Dear Bunmi,

When my nine-year-old suddenly started wetting the bed years after he had stopped, I noticed he drank water all of the time. When I mentioned this to a close friend who is a nurse, she said I should bring him to the teaching hospital where she worked, she suspected he must have symptoms of diabetes.

I was skeptical until a blood test confirmed it; my son had an insulin-dependent diabetes. He was placed on admission straightaway and I was told it was lucky I brought him as .the glucose levels in his blood were too high. At the level he was, he could have fallen into a coma.

The puzzling thing is that there’d been no history of diabetes in my family or my husband’s, so, why would my son develop it now at such a tender age? He’s since been treated and placed on daily insulin injection.

Karen,
By E-mail

Dear Karen,
Diabetes isn’t necessarily hereditary, anybody can get it. According to medical findings, it can appear suddenly, especially in children or young people. Your son’s body obviously wasn’t producing enough insulin, the hormone that turns glucose into energy.

So, to try to give him the energy he needed, his body was producing even more glucose, but it wasn’t being used – it was building up in his blood and urine instead. That’s why he’d been weeing so much during the night – to get rid of the excess.

Juvenile diabetes, also known as Type 1 or insulin-dependent diabetes, usually develops from birth to age 30. It is not very common and the cause is not known.

Symptoms include drinking lots of water and urinating more, especially at night, wetting the bed, weight loss, headaches, tiredness, vomiting and problems with vision.

There is no cure, but juvenile diabetes can be managed with a strict diet, blood tests and daily insulin injections.

Does this ex still care?

Dear Bunmi,
I’m in-between boyfriends and last month, I ran into an old flame. We became quite talkative at the party where

I ran into him. Afterwards, he offered to take me home. He already told me he had a steady girlfriend, but I wanted sex and orchestrated things so we had it. Now he won’t answer my calls or text messages. It’s as if that night of passion didn’t happen.

What do you suggest I do?
Sherifat,
By E-mail

Dear Sherifat,
There is nothing you can do here. You slept with someone who wasn’t available, so don’t be surprised if, after the sex, he still is not. The problem is not only that he has a girlfriend; it is also that he feels guilty about what he did. So he doesn’t want to be reminded of his slip-up by seeing you.

All these aren’t just your slip-up alone. It takes two to tango and this man is just as responsible. But very sensibly, he doesn’t want to repeat the exercise-and you shouldn’t want to either. So let him go.

Find someone else who is free to love you. And learn that what you did was a bad idea.

Does Masturbation Make You Infertile?

I’m in my twenties and I masturbate a lot – I believe it is more fulfilling than sleeping around. My friend recently told me she read somewhere that masturbation can make you infertile. Is it true?

Judith,
By E-mail

Dear Judith,
Relax. Touching yourself doesn’t cause infetility – that’s just a myth put about by people who don’t want you to enjoy yourself. Of course, you shouldn’t mess about with dirty fingers, which might cause infection. But otherwise, the truth is that masturbation helps keep your sexual parts in working order, and helps you learn what turns you on. Infact, studies suggest women who masturbate are far more likely to enjoy their sex lives and be able to reach orgasm than women who don’t.