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Diabetes Type 1
Diabetes occurs when your body is unable to produce enough of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is responsible for controlling the level of blood sugar in the body. Diabetes can be of two types- type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes type 1 occurs when the pancreas are not able to produce an insulin at all, and it is the rarer type of diabetes found among people.
What is diabetes type 1?Diabetes is a disease that is caused by a loss of the body’s ability to create insulin. Under normal body conditions, your body’s digestive system begins to break down carbohydrates to form glucose. This glucose is the source of energy for your bodily functions, and on break down they are absorbed by your bloodstream. This is why your blood sugar level rises after a meal. Once the high level of blood sugar is detected by the body, your pancreas injects insulin into your blood stream. Insulin is a hormone that allows the glucose in your blood to be used by the organs and muscles in your body. Once glucose enters into various organs, it is either used or stored as a source of energy. As the glucose disappears from your blood stream, the blood sugar level decreases. After a few hours, your blood will record a low level of sugar and a slightly higher level of insulin, keeping things in equilibrium.When a person is diagnosed with diabetes type 1 the pancreas stop producing insulin. In medical terms, diabetes type 1 is considered to be an autoimmune disorder. This means that the pancreatic cells responsible for producing insulin die slowly until there is no source of insulin in the body. When this happens, the glucose broken down from the food remains in your bloodstream without being absorbed by your body cells. This means that the blood sugar levels in your body go unchecked and remain high - a condition in itself that is known as hyperglycemia. When the body is unable to use the sugar flowing in its blood, it throws it away through urine. The symptoms of diabetes type 1:The symptoms of diabetes type 1 vary a lot with each patient, and there are many cases in which a patient may never even encounter symptoms of diabetes type 1 until it is diagnoses. Some of the common and earliest symptoms of diabetes type 1 are as follows:Frequent urination: Frequent urinations are one of the earliest symptoms of diabetes type 1. As your blood glucose remains unused, you may tend to urinate more often as your body tries to do away with the excess sugar. Your kidneys are meant to filter the sugar back into your blood stream but there is too much of sugar to keep up, and it keeps taking the water from your blood to dilute the glucose and send it away. Extreme thirst and weight loss: With your kidneys using up more water from your body, you will tend to feel thirsty more often than usual. Dehydration is a serious problem that can result from extreme thirst. In addition, you lose a lot of weight without any reason. This is because your body is not able to use the glucose in the blood as an energy source. Under such conditions, the body uses up the fat cells stored in your body as a source of energy. Fatigue: Once again, with the loss of the main source of energy, your body is not able to cope up with its energy requirements, leading you to feel weak most of the time. Diabetes type 1 is an incurable disease, and if you or loved ones contract diabetes type 1, it is essential that the disease be kept under control. This can be done by altering the patient's diet plan and exercise, and, most importantly, providing the patient with daily doses of insulin as per the doctor's plan. |
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