Everyone! If you have young children or even young adults the more so to you. While it may not ever happen to you but having the knowledge of these signs, you may be able to help someone else.

You don't need to know everything about Juvenile diabetes or every signs to prevent a trip to the emergency. But knowing just these few can alert you to call your child's doctor if he or she needs to be seen. Here are the signs I had noticed in my daughter prior to being diagnosed with the disease. She was unusually thirsty and no matter how much water she consumed, the thirst was never satisfied. At the time I didn't realized how frequent she made her visits to the bathroom. So frequent urination is another sign.

She was nearly eight and I didn't had reason to pay attention to how often she used the bathroom. She complaint about occasional stomach pains. I checked her temperature it was normal and I thought maybe her pants were too tight at the waist. I had even talked to my next door neighbor who is a registered nurse, about her stomach pains but she did not know what that could be. We had noticed rapid weight loss within a month time. Since she seemed to be active and well, we thought she was going through a growth spurt. The shape of her face slimmed down, not that she was fat in the first place.

She was just average size kid for her age. The skin on her face was very dry and scaly. Here in Idaho, we have very dry cold winters. So we thought it was the weather that caused the dry skin. Then that week came she was tired and didn't feel good. She had low energy. We kept her home from school for a couple of days and she seemed to feel better. We sent her back to school Wednesday (it was only a half day) and also on Thursday and Friday. Her energy seemed to be up and down. I didn't realized then but it was the effects of the X2O water that had boost her energy level somewhat some time of the day. But by Friday after school, her energy level was so low she just lay on the couch the rest of the day. we had been trying figure out what she was coming down with. She didn't have a fever.

She was just weak. Her appetite was not very good either. We thought we keep watch on her and if she doesn't improve we would take her to the doctor on Monday. We talked with some of our friends about Abby's very low energy. One told us maybe it was Mono because it sounded like something her son had recently. By Sunday evening she was so weak she couldn't even manage to go to the bathroom on her own. That was when I realized how often she needed to use the bathroom. It was every few minutes! I had her sleep in my bed so I could help her when she needed to use the bathroom that night. We plan on taking her to the doctor's the next morning. By 3 AM I helped her to the bathroom and she complained of difficulty in breathing. I woke my husband and told him we needed to take her to the emergency immediately. Our lives were forever changed after that.

When to call your child's doctor?

If your child shows signs of unusual thirst, frequent urination, weight loss, very dry skin, very low energy (these are just a few of the major symptoms associated with Type 1 Diabetes), call your child's doctor. Tell the doctor those symptoms and see if you need to take your child in to have him/ her glucose checked out. All it takes is a simple finger prick to check the glucose level. Had I known about these signs I could have prevented the trip to the emergency room and Pediatric ICU for my daughter.

It has been nearly a year now since my daughter had been diagnose with Juvenile diabetes and I have become quite educated about the disease. Though I am not an expert in the matter but I can share with you in this site as I continue to be educated through my personal experiences. I hope to help educate and make aware that Type 1 Diabetes or Juvenile Diabetes can happen to anyone who has the gene makeup for the disease and it doesn't necessary inherited.