Diabetes is a disease which occurs due to the metabolic disorder of the body. For a diabetic, the blood glucose level remains high and the body is unable to produce enough energy. There are three types of diabetes namely

• Type 1
• Type 2
• Gestational diabetes

You might have heard of the type 1 diabetes. So what kind of diabetes is type 1?

The food which we eat is broken down into glucose and is carried by the blood. Our cells use this glucose to produce energy and it is the fuel for our bodily functions. However the cells cannot utilize the glucose with the help of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. Insulin acts like a key for the cells to utilize the glucose.

For a type 1 diabetic the body produces little or no insulin which means the cells are unable to produce energy. It is because the immune system of a person destroys the beta cells in hi/her pancreas, which is responsible for the production of insulin. Sometimes the attack may be so severe that the cells cannot produce insulin in the future.

Of all the diabetics in the world, nearly 10-15% of them are having type 1. Type1 is also known as juvenile-onset diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. As the name suggests type1/juvenile/childhood diabetes is the one which is mainly diagnosed during the childhood. However don’t remain as a laggard that type1 affects only youth. The disease is also diagnosed in adults however the ratio of infection is low when compared to the young people.

The cause of the disease still remains as a mystery for the scientists. It is believed that the heredity is the major risk factor of this disease. Also environmental factors such as virus infection, improper life style etc can trigger the onset of type 1 diabetes.

Since no one knows why this happens, it can’t be prevented and also there is no possible way to find out who are all will be affected by this disease. Once a person gets affected by this diabetes, he/she requires lifelong treatment. The type 1 diabetic patients have to use insulin injections several times a day in order to keep the blood glucose level under control. Insulin pumps also give better results against type 1 diabetes.

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes

The symptoms of type 1 diabetes may not be clear always and therefore a person can have diabetes without even knowing to him. This type of diabetes may develop suddenly or gradually.

Some of the common symptoms of type 1 diabetes are

• Frequent urination

Type1 diabetics urinate frequently as the kidney respond to high levels of blood glucose by eliminating the excess glucose through urine

• Abnormal thirst

Since large amount of fluid is flushed out in the form of urine, the person feels excess thirst.

• Weight loss

Despite of a good appetite, a type 1 diabetic loses his/her weight either suddenly or gradually.

• Fatigue

Since the body cells could not use the glucose, it starves for energy and the patient always remain fatigue.

Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common forms of diabetes. It is also known as the non-insulin diabetes and this type of diabetes which is found among 80% of people having diabetes. This type of diabetes is characterized by insulin deficiency and insulin resistance.

Type 2 diabetes also known as late onset diabetes does not produce adequate insulin in your body or the cells may resist the acceptance of insulin.

The food which we consume gets broken down into glucose and it is carried by the blood. This glucose is utilized by the cells to produce energy. But in a type 2 diabetes the body does not produce insulin or the produced insulin is not accepted by the cells. Without the help of insulin, the glucose cannot be utilized by the cells. In such a case, the glucose will mount in the blood instead of going into the cells. When the blood sugar level increases it may lead to two major troubles

• Your body cells will starve for energy
• High blood glucose levels will severely affect your kidneys, heart, eyes and nerves.

It may be really hard for anyone to digest the truth that they are being affected by diabetes. Though type 2 diabetes is a severe disease, you need not be panic. Through a proper diet and routine exercise you can live a long and healthy life. The disease can affect people of all age group and those who are having a family background of diabetes are more prone to this type of disease. Type 2 diabetes is widespread throughout the world.

Also people following an improper lifestyle like poor diet, low physical activity and having excess weight are having higher risk of being affected by type 2 diabetes.

Other risk factors of type 2 diabetes include

Age is a major risk factor, especially those who are over 45 years.
Those who are having high blood pressure and history of gestational diabetes are more prone to type 2 diabetes.
HDL cholesterol of less than 35 mg/dL

This type of diabetes remains silent for years and they don’t show off any symptoms. If you do have any symptoms then that may be so common such as

• Blurred vision

• Unquenched thirst

• Increased appetite

• Frequent urination

• Fatigue

• Frequent or slow-healing infections

• Erectile dysfunction

Treatment for type 2 diabetics

The severity of this type of diabetes is more than type 1 diabetes. The aim of the treatment is to keep the blood sugar level under control and to prevent the diabetes-related complications.

The severity of Type 2 diabetes can cause

• Kidney failure

• Blindness

• Heart related problems

• Amputation of limbs

Type 2 diabetics have to follow strict diet and routine exercises to keep the blood glucose level under control. Insulin injections may not require in the initial stage

It is very important for a type 1 diabetes patient to always make sure that their blood sugar level is on the normal level because this disease has the tendency to affect important organs in the human body such as the eyes, heart, kidney and so on. The tips that we’re about to share with you will help you to understand how you can continue to maintain your blood sugar level as close as possible to the normal level and avoid the unwanted complications.

