what is type 1 diabetes
August 6, 2010 by admin
Filed under Featured, understanding diabetes fact
What is Type 1 diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5 % of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. The causes of type 1 diabetes are very complicated and still not fully understood. People who has type 1 diabetes, their pancreas is not able to produce insulin and the pancreas is almost destroyed at all. The pancreas cannot function at all. Type 1 diabetes is categorized as one type of auto immune disease which means the body’s cell self attack the cells in the pancreas.
Normally type 1 diabetics are thought to have inherited predisposition to diabetes that usually happen in children, teenagers or young adult. That is why there is another name for type 1 diabetes is juvenile diabetes. We discover that most of the type 1 diabetics are under the age of 25. We believe this may due to some genetic link that causes this disease. However, the detailed reasons are not discovered yet.
Normally, people who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are always in shock. This is because the type 1 diabetes are not linked to unhealthy life style or obesity. It is different from the causes of type 2 diabetes. Hence, the diagnosis results are always very surprising to the diabetics.
Treatment for type 1 diabetes
As the pancreas cannot function, so the treatment for type 1 diabetic is to provide insulin injections daily. The amount of insulin taken may vary with the diet and the weight throughout the years. Other than that, type 1 diabetics need to monitor the amount of ketones in their urine carefully every morning. This is because when the ketones exist in large amount, they are more likely to get diabetic ketoacidosis which is a very serious condition. Ketoacidosis is when the liver breaks down fat and proteins in response to a perceived need for respiratory substrate. This is where the body is not getting enough energy from food but has to get it from the fat cells.
However, as I mentioned before, the numbers of type 1 diabetics are relatively small if compared to the increasing numbers of type 2 diabetics which account for nearly 90 – 95% of diagnosed diabetes cases.
