TYPE 1 DIABETES

What It Is
Everything you eat or drink — whether it’s a bowl of pasta, chicken, a piece of fruit or a glass of milk — is eventually broken down into glucose, a form of sugar the body uses for energy. When a person’s body is working as it should, the glucose enters the bloodstream, and the pancreas releases just the right amount of insulin needed to “unlock” the body’s cells so they can pull in the glucose and either burn it for energy or store it as fat to use later. When the body ceases to produce insulin on its own, the sugar sits in the bloodstream, raising blood sugar. Over time, this can lead to a host of horrible complications, including heart disease, kidney disease, blindness, and death.

Symptoms
Weight loss, increased thirst and urination, increased hunger, fatigue/lack of energy, blurred vision, sores that heal slowly, and frequent infections, especially bladder and vaginal infections in women.

Standard Treatments
Type 1 diabetics must take insulin injections multiple times a day in order to survive, as the pancreas no longer manufactures any insulin. (This differs from type 2, where the pancreas usually still produces insulin, but the person’s body is resistant to the hormone or they don't produce enough of it.) They must also monitor their blood sugar throughout the day for the rest of their life, and closely monitor their food intake in order to give the correct doses of insulin. Daily exercise is recommended, as it also helps to keep blood sugar levels at a healthy level. Thanks to fast-acting insulins and advances in administering the hormone like insulin pumps (a device that delivers insulin 24 hours a day through a catheter placed under the skin), type 1 diabetics can live a close-to-normal, very happy, and productive life.

Living With Type 1 Diabetes
Learning to live with type 1 diabetes can be extremely tough for both the patient and their family. But you don’t have to do it alone — Philadelphia has tons of resources to help you better understand the disease and better care for yourself.