 |
Frequently
Asked
Questions |
Q. How many Americans
have Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes?
A. More than one million. |
Q. At what ages are children normally diagnosed?
A. Type 1 Diabetes is usually diagnosed in children
between the ages of 10 and 12, although it
can occur at any age. |
Q. What is Type 1 Diabetes caused by?
A. Type 1 Diabetes is caused by an autoimmune destruction
of the insulin producing too many
cells in the pancreas. It is NOT caused by poor diet or eating
too many sweets. |
Q. Do people with Type 2
Diabetes produce insulin? When is Type 2 diagnosed?
A. People with Type 2 Diabetes produce insulin, but their
bodies are unable to use it effectively.
Type 2 is usually diagnosed in adulthood. With
more and more children becoming overweight,
Type 2 Diabetes is being diagnosed in young people in
almost epidemic proportions. |
Q. By taking insulin,
will that cure diabetes?
A. Taking insulin is NOT a cure for any type of diabetes,
nor does it prevent the possibility of
future complications like kidney failure, blindness,
nerve damage, amputation, heart attack
stroke and premature death. |
Q. Does Type 1
Diabetes run in families?
A. Type 1 Diabetes tends to run in families.
Brothers and sisters of children with
Type 1 Diabetes have about a 10% chance of developing the disease by age 50. |
Q. How often does
death occur from Diabetes?
A. Diabetes kills one American every three minutes. |
Q. At what rate is
Diabetes diagnosed?
A. A new case of Diabetes is diagnosed every FORTY
seconds. That's 30,000 Americans per
year. Of that 30,000, over 13,000 are children.
That makes 35 children each and every day. |
Q. How does Diabetes effect health care cost?
A. Diabetes accounts for more than $132 billion of annual
health care costs in the U.S.
Indirect costs resulting from lost workdays, restricted
activity days, mortality and
permanent disability due to Diabetes totals nearly $40.8 billion
annually. |
Q. Does
Diabetes need
daily attention?
A. Diabetes needs constant attention. Blood sugars
must be carefully monitored -- some people
check at least 6 times per day. |
Q. Are there any
outside factors that can affect the blood sugar?
A. Many factors affect a person's ability to control
their blood sugar when on insulin --
stress, hormonal changes, periods of growth,
increase or decrease in physical activity,
medications, illness, infection and fatigue. |
Q. What is the life expectancy for people with Diabetes?
A. Life expectancy for people
with Diabetes is far better now than ever before. Please
go the following link
to read what the JDRF has to say.
http://juvenation.org/juvenation_blogs/b/jdrfnews/archive/2011/07/08/life-expectancy-for-people-with-type-1-improves-amatically.aspxtp
Source: The Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation (www.jdrf.org) |
