Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus (DM or, simply, diabetes) refers to a group of diseases that affect how your body uses sugar (glucose). Glucose comes from the foods you eat. Glucose is essential to health because it is an important source of energy for the cells that make up your muscles and tissues and it is the brain's main source of fuel. If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose in your blood. Too much glucose can lead to serious health problems, including damage to your eyes, kidneys, and nerves, heart disease, and stroke.

Insulin is a hormone that helps the glucose get into your cells to give them energy. With type 1 diabetes, your body does not make insulin. With type 2 diabetes, the more common type, your body does not make or use insulin well. Without enough insulin, the glucose stays in your blood.

Type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, but it typically appears during childhood or adolescence. For this reason, type 1 diabetes was previously called “juvenile diabetes.”

A blood test can show if you have diabetes. The only treatment for type 1 diabetes is to take insulin for the rest of your life.

The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown. There is an autoimmune component to the disease and your immune system, which normally fights harmful bacteria or viruses, attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. This leaves you with little or no insulin.

Type 1 is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors, though exactly what many of those factors are is still unclear.

See your doctor for increased thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, and unexplained weight loss, especially in children or young adults. Seek emergency care for vomiting, abdominal pain, rapid breathing, or fruity-smelling breath, which can signal diabetic ketoacidosis.