What is Diabetes?
Diabetes (medically known as diabetes mellitus) is the name given to disorders in which the body has trouble regulating its blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels.
Type 1 Diabetes is generally diagnosed in children, teenagers, or young adults. Scientists do not yet know exactly what causes Type 1 Diabetes, but they believe that autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors are involved.
About Blood Sugar Levels
A healthy pancreas produces insulin, a hormone that the body uses to change glucose in the blood into energy. Glucose in the blood comes from the food and drink a person consumes. A person with type 1 diabetes doesn't produce any insulin. Without insulin, the glucose builds up in the blood, causing high blood sugar, or hyperglycemia. Blood sugar levels that are too high and untreated for long periods of time can lead to ketoacidosis, a very serious condition. Very high blood sugars for an extended period of time can eventually lead to coma and death.
In people without diabetes, the pancreas maintains a "perfect balance" between food intake and insulin. When a person eats, the pancreas puts out the exact amount of insulin needed to turn the glucose into energy. If the person eats a lot, the pancreas puts out a lot of insulin. If the person eats just a little, the pancreas puts out just a little insulin.
Insulin Needs
Since people with Type 1 Diabetes can't produce their own insulin, they must put insulin into the blood stream through injections or an insulin pump. If people with Type 1 Diabetes inject too much insulin (or eat too little) they may have a hypoglycemic reaction. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is the most common problem in children with diabetes. It can be very serious and requires immediate action.
Myths about Diabetes:
Myth: Eating too much sugar causes diabetes.
Fact: Type 1 Diabetes is caused by a destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, which is unrelated to sugar consumption.
Myth: Kids with diabetes can never eat sweets.
Fact: Insulin must be taken to “cover” every carb that is eaten, whether it be from a candy bar, carrot, or an apple. They are no more “off limits” to people with diabetes than they are to people without diabetes.
Myth: Kids can outgrow diabetes.
Fact: Kids do not outgrow diabetes. In Type 1 Diabetes, the cells of the pancreas that produce insulin are destroyed. Once they're destroyed, they will never make insulin again. Kids with Type 1 Diabetes will always need to take insulin (until a cure is found).
Myth: Diabetes is contagious.
Fact: Diabetes is not contagious. You can't catch it from another person.
Myth: Insulin cures diabetes.
Fact: Taking insulin helps manage diabetes, but doesn't cure it. Insulin helps get glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells, where it can be used for energy.
