Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes (or as doctors call it diabetes mellitus) is a disorder of the body wherein the body produces enough insulin to regulate the breakdown of the blood sugar in the human body. If a person is diabetic, his cells become insulin resistant and his body may not produce enough insulin. When this happens, the glucose does not get absorbed by the cells and thus gets accumulated in the bloodstream and harms the other organs of the body.

Diabetes is normally categorized in two main and one subcategory– Type I, Type II diabetes and Gestational diabetes. Both Type I and II are chronic in nature (i.e. they cannot be cured but can only be treated) and Gestational diabetes is normally a passing phase which ends after the mother gives birth to the child. But, it may have more serious effect on the child later on.

Type I diabetes occurs due to the loss of insulin-producing beta cells of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas. Type I is the most serious type of diabetes and is also called Juvenile Diabetes because it usually occurs in children and young adults. The most common cause of Type I diabetes is the beta cell loss leading to type 1 diabetes by autoimmune destruction. It is accompanied by antibodies directed against insulin and islet cell proteins which think the cells to be 'foreign bodies' and attacks them as such. It is caused by genetic and environmental factors and affects 2 to 3 % of the diabetic population.

Some of the major symptoms of Type I diabetes are:

1) Frequent urination
2) Unusual thirst
3) Hunger
4) Sudden weight loss
5) Weakness
6) Extremely tired
7) Blurred vision
8) Irritability
9) Extreme cases vomiting and nausea

Type I diabetes is the most serious type of diabetes and is caused by genetic and environmental factors and affects 2 to 3 % of the diabetic population. Mostly, kids and young adults, kids who have at least one diabetic parent as well as those who were born to women who had gestational diabetes are affected by it.