It usually takes at least one year before the long-term complications for type 1 diabetes to develop. You stand higher chance to get the dangerous complications if you start getting diabetes early and didn’t take the effort to control your blood sugar level. The complication can cause the individual to end up with disabilities or even death.

You will stand higher risk to get several cardiovascular issues. Some of the known complication includes angina, heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, atherosclerosis and so on. The statistic according to American Heart Associations reveal that more than 65% diabetes patient died due to blood vessel related disease.

Excessive sugar in the blood can cause blood vessels to get injured. This is known as neuropathy or nerve damage and usually attack in the leg area. The patient will experience numbness, tingling or pain in the affected area, usually at the tips of their toes or fingers. This can slowly grow upward and affect other body parts. The patient will probably lose all sense of feeling in the affected limb area if the blood sugar level is not monitored properly. If the nerve that controls digestion is affected, the patient will also experience vomiting, diarrhea, nausea or constipation because of the inability to digest food properly. As for men, they also has the risk of getting erectile dysfunction.

Type 1 Diabetes patients can easily get skin related disease when compared to a healthy individual. They might get fungal and bacterial infection. Some might experience gum infections, this is especially true for those who has a poor dental hygiene history.

Having diabetes will cause the patient to have low bone mineral density and this usually lead to osteoporosis.
People with type 1 diabetes will tend to develop hearing problem as well.

High blood sugar level is a dangerous situation; this is especially true if a woman is pregnant because it is risky to both the mom and baby. The risk of getting pregnancy related complications such as miscarriage, birth defects and also stillbirth is increased manifold when the blood sugar level is not controlled. The mother can even get diabetic ketoacidosis, preeclampsia, pregnancy related high blood pressure problem and diabetic eye problems (retinopathy).

Diabetes can also damage the tiny blood vessels in the retina (diabetic retinopathy) and cause the patient to end up with blindness if it is not treated and managed properly. It also increases the risk of getting glaucoma and cataracts.
The nerve area in the feet area can get damaged and causing poor blood flow to the area. It is important to ensure that any injury in that area to be treated and handled properly to avoid any part of the leg, such as foot, toe or even the whole leg to be amputated.

Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to prevent Type 1 Diabetes from occurring.

Scientists are always looking for prevention method that can be used to help people with high risk of getting Type 1 Diabetes so that they can continue to lead a normal life without the fear of developing this deadly disease.

There are also researches being done to find out if it is possible to prevent further destruction of islet cells to those newly diagnosed with this health problem. You might want to participate and go for the clinical trial. But make sure that you do your due diligence before going for any of them.

People with Type 1 Diabetes can prevent themselves from getting the serious health complications by continuously keep their blood sugar on the normal level.

There are only several known risk factors to increase the possibility of getting diabetes. Some of these risks includes:

Genetics – Someone with a family history of getting diabetes will have higher risk of getting it for themselves. Genetic testing can usually be done to find out if one of the family members were experiencing type 1 diabetes before.

Geography location will also play an important role to increase the risk of getting type 1 diabetes because people who stay further from the equator will tend to get it compared to people who are staying close to the equator line.

The exposure to dangerous virus like coxsackievirus, cytomegalovirus, mumps virus or Epstein-Barr virus could trigger the destruction of the islet cell due to autoimmune mechanism. There were also cases where these viruses were infecting islet cells.

Lack of vitamin D – There were several medical research indicating that vitamin D could help to protect against type 1 diabetes. Ironically, there are also several cases that have been linking early intake of cow’s milk to
Omega-3 fatty acids can help to reduce your risk of getting type 1 diabetes.

Avoid drinking water that contain nitrate because that will increase your risk of getting type 1 diabetes.

According to one clinical trial, babies should only start getting cereal after he is at least 3 to 7 months old. The timing for parents start feeding cereal to their babies can affect whether or not the baby is going to develop the disease.

Another theory was, babies born by ladies younger than 25 years old have higher chance to develop type 1 diabetes. And babies with jaundice or other type of respiratory infection were believed to have higher chance getting the type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes can develop within a few weeks. Here’s a list of symptoms that will develop during the initial phase.
• More urine production as the body try to dilute it with water to remove the excess glucose in the urine.
• Excessive thirsty feeling and increased appetite
• Injuries that takes long time to heal
• Feeling fatigue because excessive glucose is unable to be processed into energy.
• Weight loss
• Feel sick
• Slightly blurred vision
• Developing thrush and irritation on genitals area.

