Puberty, What is it? This is when your
glands and hormones become active and your body changes into its adult shape. Hormones are chemicals produced within your body and carried by your blood to stimulate changes, e.g. growth hormones that stimulate the growth of bone and muscle during puberty.
When does it begin?
Puberty begins over a wide range of ages for all teenagers - usually at about 10-14 years of age for girls and 12-14 years for boys.
How can puberty affect diabetes?
Hormones act as anti-insulin agents, raising your blood sugar level, making it harder to control your diabetes.
Due to the fluctuations in your insulin requirements, you will probably have to adjust your insulin dosage more frequently.
It can be frustrating when you are trying to maintain good diabetes control and the balance is still not right.
What physical changes take place?
In boys
- Growth of muscle and bone, and a marked increase in height.
- The voice "breaks"
- Growth of hair on the face, underarms, chest, abdomen and pubic area
- Enlargement of the penis, the scrotum and prostate gland.
- The seminiferous tubules mature and spermatozoa is produced
In girls
- The reproductive organs i.e. the uterue (womb), the uterine tubes and the ovaries reach maturity.
- The menstrual cycle (periods) and ovulation (production of eggs) begins.
- The breasts develop and enlarge.
- Pubic and underarm hair begin to grow.
- There is a widening of the pelvis.
- There is an increase in the amount of fat deposit in the body.
Do periods have any effect on diabetes
The menstrual cycle (periods) affects everyone differently with or without diabetes. Some women get "the munchies" for a couple of days before the start of their periods. The same can apply to women with diabetes but this may be associated with low blood sugar.
It is important to look out for a pattern in your blood sugar around the time of your periods in order to make the appropriate adjustments to your insulin.
