What is Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus?
Type I diabetes mellitus – otherwise known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM)- is considered to be an autoimmune disease. This disease usually begins in childhood or in the young adult years and tends to be more prevalent among females than males (InteliHealth 1999). Accounting for only 5% or less of diabetes in the United States, IDDM is not the most common form of diabetes. However, the physiological effects of IDDM tend to have a much greater impact upon patients’ lives than the more common adult-onset form of diabetes known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM) (InteliHealth 1999). Thus, a thorough understanding IDDM and the possible methods of prevention and treatment of this disease is of utmost importance. Simply put, IDDM results when the immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. The results of this attack are a pancreas that produces little or no insulin (Fig 1) and an inability to regulate the level of
