When Do Type 1 Diabetes Symptoms Become Apparent?
We now know that that the autoimmune attack starts many years before clinical disease onset. Only when about 60-80% of the insulin-producing cells have been destroyed do the symptoms appear. The combination of genetic markers and markers of autoimmune attack. Antibodies insulin and other constituents of the insulin-secreting cells, can identify close relatives who are special risk of developing the disease within 5 years. Clinical research trials are ongoing to explore treatments to prevent the onset of Type 1 diabetes. There are two peaks of high prevalence of the disease : (1) in early childhood and (2) early teens. Type 1 diabetes can present at any time in life up to very old age. In later years the disease may have a more protected course. Ketoacidosis The most dramatic way in which Type 1 diabetes may present is ketoacidosis. Not infrequently this is triggered by infection or stress, but often no clear trigger is identified. When the body is extremely low on insulin, carbohydrate
