Sobering Type 1 Statistic...
This was sent to me by Jeff Hitchcock at Children With Diabetes (an invaluable resource for those dealing with Type 1):
"Young adults aged 20-29 years with type 1 diabetes are 4 times more likely to die than their peers without diabetes, a rate that is higher than at any other age. These deaths are largely due to preventable causes: diabetic ketoacidosis and suicide."
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/176/2/212
Boy, oh boy.
I know the excerpt says "preventable," but just how the hell do we prevent the emotional pain that causes this to happen?
As for DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis): When an already diagnosed person goes into DKA, I have to wonder if it was a failure of due diligence during an illness. Surely a depressed young person would have trouble keeping on top of such a thing. Another reason young women (in particular, but not ONLY females) go into DKA is that they are trying to lose weight by skipping insulin doses, making their body burn fat instead of carbs and releasing ketones that in a person with Type 1 Diabetes can turn deadly. I suppose you could count this as a type of eating disorder.
As for suicide, of course that is linked with depression as well.
How do you prevent this excruciating depression? Especially when a big cause is a disease which is chronic, nonpreventable, and noncurable?
Especially at ages 20-29, when they are not living at home with us any longer?
Our kids have to carry so much already. This too? :(
"Young adults aged 20-29 years with type 1 diabetes are 4 times more likely to die than their peers without diabetes, a rate that is higher than at any other age. These deaths are largely due to preventable causes: diabetic ketoacidosis and suicide."
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content
Boy, oh boy.
I know the excerpt says "preventable," but just how the hell do we prevent the emotional pain that causes this to happen?
As for DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis): When an already diagnosed person goes into DKA, I have to wonder if it was a failure of due diligence during an illness. Surely a depressed young person would have trouble keeping on top of such a thing. Another reason young women (in particular, but not ONLY females) go into DKA is that they are trying to lose weight by skipping insulin doses, making their body burn fat instead of carbs and releasing ketones that in a person with Type 1 Diabetes can turn deadly. I suppose you could count this as a type of eating disorder.
As for suicide, of course that is linked with depression as well.
How do you prevent this excruciating depression? Especially when a big cause is a disease which is chronic, nonpreventable, and noncurable?
Especially at ages 20-29, when they are not living at home with us any longer?
Our kids have to carry so much already. This too? :(
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