Diabetic teenagers typically need to practice the measures that can help diabetes patients of any age, including those with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, secondary diabetes and maturity-onset diabetes of the young. The teen’s physician will design a unique treatment plan. General measures include:

• Following a nutritious diet
• Engaging in regular exercise
• Performing glucose monitoring regularly
• Receiving health care regularly
• Taking insulin or other diabetes medications as prescribed
• Having a sick-day plan

In addition, several factors emerge during adolescence that may affect a patient’s diabetes management plan. These include alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Many teens try legal and illegal drugs. These substances pose many dangers to short-term and long-term general health, but they can pose extra problems for teens with diabetes:

• Alcohol. Alcohol itself can lower glucose (blood sugar), and the sugary mixes used in many alcoholic beverages can cause glucose levels to surge. Diabetic teens who drink on an empty stomach are at great risk for hypoglycemia, and those who eat too much while drinking are at risk for hyperglycemia. In addition, alcohol impairment can mask the symptoms of hypoglycemia, adding to the danger that it will go unrecognized by diabetic teens and others. Finally, alcohol reduces the body’s ability to recover to normal glucose levels after a bout of hypoglycemia.
  
  Many teens drink, even though 21 is the legal drinking age in the United States and many other nations ban drinking before age 18. Diabetic teens who drink are making a potentially fatal decision. Though experts say that abstaining from all alcohol is by far the healthiest choice for teens with diabetes, those teens who do drink should avoid beverages that are high in alcohol and sugar and other carbohydrates. Teens also are urged to account for beverages’ contents and calories in their meal plan.
  
  
• Smoking. Use of tobacco is a detriment to anyone’s health, but it can be particularly dangerous for patients with diabetes. Smoking compounds the risk of developing diabetic complications that have already been seen in some teens, including diabetic angiopathy, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure and gum disease (gingivitis). Recent data from the U.S. National Surveys on Drug Use and Health confirm that smoking cigarettes predisposes teens to alcohol and drug abuse. Teens who smoke are courting a potentially lifelong addiction that can cause major and irreversible health problems.

• Illegal drugs. Like alcohol, illegal drugs can cause glucose levels to fall too low or rise too high. In addition, drug use can mask the symptoms related to changes in glucose levels, making it more likely that the teen will be unaware of the danger of hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. Drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine (meth) and intravenously injected drugs have been found to increase the risk of stroke in diabetic young adults.