It took us a good four weeks to understand something was wrong with our son. We had no idea what the symptoms were for Type 1 diabetes and it wasn’t until he had lost almost 10 pounds and was having to go to the bathroom hourly that we finally brought him into the hospital.

As Type 1 diabetes often strikes children at a younger age or when they are in rapid development, sometimes the symptoms of diabetes don’t look like symptoms at all. But now we know; there are five classic warning signs that perhaps your child is suffering: extreme thirst, excessive urination, non-stop eating, weight loss and uncharacteristic mood swings.

Extreme Thirst

Being thirsty is normal, especially during summer. And asking for a glass of water just at bedtime is a classic stalling tactic kids employ all around the world. However watch out for true excessive thirst in your child. Ours was drinking possibly 10-15 litres of water a day consistently over the course of a couple of weeks. He was constantly asking for more.

Excessive Urination

Coupled with a lot of drinking you will naturally think that excessive urination is simply a result. As we did, you’ll try to coax your child into drinking less so that they don’t have to go to the bathroom as often. For us, the first signs were bedwetting. Our son hadn’t wet his bed since he was maybe three years old, and so when he started to do it again at seven we were a little upset.

“Come on, go to the bathroom before you sleep and no water!” We tried that for a while but he continued to wet his bed. During the day he was constantly asking to run to the bathroom. Finally, when he was wetting his bed three and four times a night, we knew something was really wrong.

Non-stop hunger

Kids go through growth spurts and when they do they tend to eat a lot more than normal. “He’s just a growing young boy,” we told each other. But pretty soon it was obvious that he was eating WAY more than anyone should. At one point, he sat and ate six apples in a row. This symptom probably would still not have tripped us up if it hadn’t been combined with the next.

Weight Loss

How could he possibly be losing weight when he is eating so much? Unfortunately, during the same few weeks that his symptoms progressed, our son also grew almost an inch and a half, so everyone around was simply commenting how quickly he was growing. As we were traveling during a bit of this time, we weren’t around any scales, so we never had the chance to weigh him. When we finally did, we realized that he had lost almost 10 pounds! He was eating (and peeing) like a horse, drinking constantly and yet here he was 10 pounds lighter. Oh oh.

An Absolute Grump

We’re very lucky. We have a very even-tempered child. Yeah, like all children he can get into a mood. He can argue back, get angry, cry, all those things. But as his symptoms progressed we had a couple of experiences that simply threw us for a loop. At one point he absolutely refused to speak on the phone, to the point of screaming. He has never screamed and I was at an absolute loss. This didn’t seem to be my kid.

The most difficult thing about recognizing Type 1 diabetes is that alone, each of the symptoms may not cause alarm. And maybe even combined, they can go a bit unnoticed because basically your child will likely feel just fine. But if you do start to see your child exhibit these symptoms together (all of them), it will be worth your while to get into your doctor and get them checked.

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