Articles In This Section
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What Is an Insulin Pump?
An insulin pump is a wearable device that some people with diabetes use to get insulin, instead of getting it from an injection.
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What Is Type 2 Diabetes?
Learning what you can about type 2 diabetes will let you help your child manage and live with the disease. Here are the basics.
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Kids and Diabetes: Healthy Eating at Restaurants
Dining out should be fun for you and your child with diabetes. The key is to find out the nutritional value of food options and keep portions healthy.
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Keeping Track of Your Child’s Blood Sugar
To keep blood sugar levels under control, you have to check them regularly. Learn about checking and recording your child's blood sugar levels.
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Making Fingersticks and Insulin Shots Easier for Kids With Diabetes
Blood tests and insulin injections can be a challenge for kids with diabetes and their parents. Here are some tips for coping with these.
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Managing Blood Sugars When Your Child Has Type 1 Diabetes
You've probably heard your child's doctor talk a lot about diabetes control. What is it and why is it important?
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Medicines for Diabetes
Whether your child is taking insulin or pills (or both) to control diabetes, it's important to learn how diabetes medicines work.
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Preparing Teens With Diabetes for Adult Care
Most teens with diabetes should switch to an adult health care provider when they're between 18 and 21 years old. Here's how parents can help them get ready in the years leading up to the switch.
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Treating Type 1 Diabetes
For kids diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, it's important to create a diabetes management plan to help them manage the condition and stay healthy and active.
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Treating Type 2 Diabetes
Kids who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes follow a diabetes care plan to help them manage the condition and stay healthy and active.
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Understanding Diabetes (Video)
Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose (say: GLOO-kose), a sugar that is the body's main source of fuel. Your body needs glucose to keep running.
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Taking Insulin for Diabetes
Some people with diabetes need to take insulin to help keep their blood sugars in a healthy range.
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What Is Type 1 Diabetes?
In type 1 diabetes, the body can’t use glucose for energy, making blood sugar levels get too high. People with diabetes need insulin shots or an insulin pump.
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Glucagon and Diabetes
Sometimes, if someone with diabetes has very low blood sugar, they need a dose of glucagon to get their blood sugar back to a healthy range.
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Growth Hormone Deficiency
When the body doesn't make enough growth hormone to allow a child to grow at a normal pace, it's called growth hormone deficiency. Learn how doctors check for and treat this problem.
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Helping Your Child Adjust to Diabetes
Learn all you can about diabetes so you'll be better prepared to talk about it with your child.
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Helping Your Young Athlete With Type 1 Diabetes
Kids with type 1 diabetes can play sports and exercise at the same level as other kids.
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How Being Active Helps Kids With Type 1 Diabetes
Diabetes doesn't have to get in the way of exercise and sports competition. Like anyone else, kids with diabetes are healthier if they get plenty of exercise.
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How to Give an Insulin Injection
This step-by-step graphic shows how to give an insulin injection.
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Hyperglycemia and Diabetes
When blood glucose levels (also called blood sugar levels) are too high, it's called hyperglycemia. A major goal in controlling diabetes is to keep blood sugar levels as close to the healthy range as possible.
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Hypoglycemia and Diabetes
When blood glucose levels drop too low, it's called hypoglycemia. Very low blood sugar levels can cause severe symptoms that require immediate treatment.
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Insulin Injections
Before giving an insulin injection, know the basics so you can set up and do it safely and with confidence.
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Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance happens when the body does not respond properly to insulin. It can can raise a child's risk for type 2 diabetes and other health problems.
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Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR)
Intrauterine growth restriction is when a baby in the womb doesn't grow at the expected rate during the pregnancy. Women with IUGR should eat a healthy diet; get enough sleep; and avoid alcohol, drugs, and tobacco.
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Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes is a kind of diabetes that comes on during pregnancy. When a woman has it, her blood sugar levels are high. That makes the unborn baby's blood sugar levels higher too.
