What is Type 1 diabetes?
There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes cause blood sugar levels to become higher than normal. However, they cause it in different ways. Type 1 diabetes (formerly called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes) results when the pancreas loses its ability to make the hormone insulin. In type 1 diabetes, the person’s own immune system attacks and destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Once those cells are destroyed, they won’t ever make insulin again. Although no one knows for certain why this happens, scientists think it has something to do with genes. But just getting the genes for diabetes isn’t usually enough. A person probably would then have to be exposed to something else – like a virus – to get type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes can’t be prevented, and there is no practical way to predict who will get it. There is nothing that either a parent or the child did to cause the disease. Once a person has type 1 d
Type 1 diabetes affects 700,000 people in the United States and is the most common chronic metabolic disorder to affect children. It is most common in Caucasian populations, especially those in Scandinavia, and rare in people of Asian or African descent. Type 1 diabetes is less common than Type 2 diabetes, accounting for only five to ten percent of all cases.
There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Each type causes high blood sugar levels in a different way. In type 1 diabetes (which used to be called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes), the pancreas can’t make insulin. That’s because — for some reason doctors don’t completely understand — the body’s immune system attacked the pancreas and destroyed the cells that make insulin. When a person has type 1 diabetes, the body is still able to get glucose from food, but the lack of insulin means that glucose can’t get into the cells where it’s needed. So the glucose stays in the blood. This makes the blood sugar level very high and causes health problems. Once a person has type 1 diabetes, the pancreas can’t ever make insulin again. To fix this problem, someone who has type 1 diabetes needs to take insulin through regular shots or an insulin pump. Type 2 diabetes is different from type 1 diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas still makes insulin. But the insulin
According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, approximately 10% of people with diabetes have Type 1 diabetes. If you’re one of them, it means that your body cannot produce the insulin it needs. The reason why your pancreas can’t make insulin is because islet cells have been destroyed. It’s suspected that an auto-immune disorder or a viral infection is involved. Either way, you should know that there is nothing you could have done to prevent having this disease. This condition develops in 5% to 10% of people under the age of 30. People with Type 1 diabetes are treated with insulin provided by syringes, insulin pens or insulin pumps. Their blood glucose levels must be monitored closely to enable them to balance insulin, food and physical activity as a means of controlling the disease.
