Diabetes

If you or your child have been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you have come to the right place. Texas Children’s Health Plan offers tools, resources, and food ideas to help members understand diabetes and live a healthier life.

Understanding Diabetes

Normally, our bodies break down the food we eat into sugar (glucose) and other nutrients we need. The blood sugar is then absorbed into the bloodstream, where it can be used for energy. For this to happen, our pancreas needs to produce a hormone called insulin. Insulin is what helps our body pull that sugar from the bloodstream and put them in the cells for use as energy. When someone has diabetes, their pancreas either produces too little or no insulin.

Type 1 diabetes

In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. Without insulin, blood sugar can’t get into the cells and builds up in the bloodstream, which causes the blood sugar levels to rise. High blood sugar is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. When someone has type 2 diabetes, it means that their pancreas still makes insulin, but their body doesn't respond to it normally. This causes their pancreas to make more insulin to try to get the cells to respond. Eventually, the pancreas can’t keep up, and blood sugar levels rise. High blood sugar is damaging to the body and causes many of the symptoms and complications of diabetes.

Managing Diabetes

Hearing that you or your child have diabetes can be a shock. However, you can do a lot to manage it with the support of the Case Management Program from Texas Children’s Health Plan.

Our Case Managers will work with you to develop a care plan that fits your or your child’s needs. They will also help you put this plan into action and offer important services and resources such as:

Diabetes self-management education.
Work with you and your health care team to set up appointments and a treatment plan.
Information on how to check and control your blood glucose and A1C.
Nutrition support.
Constant emotional support.
Resources to help you set and achieve your personal goals.