DIABETES: QUESTIONS ABOUT INSULIN TAKING AND INJECTIONS
Can insulin be taken by mouth?
No. It is destroyed by digestive juices and can be given only by injection.
When I grow up to be an adult will I be able to be on tablets like other adult diabetics?
Not according to our present knowledge about diabetes. Certainly some adults can be treated adequately by tablets, but they have a different type of diabetes. Once a child has developed diabetes he has the same type of diabetes for the rest of his life and this type of diabetes requires insulin. It would be impossible to predict what changes in treatment will occur as a result of research which is now taking place in diabetes, but it would be wrong for you as a child to look forward to the time when you no longer have to have injections.
You sometimes see on television or on the pictures a story in which there is great drama because a person with diabetes is likely to die if he does not have his injection. Could this happen to me if I missed out on my injection or was unable to have it one morning?
No. You would not die if you missed out on an injection of insulin. Certainly your blood glucose would rise and you might get thirsty, but this could be corrected with extra insulin injections later in the day. Naturally it is not good for you to miss out on an injection but it would not be the drama that is sometimes made out in adventure fiction.
If you felt very sick in the morning and could not eat your breakfast, would you omit your insulin that day?
On no account miss out your insulin even if you do not think you are going to be able to eat your usual meals. The body still needs insulin to burn up energy and you can take sugar by drinking fruit drinks or soft drinks or other sugar substitutes for your diet if you are unwell. If you omit the insulin your body will burn up fat and this will make you more sick.
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