Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5 to 10 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes in the US. Type 1 diabetes usually develops in children or young adults, but can start at any age.
The cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown, but it is believed that people inherit a tendency to develop diabetes, and that viruses may be involved.
This auto-immune disease results from the body's failure to produce insulin, the hormone that allows glucose to enter the cells of the body to provide fuel. This is the result of an autoimmune process in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin producing cells of the pancreas.
When glucose cannot enter the cells, it builds up in the blood and the body's cells literally starve to death. People with type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin injections and regularly monitor their blood sugar levels.
What are the signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes?
The following are the most common symptoms for type 1 diabetes, however, each individual may experience symptoms differently.
Type 1 diabetes can cause different problems, but there are three key complications:
1.Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar; sometimes called an insulin reaction) occurs when blood sugar drops too low.
2.Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) occurs when blood sugar is too high, and can be a sign that diabetes is not well controlled.
3.Ketoacidosis (diabetic coma) is loss of consciousness due to untreated or under-treated diabetes.
By the time men and women with Type 1 diabetes reach age 55, about 35 percent of them will have died from a heart attack compared to eight percent of non-diabetic men and four percent of non-diabetic women. People with Type 1 diabetes also are at higher risk to develop blockages in the major arteries of the legs than non-diabetics. Lower the risk of vascular disease by aggressively treating cholesterol and blood pressure, exercising regularly, and avoiding or quitting tobacco products.
Kidney abnormalities(Diabetic nephropathy)may be noted early in the disease. Poorly controlled diabetes may accelerate the development of kidney failure. Urinary tract infections in diabetics tend to be more severe and may result in kidney damage. Diabetics are more vulnerable to kidney damage from high blood pressure than non-diabetics.
Adults with type 1 diabetes who are obese, especially those who carry excess weight around the middle, are at increased risk for developing kidney disease, a study shows.
"These results," Dr. Ian H. de Boer told Reuters Health, "suggest that weight control is important in type 1 diabetes...and that lifestyle interventions, such as exercise and diet, may be useful in preventing kidney and heart disease in this group of people."
Among 1,105 type 1, or "insulin-dependent," diabetes patients followed for an average of six years, 93 (8.4 percent) developed microalbuminuria -- small amounts of the protein albumin in urine, the first sign of diabetic kidney disease and a marker of increased risk for heart disease.
According to de Boer of University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues, the risk of microalbuminuria was significantly higher for patients who were particularly thick around the middle, what doctor's call "central obesity."
For each four-inch increase in waist circumference, the risk of microalbuminuria increased by 34 percent, the team reports in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
The subjects in the study were part of the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), which showed that intensive insulin therapy -- keeping blood sugar as close to normal as possible -- substantially lowers the risk of kidney disease and other complications of diabetes.
"The current study showed again that, overall, intensive insulin therapy is protective against kidney disease in type 1 diabetes," de Boer told Reuters Health. Risk of kidney disease was 4.5 percent for patients receiving intensive insulin therapy, compared with 12.8 percent for patients receiving conventional insulin treatment.
People with type 1 diabetes must have daily injections of insulin to keep the blood sugar level within normal ranges. Other parts of the treatment protocol may include:
*appropriate foods to manage blood sugar level
*exercise to lower and help the body use blood sugar
*regular blood testing for blood-sugar levels
*regular urine testing for ketone levels
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