Diabetes Type 1

(Diabetes Mellitus)

What is Diabetes?

It is a condition characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from the body’s inability to use blood glucose for energy. In Type 1 Diabetes, the pancreas no longer makes insulin and therefore blood glucose cannot enter the cells to be used for energy.

Who does it affect?

Type 1 Diabetes affects mainly children. It makes them dependent on injected or pumped insulin for life. It carries the constant threat of devastating complications. While Diagnosis most occurs in children, it can strike adults as well. Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

What causes Type 1 Diabetes?

While the causes of this process are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental factors (triggers) are involved.

How do people with Diabetes stay alive?

In order to stay alive, a Type 1 Diabetic person must inject himself or herself multiple times daily or continually infuse insulin through a pump.
They must also prick their finger several times (6+) per day.
They must balance insulin doses with their food intake and daily activities.

Is there a cure for it?

NO. Insulin keeps a person alive, but does not cure it. Nor does it prevent its eventual devastating effects such as:

• Kidney failure
• Blindness
• Nerve damage
• Amputations
• Heart attack
• Stroke

What are some risk factors?

• Family History. This may play a major role. Genetics and generations.
• Environment. Which part of the environment is unknown.
• Race. Type 1 Diabetes is more common in Caucasians.

Are there warning signs?

• Yes, some common warning signs include:
• Extreme thirst
• Frequent urination
• Drowsiness or lethargy
• Increased appetite
• Sudden weight loss for no reason
• Sudden vision changes
• Sugar in urine
• Fruity odor on breath
• Heavy or labored breathing
• Stupor or unconsciousness
• Body temperature changes (cold to hot, hot to cold) that may occur suddenly

Statistics:

• Diabetes kills one American every three minutes.
• A new case of Diabetes is diagnosed every 40 seconds.
• Even with insulin injections, Type 1 Diabetes usually results in a drastic reduction in quality of life and shortens the average life span by 15 years.
• Each Year approximately 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Over 13,000 are children. That is 35 children each and every day.
• Affects 150 Million people worldwide.
• Today more than 17 million Americans have the disease; of these 5.9 million remain undiagnosed.
• The most severe type of the disease is called Juvenile Diabetes, or Type 1 Diabetes; usually striking during childhood but lasts a lifetime.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, non-traumatic amputations, and leading cause of nerve-damage, stroke and heart attacks.

Support:

You can support Juvenile Diabetes by simply making a donation towards the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). You can also participate in the Annual Walk to Cure Diabetes. The Walk to Cure Diabetes is a walkathon, held in more than 200 locations throughout the year, benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. More than 500,000 men, woman, and children-including those from over 5,000 large corporations and local companies, and 3,500 family teams-will participate this year. The walk raised more than $74 million last year nation-wide for Diabetes Research. This year the outstanding goal is to raise $80 million. With your help, anything is possible!

"Diabetes is always there. There’s never a vacation. It’s like a bad dream that lasts all day, all year, all my life."
-Patrick Finan, 16, New York

"I already have problems with my kidneys, and I take medicine every day so my kidney’s won’t fail. I worry about what might happen if they don’t find a cure soon. I don’t have time to wait…"
-LaNiece Evans-Scott, 11, Ohio

"I think of Diabetes as being the big bully on the block - stealing my health instead of my lunch money and taking my life instead of my gym shoes. I am sixteen years old and can’t imagine having diabetes the rest of my life! I can’t imagine going blind and never seeing my family’s faces or being able to tell if my clothes match. I can’t even begin to imagine losing a leg or arm and never being able to dance, or run, or write normally again. And I can’t imagine giving myself thousands and thousands of more shots. I would give anything in the world for just one day free of diabetes; but I can’t until they find a cure. People just don’t realize how serious Type 1 Diabetes is, unless they have to deal with it."
-Britney Lynne Hilleshiem, 16, Wisconsin

Sources:

• http://www.jdf.org/
• http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm
• http://www.cdc.gov/doc.do/id/0900f3ec802723eb
• http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/dictionary/

Created By: Britney Hilleshiem (2005)

Disease & Medicine