How to Treat Childhood Diabetes
Introduction to Childhood Diabetes:
Childhood diabetes is an endocrine metabolic disorder caused by insufficient insulin secretion, characterized by carbohydrate, protein, and fat metabolism disorders, leading to fasting and postprandial hyperglycemia and glucosuria. Clinical manifestations include polydipsia, polyuria, polyphagia, and weight loss. Children are prone to ketoacidosis, and late-stage complications often involve the eyes and kidneys. Childhood diabetes can occur at different ages, with a higher incidence during the school-age and adolescence stages, with no gender differences. According to different causes, childhood diabetes can be divided into primary diabetes and secondary diabetes. Primary diabetes can be further divided into insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), also known as type 1 diabetes, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), also known as type 2 diabetes. Secondary diabetes includes pancreatic diseases, hormone receptor abnormalities, and impaired glucose tolerance. Insulin-dependent diabetes is more common in children. Currently, the incidence of type 2 diabetes in children has increased, with decreased insulin sensitivity and higher insulin secretion levels compared to normal individuals.
According to experts in diabetes treatment, traditional Chinese medicine treatment of diabetes must focus on identifying the causes, so the first step is to classify childhood diabetes.
Now let's see how traditional Chinese medicine treats childhood diabetes?
Treating Childhood Diabetes with Traditional Chinese Medicine:
Dry mouth, excessive thirst, increased urination, restlessness, redness at the sides of the tongue, and rapid pulse indicate the need for clearing heat and relieving dryness. The main ingredients of the prescription include trichosanthes root, rehmannia root, coptis root, and ophiopogon root. If there are also symptoms of delayed development and easy fatigue, ginseng, schisandra fruit, and astragalus root can be added.
Delayed development, significantly shorter height, frequent complaints of soreness in the lower back and knees, foamy and turbid urine, increased and frequent urination, and insomnia are indications for nourishing yin and strengthening the kidneys. The main ingredients of the prescription are Chinese yam, poria, dogwood fruit, cooked rehmannia root, and goji berries. If there are obvious frequent urination symptoms, walnut, mulberry fruit, and polygonum stem can be added.
Always feeling hungry, unable to eat enough, increasingly thin body, hard stools, and yellow and dry tongue coating indicate the need for clearing the stomach and relieving dryness. The main ingredients of the prescription are gypsum, anemarrhena root, licorice root, scutellaria root, and kudzu root. If these symptoms have been present for some time, poria, white atractylodes rhizome, platycodon root, tangerine peel, hyacinth bean, and amomum fruit can be added.
If the patient has been suffering from diabetes for a period of time and develops chronic complications such as vascular sclerosis, kidney disease, retinal lesions, numbness in the extremities, and itchy skin, the above types should be the main focus, and some blood-activating and stasis-removing drugs such as peach kernel, moutan bark, prunella, lycopus, and red paeony can be added to improve blood circulation.
How Traditional Chinese Medicine Treats Childhood Diabetes, Methods for Treating Childhood Diabetes, How to Care for Childhood Diabetes Patients
How to Care for Childhood Diabetes Patients:
Children with diabetes are generally diagnosed during primary or middle school, although there are rare cases of diabetes occurring two months after birth. Due to their young age, they may have difficulty understanding and comprehending the comprehensive treatment of diabetes, so it is necessary for parents and doctors to be more attentive and patient in helping and guiding them in coping with diabetes.
Dietary control can be challenging for children with diabetes, as they may find it difficult to accept the restrictions on their diet. Parents and doctors should provide guidance and make specific requirements based on the characteristics of children of different ages, and advocate for planned diets instead of strict dietary control.
Children are usually active and enjoy playing, making it difficult to control their physical activity. Parents and doctors should provide care and ensure that they engage in regular physical activity without overexertion.
Most children with diabetes require insulin treatment. Parents and children should prepare themselves mentally and financially for long-term insulin injections. They should not believe in false claims of "ancestral secret formulas" or "new medical methods" that promise to cure diabetes and stop using insulin without professional advice, as it may lead to serious consequences.
Similar to adult diabetes patients, children with diabetes also need regular blood glucose monitoring. However, it can be difficult to collect blood samples from children who attend school every day. Fortunately, the correlation between urine glucose and blood glucose is relatively high in children, so monitoring urine glucose can be used to observe changes in the condition.
Adolescence is a period when insulin-dependent diabetes is more likely to occur, and it is also a time of significant blood sugar fluctuations and increased insulin requirements. The patient, parents, and doctor should all pay sufficient attention to this stage.
