The number of young people with type one diabetes is expected to triple within the next 35 years — and while it shares a name with another well-known disease it's quite different. Our Health Reporter Erin Billups has the story of one teenager's journey to normalcy after her diagnosis.

It was a trip to her orthodontist that put Sofia Scarselli and her parents on alert.

"She thought my eyes looked weird," Sofia said.

"She saved our daughter’s life," said her mother Lysa Scarselli.

Sofia's eyes were bulging because of an overactive thyroid, a condition known as Grave's disease.

Doctors also found that she had type one diabetes which was brought on by her thyroid problems.

"You have a genetic predisposition for it," said Dr. Robert Rapaport, Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Division Chief of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Then some trigger happens that sets off an autoimmune reaction, the autoimmune reaction ultimately will destroy most of the cells that produce insulin."

Sofia is part of an unexplainable growth in children and teens diagnosed with type one diabetes.

Her endocrinologist Dr. Robert Rapaport says the symptoms are often overlooked.

"What we do sometimes see a child who goes to the emergency room because of some vomiting for example, or weight loss, and they do not think of diabetes as a possible cause for that and then they go back, and back and then they present in severe form," Dr. Rapaport said.

Luckily Sofia was diagnosed before falling into a diabetic coma.

In hindsight, the Scarsellis say the signs were there, she was always thirsty, tired, eating without gaining weight, and moody.

"My mom, I would always pick fights with her, and my sister — I was awful to my sister — oh my god," Sofia said.

"We thought she was acting up," her mother Lysa said trying to get our attention. "Little did we know that she couldn't control it."

Now 14, Sofia knows what she can and cannot eat  her moods are more like a normal teen's and she's at a healthy weight.

She hopes to help other newly diagnosed kids transition to their new lifestyle, and wants more people to be educated about type one diabetes.

She's often faced with confused looks as she explains the blood sugar monitor and insulin pump she wears, that she has the kind of diabetes not tied to obesity or poor diet.

Luckily, she has a sense of humor.

"Sometimes I tell them that it's a GPS that my mom put in my thigh or in my arm to track where I'm going," she joked.

For more information about type one diabetes visit this website.