Chennai: Children with type 1 diabetes, like adults with similar problem, are dependent on insulin for life but this should not deter them from enjoying holidays or routine life, says city endocrinologist, Dr Jayashree Gopal. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that destroys the insulin producing cells in the pancreas, preventing the body from producing the insulin that it needs to maintain the right level of blood glucose.
Most often, such patients are dependent on insulin on a daily basis.“Parents need not be apprehensive over the safety and health of their kids with type 1 diabetes while travelling provided certain measures are in place to manage the health conditions,” says Dr Jayashree Gopal, endocrinologist, senior consultant in diabetes and endocrinology, Apollo Hospitals, here.
In fact, such kids can grow up like normal persons and take up any profession except certain jobs like pilot or operating heavy machinery. Advising adequate stock of the vials and needles, she says though insulin is supplied free at government hospitals, a vial of 300 units is available for '100 in the open market.
There could be a ray of hope for type 1 diabetics if the insulin inhaler, similar to the puff used by those suffering from asthma, launched in the U.S. a month ago, is made available in the Indian market. “This could reduce the number of injections per day,” Dr Jayashree said, and added that in India, over 1,00,000 children are affected by type 1 diabetes and the number is rising.
