Question

By the time 14-year-old Jake got home from school he was sick enough for his mom to notice. He seemed shaky and confused. He was sweaty even though it was cool fall weather. “Jake let’s get you a glass of juice right away,” his mother said in a calm manner. She was very familiar with the symptoms. Jake was diagnosed with diabetes at age 6. His mother was very familiar with monitoring his insulin, eating, and exercise. Now that Jake was in middle school he was taking on more of his own monitoring, but he seemed to mess up often.

“Yeah, I know I shouldn’t have waited so long to eat,” Jake muttered once he was feeling better. “Mom, you just don’t understand. I don’t want to be different than the other kids!” Jake’s mom was on the phone with the school nurse before he could finish his sentence.

Jake needed to inject himself with insulin 3 times a day. He knew what would happen if his blood glucose got too high or if he didn’t eat regularly and it got too low. But when he was on a field trip he hated to go to the chaperone and say that he needed to eat something immediately. And he hated going to the nurse every day to do his injections. Even worse, if he didn’t report to the nurse between fourth and fifth period the nurse would come to the classroom to get him and pull him out of class.

Jake was tired of having this disease, sick of shots and angry that he could not sleep in or skip a meal like the other kids. He made a face as his mother was on the phone with the nurse and slammed the door on his way out to find his friend Joe.

1. What type of diabetes does Jake have?
2. Why is it more difficult for Jake to maintain his routine in middle school?

Answer 1

Jake is having either type I or type II diabetes, because in both typeI and typeII diabetes there is excessive sweating and if the sugar falls, the patient feels sick, shaky and confused. Similar symptoms are found in Jake, who is sweating in a cool weather. He  is also confused and shaky and needed a glass of juice immediately to bring his sugar level to normal. His sugar level falls due to taking of insulin and not taking food at the right time. It is more difficult for Jake to maintain his routine in middle school, because probably in middle school the breaks are given after a long gap and Jake can not not eat according to his time. If he skips a meal his sugar falls and he falls sick.