The development of type 1 diabetes occurs against the background of a lack of insulin in the patient’s body, which is often total.
The most important thing about type 1 diabetes
The disease causes the patient to destroy the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Autoimmune disease is not associated with lifestyle factors.
The development of type 1 diabetes is incredibly rapid. Symptoms include:
- excessive thirst;
- frequent urination
- unexplained weight loss;
- irritability;
- weakness and fatigue.
Insulin is required for all patients with type 1 diabetes. They must inject daily or wear an insulin pump in order to survive.
High blood sugar is dangerous, as well as low, hypoglycemia. It can lead to:
- weaknesses
- dizziness
- sweating
- in severe cases – to fainting
- and can even be life threatening.
Hypoglycemia is much more common in patients with type 1 diabetes, because they must correctly calculate how much insulin to take (via injection or pump), depending on the meal and level of activity. It is not always easy to find out, and taking more insulin than necessary, the patient causes the blood sugar level to drop.
Fitness, although very beneficial, can also cause a drop in blood sugar.
With symptoms of hypoglycemia, measures must be taken to quickly increase glucose levels:
- drink a glass of juice
- eat candy
- take glucose-containing tablets.
Why type 1 diabetes develops
- Diabetes comes when our body has problems with insulin, a hormone that helps convert sugar from food.
- Without insulin, you can eat a lot, but you feel hungry because insulin helps to extract the energy contained in glucose, which we metabolize from food.
- When there is not enough insulin in the body, sugar builds up in the blood and can cause symptoms of the disease.
- People with type 1 and type 2 diabetes face this problem, but their causes are different. If a person has type 1 diabetes, his pancreas does not produce insulin at all. This is because type 1 is an autoimmune disease in which our immune system attacks and destroys pancreatic cells responsible for the production of insulin.
- No one knows for sure what causes autoimmune failure, but genetics most likely plays a role in this. If type 1 diabetes is diagnosed , the causes and medical history are always sought in the family.
- About 20% of cases of type 1 diabetes are genetically determined, and there is no other known cause or cure to prevent the disease.
- It is one of the most common chronic diseases in children, although it is sometimes first recorded in 30–40-year-olds when it comes to the latent autoimmune form.
- More than 95 percent of children with diabetes have Type 1. It should not be confused with Type 2, which causes poor eating and lifestyle.