Juvenile Diabetes And The Honeymoon Period

In many children with juvenile diabetes a period occurs shortly after being diagnosed they go through what is commonly called as the honeymoon period. This is a time when your child’s blood sugar levels will return to normal without the aid of additional insulin. It is important to remember that this happens in a lot of children and does not mean that the disease has gone away. The pancreas is still trying to do its job and is working overtime to make insulin for your child’s body. Following are some guidelines to follow when this happens.

The length of the honeymoon period is not the same for everyone. In one child it can last months while in another child it can feasibly last for over a year. It all depends on how much insulin your child’s pancreas can produce and how long it can keep up that rate of production. It will be hard to figure out how much if any insulin your child needs during this time when their blood sugar levels are normal. Constant monitoring of the blood glucose levels is still required, because you will not know when the honeymoon period is over otherwise.

Keep in close contact with your health care provider. He or she will help in determining what the best plan is to follow during the honeymoon phase. Some may even want you to give minute amounts of insulin daily in order to keep your child used to the injections and your child’s body accustomed to the additional insulin it will need.

It can be emotionally hard for your child during the honeymoon phase. Everything will seem back to normal and they are going to want to resume their life like it was prior to diagnosis. It is important to remain on the diabetic diet and continue monitoring during this time.