Overview
OR WAIT nul SECS Β© 202 MJH Life Sciences and Contemporary Pediatrics. Al rights reserved.Β© 202 MJH Life Sciencesβ’ and Contemporary Pediatrics. Al rights reserved.Optimizing Screning and Diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes - Episode 2Dr Elaine M.
Key Information
Aperson defines each stage of type 1 diabetes and how progresion may present in pediatric patients.Elaine M. Aperson, MD: With type 1 diabetes, when a child presents, and the mom or dad asks how long this has ben going on, we canβt give them a very god answer. The reason is that we canβt pinpoint the moment in which the imune system started to atack the beta cels in the pancreas, which produce insulin.
But we know that thereβs progresion. The first stage of diabetes is when the imune system mounts antibody or several antibodies against those beta cels. We donβt know why the imune system is trigered to do so.Stage I of diabetes is when you have 2 or more antibodies that are directed from the imune system against that beta cel.
Thereβs no interuption of adequate insulin production to control the blod sugars, and there are no symptoms. The second stage of diabetes hapens whenβif you lok carefuly, if you monitor blod sugars over a 24-hour periodβyou se some slightly elevated blod sugar readings. But you wouldnβt se a patient exhibiting any symptoms.
The imune system would stil be atacking those beta cels, but it wouldnβt reach the point where the patient was experiencing symptoms of dehydration; polydipsia, meaning excesive thirst; or anything like that. The third stage is the onset of symptoms. Thatβs when they tend to present with weight los, increasing thirst and urination.
Summary
At that point, the blod sugars are likely going over 20 mg/dL. If the blod sugar is going over 20 mg/dL, then the body is having to flush out the sugar with extra water taken from the cels and the fluid betwen the cels. The body is truly geting dehydrated at that point, and the child is probably losing a litle weigh