Diabetes Counts: 5/1/11

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Diabetes Counts May 19th Meeting

Please join us if you are in the area and are a type 1 between kindergarten and 12th grade.

We will be meeting

Thursday May 19th, 2011 at

Grand Mesa Middle School

585 31 1/2 Road

Grand Junction, CO 81504

Located south of Patterson / F Road at 31 1/2 Road.

The meeting will begin at 6pm with our guest speaker Debra Bailey, Assistant Professor of Nursing at Mesa State College followed by some time for families to visit.

We look forward to meeting you there.

p.s. We are now proudly listed on http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/support/us-co.htm as the only support group in Colorado please help us spread the news!

What is Type 1 Diabetes?

Diabetes (medically known as diabetes mellitus) is the name given to disorders in which the body has trouble regulating its blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels. There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a disorder of the body's immune system -- that is, its system for protecting itself from viruses, bacteria or any "foreign" substances. A third form of diabetes called monogenic diabetes, is sometimes mistaken for type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's immune system attacks and destroys certian cells in the pancreas, an organ about the size of a hand that is located behind the lower part of the stomach. These cells -- called beta cells -- are contained, along with other types of cells, within small islands of endocrine cells called the pancreatic islets. Beta cells normally produce insulin, a hormone that helps the body move the glucose contained in food into cells throughout the body, which use it for energy. But when the beta cells are destroyed, no insulin can be produced, and the glucose stays in the blood instead, where it can cause serious damage to all the organ systems of the body.

For this reason, people with type 1 diabetes must take insulin in order to stay alive. This means undergoing multiple injections daily, or having insulin delivered through an insulin pump, and testing their blood sugar by pricking their fingers for blood six or more times a day. People with diabetes must also carefully balance their food intake and their exercise to regulate their blood sugar levels, in an attempt to avoid hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and hypergylcemic (high blood sugar) reactions, whick can be life threatening.

This and more, like the signs of type 1 diabetes, can be found on the JDRF website @ http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=101982

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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Diabetes Counts May 19th Meeting

What is Type 1 Diabetes?

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