In order the understand what Type 1 diabetes is we need to examine and understand some basic concepts of how the body functions when healthy .
First the human body is a remarkable machine capable of functioning well in the course of a person’s lifetime. If the body remains healthy and can maintain its own homeostasis (the body’s ability to maintain its own internal balance), the person can lead a healthy productive life free of illness or disease. When illness or disease does occur the body’s homeostasis is out of balance. Such is the case with diabetes ,a disease that destroys and disables more lives each year especially in the United States. There are three types of diabetes but we shall examine the most least common most dangerous of the three and that is Type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes or juvenile diabetes is in a class commonly called – Diabetes Melllitus which means excessive sweet urine or the medical term-glycosuria. This disease occurs in children and young adults afflicting between 5 to 10% of the population of the United States and is projected to rise substantially in the coming years. Symptoms include: increased constant thirst, frequent urination, and weight loss. In diabetes people are unable to use the glucose in the foods they eat for energy. This glucose accumulates in the bloodstream eventually damaging the organs of the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves.
This is an autoimmune disease meaning the immune system of the body is not functioning. This is caused by a loss of insulin (the hormone that regulates energy and glucose metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscles, and fat tissues to take up glucose which is a simple sugar or carbohydrate from the blood and stores it as glycogen (energy) in the liver and muscles). This loss of insulin means that the beta cells (cells that make and release insulin the hormone that controls the level of glucose in the blood of the islets of Langerhans (the regions of the pancreas that controls the hormone produciing cells) is leading to insulin deficiency.
The deficiency of the beta cells in the pancreas are allowing the T-cells (white blood cells that regulate and remove harmful pathogens from the blood and help in the maturation of B cells into plasma cells) to attack the beta cells. Without proper insulin, the body cannot use sugar and fat and therefore the energy the cells, tissues, and organs need to function are deprived of this energy. Like all types of diabetes, this is a chronic disease that if untreated can lead to devastaing disabilities and death.
Treatment for Type 1 Diabetes
Treatment for Type 1 diabetes includes regular insulin injections and constant regular monitoring of blood glucose levels. This is a disease that cannot be cured but only watched and controlled. With proper continuing monitoring and treatment patient’s can live normal, healthy, productive lives. But there is one problem and that is the symptoms of diabetes are a lot of times ignored and about one-third of patients do not get diagnosed in time to prevent serious health consequences.
This is leading to health professionals classifying diabetes as an epidemic that will only continue to grow in the years to come unless more preventive measures, education, and new treatment methods are developed.