Diabetes occurs when the pancreas doesn't make enough insulin to process food. Type 2 diabetes usually is treated with diet, exercise and sometimes oral medication. And the numbers are growing. The prevalence is higher. In any high school of 2,000 kids, it probably has two to four kids in it with diabetes.
Diabetic teens can find it tough to maintain a healthy routine.
For one thing, kids with diabetes cannot snack on sweets as freely as others. And, there's a lot to do on a daily basis. During Christmas vacation, there's no vacation from diabetes. You still have to wake up at 7 in the morning for your insulin shot. Complicating that, Kinstlinger said, is a teenager's tendency to test his limits and not think beyond the moment.