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To understand Type 1 diabetes, let’s start with how your body turns food into energy.
Turning food into energy
Simply put, we eat food for energy. But how does food become energy that our bodies can actually use?
Digestion breaks down food into, among other things, sugar, also known as glucose, which it sends out into the bloodstream. Sugar in the bloodstream is called blood sugar or blood glucose.
The bloodstream carries blood sugar to all parts of the body, where it can be used for energy by body cells.
How body cells use blood sugar
There are all kinds of cells throughout the body, some of which are:
- Red blood cells
- White blood cells
- Nerve cells (including brain)
- Skin cells
- Muscle cells (including heart)
- Fat cells
- Bone cells
- Cartilage cells
All body cells need the energy they get from blood sugar. However, even though your bloodstream may be full of sugar, cells have locks on them that won’t automatically allow blood sugar into them. For cells to take in blood sugar, they need the help of insulin.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease in which the body doesn’t produce or use insulin well, leading to high blood sugar. When blood sugar stays too high for too long, big problems can begin to occur in all kinds of places throughout the body.
Since so much of our body is made of cells, when they’re unhealthy, larger parts of your body can become unhealthy as well. For example:
- Unhealthy cells in the blood vessels of your eyes can impair vision and may cause blindness.
- Unhealthy nerve cells can cause you to lose feeling in your hands and feet. It can also make your brain and vision less sharp.
- Unhealthy skin cells can mean that injuries take a long time to heal.
- Unhealthy white blood cells can’t protect you from illness.
- Unhealthy cells that line the walls of your blood vessels can break down, limiting the blood supply throughout your body. This can lead to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.
In order to keep the cells and parts of your body as healthy as possible, it’s important to create habits and routines that manage your diabetes. Part of that is knowing about the kind of diabetes you have.
The basics of Type 1 diabetes
Only about 5 percent of people with diabetes have Type 1.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune response. That means that the system that usually defends you from illness and infection attacks the attacks the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. When the pancreas stops producing insulin, body cells stop taking in blood sugar, and your blood sugar goes up.
People with Type 1 diabetes generally take daily doses of insulin.
When does it occur?
Although it generally occurs in children and young adults – which is why it’s sometimes referred to as “juvenile diabetes” – it can happen at any age.
Who’s most likely to develop it?
Families can share a common history of Type 1 diabetes.
Causes
Not much is known about the causes of Type 1 diabetes. What we do know includes the role of family genetics, environmental factors such as viruses, and the role of medications in treatment. Sometimes severe damage to or removal of the pancreas can also trigger Type 1.
How do these health factors cause Type 1 diabetes?
The causes of Type 1 diabetes mean the pancreas is unable to produce insulin within the body. As long as there’s not sufficient insulin to act as a key to unlock the cells of the body and let sugar in, the cells become damaged.
Symptoms
Many of the overall symptoms of diabetes are experienced by those with Type 1, with some exceptions.
- Fatigue (tiredness)
- Blurry vision
- Extreme thirst
- Noticeable hunger
- Frequent urination
- Unexplained weight loss
Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) can sometimes be the first sign of Type 1 diabetes. These symptoms of this more serious condition are:
- Sweet, fruity-smelling breath
- Dry or reddened skin
- Nausea (including vomiting)
- Stomachache
- Trouble breathing
- Confusion or lack of mental focus
Important: DKA is life-threatening and should be treated as an emergency.
What health problems does Type 1 diabetes cause?
So many kinds of cells can be damaged by diabetes that they can, in turn, lead to:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Kidney disease
- Eye problems
- Gum and other dental disease
- Nerve damage
- Feet problems
- Sexual issues (erectile dysfunction in men; vaginal dryness in women)
- Depression
The good news is that taking insulin will help you even out your blood sugar. At the same time, healthy lifestyle choices and medication for conditions like high blood pressure and cholesterol can help reduce the impact of diabetes on your overall wellness.