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Failure to Thrive
Most kids grow well but some have ”failure to thrive.” This means they don't gain weight as expected and may not grow as tall as they should.
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Eating Smart When Your Child Has Diabetes
Kids with diabetes don't have to follow a special diabetes diet, but they may need to pay more attention to when they eat and how much is on their plates.
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Diabetic Ketoacidosis
Diabetic ketoacidosis happens when the body uses fat for energy instead of sugar. People with diabetes can get it if their blood sugar levels are too high for too long and they don’t have enough insulin in their system.
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A to Z: Failure to Thrive
Failure to thrive refers to a child's inability to gain weight and grow as expected for kids of the same age and gender. Most diagnoses are made in the first few years of life.
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Acanthosis Nigricans
Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a condition that causes the skin to thicken and darken in places. AN is not harmful or contagious, but can be a sign of certain other medical conditions.
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Adrenal Insufficiency
Adrenal insufficiency is a condition that happens when the adrenal glands do not work as they should.
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Carbohydrates and Diabetes
Making smart choices when it comes to carbs and following the diabetes care plan can help keep your child's blood sugars under control.
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Cushing Syndrome
Cushing syndrome can happen when there are too many glucocorticoid hormones in the body.
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Diabetes Center
Does your child have type 1 or type 2 diabetes? Learn how to manage the disease and keep your child healthy.
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Diabetes To-Go Kit
A diabetes to-go kit holds the supplies your child needs for daily and emergency care. Keep it filled and ready, so you have everything you need at a moment’s notice.
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Diabetes: Getting Comfortable With a New Babysitter
If you haven’t used a babysitter since your child was diagnosed with diabetes, you might have some questions about what to do. Here’s how to be prepared.
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Delayed Puberty
Puberty usually begins in girls 8-14, and in boys 9-15. If kids pass this normal age range without showing any signs of body changes, it's called delayed puberty.
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Thyroid Cancer
Thyroid cancer is uncommon in kids. Most who develop it do very well when the cancer is found and treated early.
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Juvenile Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma
A juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is a growth in the area behind the nose. They're benign but can damage nerves and bones and block ear and sinus drainage. Almost all JNAs are in teenage boys.
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Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a group of health problems that put kids at risk for heart disease and diabetes. With lifestyle changes, many kids improve their health and reduce their risk of disease.
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Craniopharyngioma
A craniopharyngioma is a rare type of benign brain tumor. Most people treated for a craniopharyngioma are cured.
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Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is sometimes mistaken for a stomach virus because symptoms can include fever, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Symptoms usually get better on their own, but sometimes treatment is needed.
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Thyroid Tests
Thyroid blood tests check thyroid function and can help doctors diagnose thyroid disorders such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.
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Thyroid Disease
The thyroid gland makes the hormones that help control metabolism and growth. A thyroid that isn't working properly can cause thyroid disease.
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Klinefelter Syndrome
Boys with this condition have an extra "X" chromosome that prevents them from developing normally during puberty. But hormone treatments, counseling, and other therapies can help.
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Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
An underactive thyroid makes too little thyroid hormone, causing hypothyroidism. Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which causes most cases of hypothyroidism in kids and teens, is a condition in which the immune system attacks the thyroid.
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Hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease
Hyperthyroidism happens when the thyroid gland sends too much thyroid hormone into the blood. The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is Graves' disease.
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Goiters and Thyroid Nodules
An enlarged thyroid gland is a lump that can be felt under the skin at the front of the neck. When it's big enough to see easily, it's called a goiter. A thyroid nodule is a lump or enlarged area in the thyroid gland.
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Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) affects the adrenal glands, which make important hormones. Symptoms depend on a child's age, sex, and which hormones the adrenal glands make too little or too much of.
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Congenital Hypothyroidism
Some babies are born with a thyroid gland that didn't develop correctly or doesn't work as it should. This is called congenital hypothyroidism.