diabetes week day 1 - What is diabetes?

diabetes is a complex illness, there are many types under the one heading of diabetes and they all have very different causes and treatments.

Type 1 diabetes

this is an autoimmune disease where the insulin producing cells in the pancreas are killed off (usually over a few months or weeks). a person with type one diabetes doesn't produce ANY insulin and has to take insulin through either injections or a pump (a device which constantly puts insulin into the body)

a person with type one diabetes COULDN'T have prevented getting the disease and no one really knows what makes the immune system destroy the pancreas cells. type one has NOTHING to do with diet or eating too many sweets and as long as they take the correct amounts of insulin and keep an eye on their sugar levels they can eat what they like and live normal lives

This type is mainly diagnosed in childhood but some adults are also diagnosed with type 1 diabetes

there is currently NO cure and the person with it will have to take insulin injections for the rest of their life to stay alive!

Type 2 diabetes

This is usually a metabolic disease, it occurs when the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin or the insulin that is produced isn't used properly by the body. a person with type 2 diabetes is usually treated with tablets, diet and exercise (although some people will need insulin injections)

this is the type of diabetes that is usually mentioned in the media, although unlike what they say, type 2 isn't CAUSED by being overweight or by a poor diet, these are risk factors associated with getting it (just like smoking is a risk factor of lung cancer) 

a person with type 2 hasn't chosen to get diabetes and they will have it for the rest of their lives as there is no cure (type 2 diabetes can be reversed to being controlled by diet and exercise but the person will always be diabetic)

Gestational diabetes

this type of diabetes occurs during pregnancy and usually disappears after the baby is born. just like any other type of diabetes, if it is uncontrolled during the pregnancy it can be fatal for the baby or cause serious complications.

LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes of adults) or type 1.5

this is a slower progressing form of type 1 diabetes and can take years for the insulin producing cells to be completely killed off. this type is usually found in people over the age of 25 and although it can sometimes be controlled with tablets to start with, it will eventually need to be controlled by insulin injections as the pancreas will stop producing insulin

MODY (maturity onset diabetes of the young)

this type is caused by a mutation on specific insulin producing genes. this type is fairly rare and is passed down through families so people with this type cant prevent getting it. MODY tends to start 'kicking in' in adolescence (the pancreas produces enough insulin through childhood and the mutation only starts having an effect during adolescence) 

MODY is usually treated by tablets, diet and exercise, although some people will need insulin injections

Someone who has this type has a 50% chance of passing on the mutation to their children.

there are other types of diabetes and aspects of diabetes which combine with these types to make sugar levels harder to control..... its not as simple as just testing and injecting