological - genetic component that predisposes certain people to Type 1 Diabetes, but that an environmental componenent is necessary. The environmental component(s) is/are unknown, although stress (higher levels of cortisol) has been suggested, as well as a virus/virsus that may contribute to breakdown of the immune system. It is unlikely that environmental factors such as found in food, pollution, steroids, preservatives, etc.. play a role in the environmental factor.

As a sibling of a diabetic, you might want to look into genotype testing to see if you are likely to develop Type 1 diabetes at any point in your life, just as a preventative measure.

Also, another important part of managing diabetes is to trust physicians, scientists, researchers, nurses, dieticians, etc... because they have a vested interest in the well-being of your sister, and comprise the best care team for her successful treatment of the disease.

diabetes s sometimes hard to live. i was comatosed when i was first diagnosed with diabetes, i was 8 yrs old. its scary at first however the support i have recieved from firends and family has been amazing and i am now 27 years old and healthy! i take 3 injections a day and although its annoying diabetes is just a part of my life asnd i am sure that your sister will cope in the same way with your support. the best advice i can give is for her not to let diabetes control her life but let her control the diabetes! and if possible spend time with other people with diabetes it helps to feel that you're not alone!
i promise you diabetes doesn't have to stop you having a great fun filled life!
best of luck with everything
Jess

hi I am sorry to hear about your sister she is lucky most people I know who found out they have diabetes are usually in the 800-900 and go into commas. Diabetes is tough I have had it since I was 10 and I am now 23. But think of it this way on the scheme of chronic illness its not that bad. All it means is she has to take shots and test herself and she can live a normal life. It has not changed my life and it has made me more responsible and more aware of my health. I played 4 years of football in high school used to hike for 4 days at time in the mountains and went away to school from home and am about to graduate from college in May.At times its hard but there is no way it has to ruin someones life. Diabetes can be controlled and there is a lot of support. If you have have any questions I can tell her some tips and show her some orgs that give diabetics oppertunities that other normal people don't have.Everybody has stuff they have to deal with and this is just one little thing. It can be controlled and I guarentee she has been suffering the effects for a while and will feel a lot better now that she is diagnioused. I know these other poeople can tell you defs from books but real life is different and growing up as a teenager with this diease is hard. But there are tips how to do stuff safe even stuff like drinking altough not the best can be done safely with diabetes and if she ever needs tips on how to handle sports or other activities I would be glad to help bc its better then trying to do it through trial and error.
Drew pvfresno@yahoo.com

Type 1 Diabetes is an Autoimmune disease. A combination of genetic predisposition and an outside factor like perhaps a recent infection, caused an attack on your sister's insulin producing cells. Although it is under that "diabetes" umbrella it is nothing like Type 2 diabetes which you hear about in the news frequently and it can not be controlled by diet and exercise alone. Do not even think of telling your sister or anyone else that Type 1 diabetes can be be treated with anything other than an insulin regimen. I was diagnosed at age 5 (now 16). You and your family can probably find a lot of information from various blogs that are apart of http://diabetesoc.blogspot.com/
It's a hard disease to live with, but it is possible with the correct insulin
regimen that your sister will live a completely normal life. I wish her good health from this point on! Good luck!

Type I diabetes is typically when the auto-immune system attacks the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. This response is oftentimes triggered by a severe illness (flu, chickenpox), but I don't believe the causes are clearly understood by doctors or scientists.

Unfortunately, if it's really Type I, there isn't any way around insulin shots (or insulin pump). The body isn't making insulin, so it can't convert food into energy normally. The side effects of sustained high blood sugars are nasty, and lethal if allowed to go unchecked for too long.

I'd recommend calorieking.com as a resource to learn which foods are low in GI, and also to find out the total carbohydrates of various foods. Carb-counting is a technique for determining how much insulin to take for any given meal. The doctor will probably have to explain it to her, but it's not that complicated once you get the hang of it.

She will have to either take insulin shots daily, or get on an insulin pump. And for now, she'll need to do daily blood tests which are more messy than painful. There are meters just entering the market that are more advanced and allow continuous monitoring, but they're probably a few years from being covered by insurance, and they're way out of most patient's budgets.

It sucks. There is no getting around that. You don't get to take a vacation from this disease. And, it is a lot to absorb all at once. But if I could give one piece of advice, it would be to stay on top of it. Do the blood tests. See the doctor regularly. Half-assed management of the disease WILL lead to problems that are way easier to prevent than correct. Be vigilant. It is tough, but survivable.

PM if you'd like; I can't marathon post like OotV, but I can probably answer a lot of questions you may have. I wish your sister a lot of luck on the road ahead of her.

Look up Glycemic Index. Foods with Low GI are what your sister will have to look for. Barley, brown rice, yams, legumes and the like.

The short. Starches are what is converted to sugars (glucose) for your body to run on. Your brain is the largest consumer or the glucose, somewhere around 80% I think. So basically starchy food, simple starch like processed or enriched flour, or simple sugars should be avoided.

The glycemic index rates foods by how easily or what type of impact a food has on blood sugar. A slice is white bread is the baseline. It's rated at 100. Some simple sugar type foods go over 100 easily. The foods that are best are low on the scale, around the 20's and 30's on the index. The low number means that the bodies reaction and ability to convert the food to sugar is either slow, or there is not much starch to convert to sugar period.

One of the best foods is barley. It has a low glycemix index. It is digested and converted to sugar very slowly. This means an even slow output of glucose into the blood stream. You might notice how barley is kind of slimy or gooey, that is what slows down your bodies ability to turn it to sugar. Other foods are similar. (oats, another slimy gooey thing, another low GI food that is very good for you)

well wishes,

Diablo