What is Type 1 Diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which your immune system destroys insulin-making cells in your pancreas. These are called beta cells. The condition is usually diagnosed in children and young people, so it used to be called juvenile diabetes. A condition called secondary diabetes is like type 1, but your beta cells are wiped out by something else, like a disease or an injury to your pancreas, rather than by your immune system.
How Is Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosed?
Doctors can say for sure if a person has diabetes by testing blood samples for glucose. When high blood sugars show that a child has diabetes, other blood tests are usually done to help doctors find out if the child has type 1 or type 2 diabetes, because management and treatment of diabetes may differ based on type.
If diabetes is suspected or confirmed, the doctor may refer your child to a pediatric endocrinologist, a doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of kids with diseases of the endocrine system, such as diabetes and growth disorders.
Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes :
Type 1 diabetes signs and symptoms can appear relatively suddenly and may include:
Increased thirst
Frequent urination
Bed-wetting in children who previously didn’t wet the bed during the night
Extreme hunger
Unintended weight loss
Irritability and other mood changes
Fatigue and weakness
Blurred vision.
Type 1 Diabetes causes :
Type 1 diabetes causes can be any kind of illness, including the common cold. That said, here are the most common causes:
Viral infection. Researchers believe that type 1 diabetes can be triggered by a virus, such as the common flu or cold. Frequently, type 1 diabetes comes on in the weeks following a viral infection, such as mumps, rubella, cytomegalovirus, measles, influenza, encephalitis, polio, or Epstein-Barr.
Injury to or removal of the pancreas. Very rarely, type 1 diabetes can be triggered by an injury or trauma to the pancreas. Whenever the pancreas is surgically removed, the body also loses the ability to produce insulin, which then causes type
Type 1 Diabetes treatment :
Insulin
People with type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day. You usually take the insulin through an injection.
Some people use an insulin pump. The pump injects insulin through a port in the skin. It can be easier for some people than sticking themselves with a needle. It may also help level out blood sugar highs and lows.
The amount of insulin you need varies throughout the day. People with type 1 diabetes regularly test their blood sugar to figure out how much insulin they need. Both diet and exercise can affect blood sugar levels.
Several insulin types exist. Your doctor may have you try more than one to find what works best for you. Read about the differences in insulin and how it’s administered.
Metformin
Metformin is a type of oral diabetes medication. For many years, it was only used in people with type 2 diabetes. However, some people with type 1 diabetes can develop insulin resistance. That means the insulin they get from injections doesn’t work as well as it should.
Metformin helps lower sugar in the blood by reducing sugar production in the liver. Your doctor may advise you to take Metformin in addition to insulin.
Vaccines
The tuberculosis vaccine may hold promise as a treatment for people with type 1 diabetes. A very small study found that people with type 1 who received two injections of the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine saw their blood sugar levels stabilize for at least five years.
This option isn’t on the market yet. It’s still undergoing testing and doesn’t have approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Still, it holds promise for future type 1 diabetes treatment.
Other medications
A new oral medicine may be on the horizon for people with type 1 diabetes. Sotagliflozin (Zynquista) is awaiting FDA approval. If it gets the green light, this drug will be the first oral medication designed to be used alongside insulin in people with type 1 diabetes.
This medicine works to lower glucose levels in the blood by forcing the body to expel it in urine and by reducing glucose absorption in the gut. Similar medicines exist already for people with type 2 diabetes, but none are approved for people with type 1.