Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that occurs when T cells attack and destroy most of the beta cells in the pancreas that are needed to produce insulin, so that the pancreas makes little to no insulin.
Commonly confused with Type 2 Diabetes, Type 1 cannot be cured or prevented. Rather, it is a chronic illness that makes you have to think before you act on regular decisions one takes for granted. Decisions like eating, exercising, and simply going out with friends. Diabetes is all about time management, organization, and strictly regimenting yourself.
Before I go any further, there are a few things you should know to NEVER say to a Type 1 Diabetic:
- Do you have Diabetes because you ate too much sugar?
- I heard you can easily get rid of that by exercising or eating really healthy.
- What’s that thing on your arm?
- Do the needles hurt?
To answer these questions before you ask and offend another person living with this chronic illness…
- No, you cannot get Type 1 from eating unhealthy. That’s Type 2 (common in people with obesity or over the age of 45).
- Again, Type 1 cannot be cured. No matter what people without a medical degree say. They are constantly working on a cure though, so until then, diabetics will be diabetic.
- That “thing” on my arm keeps me alive. I have two “things” on my arm, but not every diabetic chooses to. I have an insulin pump and a constant glucose monitor that stay attached to my body 24/7.
- Yes, needles will always hurt. No one likes needles and no one gets used to the feeling of them.
To make the answers to these questions a bit clearer, I’ll delve deeper in what being a diabetic entails.
Having Type 1 Diabetes means that your pancreas does not work. A pancreas produces insulin, which helps to regulate the body’s glucose or sugar levels. Glucose levels are determined by the amount of carbohydrates you consume. As a diabetic, if one’s blood sugar is low, you must eat carbs to bring it back up to a normal level. If your blood sugar is high, too many carbs have been consumed and you must manually inject insulin into your body to bring it back down. If your sugar levels are not regulated, this can lead to hyper or hypoglycemia.
- Hyperglycemia: This can occur if someone’s body sugar is too high, having resulted from a high carbohydrate meal or not taking enough insulin. In extreme cases of high blood sugar, a diabetic can experience fatigue, weight loss, or even hospitalization. In order to prevent this, a diabetic must take into account the amount of carbs they are consuming and take the proper amount of insulin for it.
- Hypoglycemia: This is another extreme case for diabetics, but it results from low blood sugar. If too much insulin has been injected or a diabetic is exercising without having supplemented themselves with any carbohydrates, blood sugar can drop drastically. Symptoms include feeling shaky or sleepy, nauseous, confused, sweating, chills, or having no energy. In extreme cases, diabetics can even have seizures, leading to hospitalization. This is the biggest worry for Type 1 Diabetics, but is extremely common.
Both cases are very extreme, but high and low blood sugars are an everyday occurrence. When one does not take enough insulin to cover the amount of carbs in their meal, their blood sugar will go up. Although most do not feel symptoms of high blood sugar, constant repetition of such can incur serious complications in the future. This includes loss of extremities or kidney failure. It is extremely important to be strict with yourself and make sure you cover for all the carbohydrates you eat.
With low blood sugar, this can happen if one takes too much insulin or if you perform in any type of exercise (light to moderate even) without enough carbohydrates in your system. You lose concentration, your energy, and can feel faint. In order to correct such a feeling, one must quickly eat carbohydrates in order to raise the blood sugar back up to a healthy level.
Having to make decisions on the amount of insulin one must take can be complicated, but is a necessity in order to avoid the above complications. Determining your insulin to carb ratio is decided by your doctor as it depends on your age and weight. Once you have your ratio (e.g. 1 unit:10 carbs), you take the amount of carbs you will be eating (e.g. 40) and divide it by our number 10 to determine the number of units of insulin you must inject (e.g. 4). Also used when your blood sugar is high, your doctor prescribes you with a correction factor (e.g. 1 unit:70 mg/dl). The typical healthy blood sugar is usually 100 so if your blood sugar is 240 and you want to bring it back down to 100 you would take 140 (240-100) and divide it by 70 to get 2 units. This comes with practice, but gets a lot easier as time goes on.
Diabetics have to adopt a huge responsibility in taking over the job of an entire organ. Although difficult, it is not impossible to manage and stay healthy for the rest of your life.
Living With Type 1 