Type 1 Diabetes in children is on the rise. According to recent studies In the United States, 29.1 million people are living with diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes, and about 208,000 people younger than 20 years are living with diagnosed diabetes. How can we best help our children? What options are available to us?
What We Are Missing in Conventional Care?
When I got the call from the doctor that fateful day, (February 2nd, 2012, to be exact), our lives changed forever. “Carla,” she said, “your daughter has diabetes.”
I stood in my friends entrance with my silver flip phone in my hand while my 3 children bustled around me getting their boots and jackets on to go home. But we weren’t going home. We were going to the hospital.
When we arrived in the hospital, we trusted the staff to tell us what to do, but it didn’t take long before I realised that our goals and theirs were much different, that they had no answers for us, only a “hush, darling, don’t ask too much,” in response to my questions which later escalated to demands.
7 years later, I have finally learned all that I should have been taught then, all that I should have been taught all my life, really. The true answers to: “what happened?” and “why?” and “where do we go from here?”
My goals were not to limp my daughter along with disempowering complacency; short-sighted, impotent goals; and substandard care, heading to the hospital whenever things hit critical mass. They were to find out what caused my daughter’s illness and then to help her to recover from it in every way: mind, spirit, and body. Instinctually, I knew that there was more to this health thing than what I had ever been taught. And then I found functional medicine. The science and research, the upgraded and integrative health paradigm, together matched what my mama instinct, my scientist brain, my poet heart all knew was right: there was more, much more, for her.
As a mother 7 years into this journey with my own daughter AND as a family health professional, I can tell you that much about what we are taught about Type 1 Diabetes through conventional medicine is only part of the story, and in some cases, it’s not even the story at all. Functional assessments, environmental causal factors, infectious causal factors, lifestyle factors, the connection to the central nervous system and to the GI tract, the mechanisms behind autoimmunity, trauma as both causal and as a result of a diagnosis, epigenetics, all play significant roles in the onset and perpetuation of Type 1 Diabetes. And they all hold keys to the vault of wellness battened down with many heavy chains.
When we don’t take a functional, holistic approach, we miss the opportunity to open up an entire world of possibilities.
Did you know that:
- Intestinal permeability is one of the triad of causal factors for autoimmunity?
- Many children who have Type 1 Diabetes also have Celiac Disease, many of whom are undiagnosed?
- Type 1 Diabetes can be linked to Hemochromatosis, vaccine injury, and a sensitivity to milk (specifically the peptide casein A1-b)
- There ARE causes for the onset of Type 1 Diabetes (not just bad luck), and Type 1 can be prevented for our other children.
- The Central Nervous System plays an integral role in the onset and perpetuation of Type 1 Diabetes.
- Therapies such as craniosacral therapy, photobiomodulation, aromatherapy, and acupressure can significantly reduce blood sugar levels.
- Wifi can significantly increase blood sugar levels.
- Controlling bloodsugars is not just a numbers game, but contingent on a myriad of chemical, hormonal, nutritional, viral, emotional, environmental, and bacterial factors.
- Mental health is profoundly affected by uncontrolled bloodsugars, the stress caused by a diagnosis (for parents and the children being diagnosed), and the root causes of the diabetes creating additional health problems.
My concern is this: what are parents not being taught about diet, exercise, rest, environment, causes, solutions, treatments, recovery, and future health outcomes? Parents are more than ready to get off of the emotional and physical rollercoaster of chronic illness and to help their children take charge of their health so they can get on with the business of living.
In this series of articles, I will tell you all I know about NOT simply managing Type 1 Diabetes but transcending the diagnosis. As a holistic family health consultant and mother of a daughter with Type 1 Diabetes, I have a lot to share with you about a new way to view Type 1 Diabetes and how to help your children stabilize blood sugars, feel better and more healthy on a daily basis, minimize or eliminate hospital visits and emergencies, and prevent co-morbitidities and further health complications. You can and should be empowered to create your own child’s healing plan so your family can move beyond the diagnosis.
To read Carla’s series of articles about causes, solutions, and a new prognosis for your child with Type 1 Diabetes, please CLICK HERE
To Listen to Carla’s Interview about Diabetes and Children Please CLICK HERE
Carla Atherton, MA, FDN-P, Family Health Coach, is the director of The Healthy Family Formula, host of The Children’s and Teen Health Summit, author of the forthcoming book Family Health Revolution (release date: April 15th, 2019), editor, book junkie, research geek, insatiably curious mother of three grown (son age 20), almost grown (daughter age 18), and growing (daughter age 15) children, one of whom has Type 1 Diabetes. Carla lives on an acreage in rural Saskatchewan, Canada, where she works from a home office with families from all over the world on the reversal of conditions such as, Autoimmunity: Type 1 Diabetes, PANDAS/PANS/Autoimmune Encephalitis, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Celiac Disease and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity; Asthma, Allergies, Eczema, and Reactivity; ADHD, Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, Learning Disabilities; Depression, Anxiety, Mental Health Disorders, Eating Disorders, ODD; Other Neurological Conditions; Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and Metabolic Disorders; Untangling Mystery Symptoms, Complex Cases, and Co-Morbidities (having more than one condition); Mold Illness; Multiple Chemical Sensitivity; Lyme; Other Infection; and Addictions. Carla is on a revolutionary mission to empower families to transcend our new normal of ill health and chronic disease.