The body will begin to produce ketones if diabetes is not developed at this stage. This is a chemical that will build up inside the blood cells. This condition is known as diabetic ketoacidosis.
More symptoms will occur, such as:
• Pain in the stomach
• Vomiting
• Breathing rapidly
• Pulse rate increased
• Feeling sleepy
Diabetic ketoacidosis can cause death or coma if it is not treated.

The tests listed below can help to diagnose diabetes:
Blood test is essential for diagnosis purpose if the individual want to be certain if he has diabetes because urinalysis can only show the existence of ketone and glucose in urine.
• Blood glucose level of 126 mg/dL or higher when fasting
• Blood glucose level is exceeding 200 mg/dL when not fasting
• Low level of insulin
• Low level of C-peptide

These are some of the signs and symptoms that you are at risk of getting Type 1 Diabetes. Make sure you visit your doctor and seek medical treatment if any of the symptoms above occur frequently.

Taking care of your type 1 diabetes problem can proof to be rewarding because it will help you to help you to lower your chance of getting serious or life threatening complications that type 1 diabetes can bring into your life.

We have a list of tips that you should read from time to time so you can remind yourself about your treatment and help to improve your overall health.

You should make it as a lifelong commitment to manage your diabetes properly. Spend some time reading materials related to the disease and practice all the possible technique that can help to control your blood sugar level.

Engage yourself in physical activity and eat healthily everyday. You might want to befriend with someone who is an expert about diabetes and ask him any questions from time to time.

You can also remind yourself about your health condition by wearing a bracelet or tag that says you have diabetes. And always make sure that you have glucagon kit handy just in case if there is any low blood sugar emergency arise. Get ready for such situation and guide your family and friends how they can use it to help you when necessary.

Check your eyes regularly and go for physical exam at least once a year. Please note that your regular diabetes checkup shouldn’t replace the physical exams mentioned earlier because these exams are meant for the doctor to check for any complications that might arise. And you will need to meet up with eye care specialist because they’re the one who will know better about eyes and identify if there is any cataracts, glaucoma or retinal damage.

People with high blood sugar level are known to have weaker immune system. That is why you should continue to get immunization against flu at least once a year and the tetanus booster shot once every 10 year. There is a high chance that your doctor will recommend you to get the pneumonia vaccine as well.

You will need to make it as a routine to brush your teeth 2 times a day at least. You also should floss your teeth at least once a day to ensure nothing is stuck between your teeth. This is because diabetes can increase your risk of getting gum infections. Schedule an appointment with your dentist if you notice that your gums are bleeding or look swollen and red.

Take good care of your feet and you should consider washing your feet in lukewarm water on daily basis. Clean it nicely and dry them using clean towel. You should also use lotion to keep them moisturized. Check your feet regularly for any signs of redness, swelling, cuts, blisters or sores. Make sure you schedule an appointment and see your doctor immediately if you notice injury that doesn’t heal.

Treating type 1 diabetes will be a commitment that you’ll have to deal with.

It involves disciplined attitude towards food intake, blood sugar monitoring, taking insulin after every meal, regularly exercise and continuous effort to maintain an ideal weight.

Your goal should be to make sure that your blood sugar level to on the normal range in order to prevent complication from happening. And if you’re like most people, you should maintain your daytime blood sugar levels between 80 and 120 mg/dL (4.4 to 6.7 mmol/L) and 100 and 140 mg/dL (5.6 to 7.8 mmol/L) during night time.

You need to manage your diabetes problem one day at a time because you’re not the only one who is dealing with this problem. You should remember that there is always a team of doctor, registered dietitian and diabetes educators who has the same goal to maintain your blood sugar level within the normal range.
People with type 1 diabetes require insulin therapy in order to survive.

There are several types of insulin available and you will need to choose the one that suit your need in order to maintain your blood sugar level. There are intermediate, long-acting and rapid-acting insulin options for you to choose from. It includes normal insulin, insulin lispro, insulin isophane, insulin aspart, insulin detemir and so on.

There was inhaled insulin type known as Exubera being sold before this but it has since being stopped because of low demand. Some people speculated and blame Exubera as the reason for several individuals who were using it to get lung cancer. The real causes for these rare lung cancer cases are still unknown so you should seek your doctor’s advice if you are a smoker who was using Exubera previously.

The current method to provide insulin for your body is by using insulin pump infusion or injection. Insulin is not supposed to be consumed orally because it will interfere with stomach enzyme and will not be able to lower blood sugar level.
There are several types of injections method available such as syringe, insulin pen or by using fine needle.

