Diabetes in teenagers
What is diabetes?
Diabetes (also called diabetes mellitus) is a chronic (ongoing) condition characterised by high blood glucose (blood sugar) levels due to the body’s inability to produce or respond to insulin, a hormone that allows blood glucose to enter the cells of the body and be used for energy.
There are 2 main types of diabetes: type 1 (insulin-dependent diabetes) and type 2 (non-insulin dependent diabetes). Children and teenagers are most commonly affected by type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease (caused by the body’s own immune system) in which the body attacks its own beta cells (the cells that produce insulin) in the pancreas. This means the pancreas produces little or no insulin to regulate blood sugar, resulting in abnormally high levels of blood sugar. It most commonly develops during childhood, which is why it is also sometimes known as juvenile diabetes.
Diabetes in teenagers
If you have a teenager with diabetes, it’s important to be aware of some of the issues affecting your teen when it comes to managing their diabetes. Here are 5 tips to help you and your teenager cope with their condition.
1: Promote self-reliance
While your child was growing up, you may have been teaching your child how to master the basics of diabetes management, such as learning to eat regularly, exercise regularly, take their insulin regularly and monitor their blood sugar.
Now is the time to consolidate that learning to encourage your teen to become self-sufficient when it comes to managing their diabetes. For example, older teens are likely to start making decisions about their treatment and management for themselves, rather than relying on you.
And they might prefer to visit their doctor alone, rather than with you. It is here that you may have to trust the expertise and help of your teen’s healthcare professionals. For example, if your teen is uncommunicative after meeting with their doctor, you should try to ensure that you are kept in the communication loop between your teen and their doctor or diabetes educator, always respecting the fact that your teen may now be the one making many of the decisions about their condition.
However, your teen should not be afraid to ask for help if they need it: for example, your teen can apply for special consideration during senior exam time in case their blood sugar becomes difficult to control during that stressful time.
Lots of hospitals and diabetes centres operate diabetes support groups for teenagers (or their parents), so that they can meet with others and share their experiences, and organisations such as Diabetes Australia promote educational camps to help teenagers learn diabetes management skills.
Research has shown that attending a recognised Diabetes Australia camp can help teenagers with diabetes feel better about their condition, improve their self-esteem and boost their confidence in handling their condition.
2: Understand your teen’s metabolism
During adolescence, it can be very difficult to control blood glucose levels and this could be because of bodily changes that affect your teen’s metabolism.
Researchers believe that growth hormone, which helps promote the growth of bone and muscle mass during puberty, also acts against the action of insulin.
Another hormone, adrenaline, also plays a role: when the levels of blood sugar fall, adrenaline is released, which stimulates the release of stored glucose in the body.
These hormonal influences result in the levels of blood glucose varying from too low to too high.
Sometimes, you may have to encourage your teen to accept that uncontrolled blood glucose is no one’s fault, but that is not a reason to give up trying to control it.
3: Understand your teen’s lifestyle
Having diabetes should not be an impediment to enjoying life, and it’s important that your teen recognises this and finds strategies to manage their diabetes without affecting their lifestyle.
They might want to eat takeaway foods, go to parties, and do things on the spur of the moment. And they can. You can help your teen realise that they can have a free and easy social life and stay within healthy limits, but this can only be achieved by being disciplined about their diabetes.
You can explain that by acting sensibly about their diabetes, with the help of their doctor, dietitian and diabetes educator, your teen actually has more freedom to enjoy life than if they let their diabetes get out of control.
Research has shown that adolescents enjoy a better quality of life (in terms of feeling satisfied with life, worrying less about their condition, feeling good about their health and feeling good about how their condition impacts on their lives) if they keep their blood sugar under good control than if they don’t, even if this means taking insulin 3 to 4 times a day to keep tight control of blood sugar.
4: Be aware of peer pressure
Although diabetes is a common problem, it is likely that a teen with diabetes will be in a minority at school and when with groups of friends. With adolescence bringing a plethora of physical, social and emotional issues at the best of times, it’s important that you understand what your teen may be going through.
During adolescence, being ‘part of the crowd’ is particularly important and your teen may be embarrassed about having to monitor their blood sugar or take insulin.
Encourage your teen to tell their close friends about their diabetes and offer suggestions as to how these friends could help. For example, your teen could teach their friends what to do if they become hypoglycaemic (where blood sugar becomes too low due to lack of food or too much insulin, resulting in sudden symptoms such as shaking, sweating, headache, weakness, dizziness and blurred vision).
Also, be aware that your comments to other people might make your teen embarrassed, so ask your teen what they would like you to say in front of other people if the subject of their diabetes comes up in conversation.
5: Be realistic and seek help if you need it
Adolescence is a difficult time for any parent and teen. You might find that the child who used to comply with everything you suggested gradually becomes unco-operative and unhelpful and may rebel against the routine management of their diabetes by going on food binges, or refusing to monitor their blood sugar levels.
However, research has shown that if adolescents keep tight control of their blood glucose levels, their parents and healthcare providers feel that the condition is less of a burden on the family.
So if you feel that, despite your best efforts, your teen is not managing their diabetes as well as they could, seek the help of your healthcare professional and take advantage of other help where it is available. Organisations such as Diabetes Australia or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation may be able to offer advice and help you to help your teenager keep control of their condition.
Last Reviewed: 23 June 2003
