I have a 29-month-old daughter who was very healthy. In fact, she never had to go to a doctor. But, suddenly, starting on July 30, she started drinking a lot of water and urinating a lot. Then, on August 3, we took her to the hospital. The doctor checked her glucose level on her blood and found it high, 36.6 mmol/L [659 mg/dl]. The doctor said it was type 1 diabetes. This is making me nervous, pained and very emotional. I don’t know how can I express it. It is very hard for me to believe. I feel very bad when I cannot do anything.

I would be grateful if you could kindly let me know the progress in developing medicine for type 1 diabetes. How long does it take to get the medicine on the market? Is there any research in the field of oral medicine for diabetes? Do you think any Eastern medicine (like Ayurbeda, Chinese, Japanese, natural therapy, etc.) has the current capability to cure type 1 diabetes? Also, are there any known causes of the type 1 diabetes? Is there any doctor or hospital where the type 1 diabetes can be cured? I don’t like to see my daughter crying during the blood checking and insulation injection.

For your information, we don’t have any family history of diabetes and we don’t eat any junk foods. We always eat healthy and fresh foods. In fact, my daughter never had any junk food and drinks. But, still I don’t know why/how she got diabetes. Do you think the high glucose level is because of some other thing, not due to diabetes? Can it be possible that it is temporary for some weeks?

Sorry to say that with such symptoms and high blood glucose, it is unlikely that this is something other than diabetes. You should be working closely with your Australian pediatric diabetes team. I can assure you that, within just a few days or weeks, your daughter will relax and not complain as much about the blood finger tests or the insulin injections. This may be hard to believe so soon after diagnosis and with so much emotional chaos and turmoil in your child as well as parents and everyone else in the family, but that’s what happens as things smooth out and become more routine. The parents’ job is to learn these tasks and do them rather quickly and matter-of-factly so that each child understands that this will take place and move on to eat, play, etc.

There, unfortunately, is no known cure for type 1 diabetes that is safe for people yet. We can do this in some animal models, but the cure is too dangerous right now. The is lots of research all around the world looking to get this done. Non-Western medicine approaches are helpful for a lot of things, but not yet for type 1 diabetes, although if one can learn to relax and reduce stress, this can only be helpful even with type 1 diabetes. Many of the herbal type medications do not offer very much improvement in glucose control, although some are used for type 2 diabetes and probably work similar to Western pills. Some research in these areas is ongoing but the Western pills usually are more reliable and more consistent than natural products.

An excellent manual for you to purchase is Insulin-Dependent Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and Adults by Ragnar Hanas, M.D., which has great and up-to-date information for you and the family. Understanding Diabetes, 11th Edition (also known as The Pink Panther book) by Peter Chase is also excellent as is Diabetes Care for Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers by Jean Betschart. All are available on web book stores.

SB