Insulin pump can also be a good way to supply your body with insulin. It is a device with the size of a cell phone to be worn anywhere on your body. A small tube is connected on the insulin reservoir and is inserted under your abdomen. Some insulin pump even comes with wireless pump feature. It will continuously pump a steady dose of insulin into your body referred as basal rate. This will replace any of the insulin that you were using before this. You will need to program it during your meal so that it will continue to provide you with a bolus dose of insulin with the purpose of adjusting your blood sugar level after your meal.

Anyone who has diabetes are always advised to eat healthily and get balanced diet for your body. In fact, everyone should consider getting balanced diet in order to stay healthy.

You will have to pay more attention to your diet if you suffering from Type 1 Diabetes because it is important to meet your daily quota of vegetables and fruits while maintaining good quantity, timing and type of food being consumed.
We will observe and analyze the importance of how blood glucose level and food will affect release of insulin and diet in order to manage the Type 1 Diabetes.

The relation of carbohydrates, insulin and blood glucose:
Food with high amount of carbohydrate will affect the blood glucose level greatly. Some of the food includes rice, pasta, potatoes, cereals and breads.

These foods are usually processed by our digestive enzymes to create glucose. And the glucose will be absorbed into the bloodstream usually around 1 to 2 hours after meal, causing the blood glucose level to increase. Our body needs glucose to process them into energy or keep them for future usage. The body system for healthy individuals will not have the problem to produce the right amount of insulin to process the blood glucose. They will not have any problem to produce plenty of insulin after taking a heavy meal rich in carbohydrates.

The problem will occur for someone who has Type 1 Diabetes because the body will not produce insulin anymore. They’ll have to inject it themselves. You’ll have to know the right amount and timing so the blood glucose level will stay normal.
Complication will occur if you injected too little or too much insulin into your body because your blood sugar level will increase (hyperglycaemia) when too little insulin is injected. If it is too much, then the body will experience low blood glucose level causing (hypoglycemia) to occur.

That’s why people who have Type 1 Diabetes must observe the amount of food they’re taking and should give it a thought before they’re taking any meal.

Blood glucose level will largely depend on the type of foods being taken.
Each carbohydrate foods will need different amount of time to be digested and this causes each food to affect the blood glucose level differently. Some of them are digested rapidly while some might take longer to digest and absorbed into the bloodstream.

Many still believe that people who suffer diabetes should not eat sugar because it will increase the blood sugar level rapidly. You probably will find it a surprise because cornflakes produce more glucose when compared to sugar. We are advised not to eat too much sugar because it provides very little nutritional value and do not satisfy the appetite.
Table sugar is known as sucrose and contains two sugar molecules, known as fructose and glucose. These molecules are not easily absorbed because it needs to be processed by the digestive system before it is broken down into glucose.

Diabetes Mellitus pose a problem when the patients’ pancreas is not functioning properly or do not function at all to produce the insulin hormone. This will cause the patient to experience high blood glucose level.

Type 1 diabetes is a situation when pancreas does not produce insulin anymore because the cells responsible to produce them are destroyed. This usually happens when the immune system is destroying the body cell. This is known as autoimmune reaction.

There is no clear explanation why this situation occurs but there are several theories about this situation and it includes:
* Bacteria and virus infection
* Exposed to food-borne toxins
* The exposure to cow’s milk as a very young infant

Type 1 diabetes is ultimately developed after the individual’s pancreas system does not produce any insulin anymore.

Diabetes is generally caused by the following situation:
Inherited traits – It is strongly believed that diabetes can be inherited when one of the parents has diabetes. There is 2 to 3% chance that the child will suffer diabetes when his father or mother has it.
Age – Diabetes can happen to anyone regardless of their age but 80% of diabetes occurs to people who are above 50 years old. This means people who are older will have higher chance to develop diabetes.
Poor diet – people who came from poor family and couldn’t afford proper nutrition, fiber and protein intake tend to develop diabetes.

Induced by drugs – Olanzapine (Zyprexa), Quetiapine (Seroquel), Clozapine (Clozaril), ziprasidone (Geodon) and risperidone (Risperdal) tend to be associated with this disease.

Obesity – An overweight person who has at least 30% body fat and BMI 35+ will have higher insulin resistance.
Lifestyle – People who exercise at least thrice a week will have lower risk to get diabetes compared to those who lead sedentary lifestyle.
Stress – Those who experience emotional disturbance are more likely to get diabetes.
Infection – Certain strephylococci are known to cause infection in pancreas area.
Hypertension – People with high systolic pressure will usually end up with diabetes.
Gender – Women with multiple pregnancy or diagnosed with (PCOS) Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome has higher risk of getting diabetes.
Cholesterol level – People with high cholesterol and triglyceride level in their blood are known to have higher risk to get diabetes.