What’s your type? That age-old dating question takes on a whole new meaning when you have diabetes.
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes have different causes. Type 1 is more often genetic. Being overweight is the main risk factor for type 2. However, both types involve problems with the hormone insulin.
Insulin helps your body use glucose for energy. Because people with diabetes have problems making or using insulin, high levels of glucose can build up in the blood. This can damage your nerves, eyes, heart, and other organs. Healthy eating, exercise, and checking your blood glucose are the cornerstones of treatment, no matter what your type.
Type 1: The Body Turns Against Itself
About 5 percent of people with diabetes have type 1. You can be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at any age. However, most new cases develop in children, teens, or young adults.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when beta cells in the pancreas fail to do their job—produce insulin. Doctors believe the body’s immune system attacks the beta cells, though they’re not sure why. A virus or other infection may trigger the condition in people whose genes place them at risk.
Once beta cells are gone, they don’t grow back. If you have type 1 diabetes, you must take insulin to survive. Eating healthy, balanced meals at regular intervals also keeps blood glucose steady. Regular blood tests and doctor’s appointments make sure you’re on the right track.
Type 2: A Growing Threat
It was once called adult-onset diabetes. Now type 2 is increasingly diagnosed at a younger age, notes the journal Health Affairs. Today about 95 percent of the estimated 25.8 million Americans with diabetes have type 2.
Unlike people with type 1, those with type 2 still produce some insulin. However, they may not make enough. In addition, their bodies usually have trouble using the insulin they do have.
Most people who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese. An inactive lifestyle, family history of diabetes, and genes also play a role.
Changing your diet and exercising more often control type 2 diabetes. In some cases you’ll also need medicine, including insulin, to keep your blood glucose in check.
A Quick Guide to Your Type
Type 1
Type 2
The disease usually develops:
Quickly
Slowly
Symptoms:
Include feeling hungry or thirsty, weight loss, tingling in your feet, fruity breath, and frequent urination.
May not develop for many years. When they do, they are often not easy to notice and include fatigue, unusual thirst, and blurred vision.
Your doctor will diagnose you by:
Giving you a blood test to check your glucose levels. The test may require you to fast for at least eight hours.
Treatment usually includes:
Hospitalization, when you are first diagnosed. After that, you’ll take insulin every day and check your blood glucose regularly.
Diet and exercise, at first. If your blood glucose remains high, you may need to take oral medications or insulin.
Complications that can occur if the disease is not managed are:
Heart and blood vessel disease, nerve damage, blindness, kidney failure, stroke, and amputation.
The good news is:
Rates of complications and death among people with type 1 diabetes has been declining for 20 years.
Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed. Controlling blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol can prevent complications once it develops.
