Diabetes and its Associated Gastrointestinal Disorders in Adolescents

An adolescent with diabetes faces very different challenges than a young adult or grownup with diabetes. Failure to acknowledge and address this will result in noncompliance and absence from the clinic. Type I diabetes is the most prevalent metabolic illness in childhood and adolescence, although Type II diabetes in adolescents is frequently associated with obesity, which may contribute to these increased risks. Obesity impairs the body's capacity to utilize insulin, resulting in elevated blood sugar levels. Among younger people, early identification of type II diabetes as well as dedication to controlling overweight and obesity are critical. As a result, a number of people with diabetes mellitus who have had it for a long time experience chronic and recurrent clinical symptoms related to the disordered motility of almost the entire GI tract, such as esophageal and epi-pharyngeal dysphagia, gastroparesis, constipation, diarrhea, and fecal incontinence. Dietary changes are one of the therapeutic methods used to treat chronic recurrent symptoms caused by autonomic dysfunction. Dietary manipulations and several medications, including dopamine antagonists, antibiotics, and hormones, promote peristalsis. On the other hand, gastrointestinal symptoms related to acute metabolic problems are self-limited and resolve quickly after the normal metabolic environment has been restored.

Keywords: Adolescence, Gastrointestinal diseases, Type I Diabetes, Type II Diabetes.