Type 1 diabetes
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Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone needed to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy.
Different factors, including genetics and some viruses, may contribute to type 1 diabetes. Although type 1 diabetes usually appears during childhood or adolescence, it can develop in adults.
Despite active research, type 1 diabetes has no cure. Treatment focuses on managing blood sugar levels with insulin, diet and lifestyle to prevent complications.
Type 1 diabetes signs and symptoms can appear relatively suddenly and may include:
Consult your doctor if you notice any of the above signs and symptoms in you or your child.
The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown. Usually, the body’s own immune system — which normally fights harmful bacteria and viruses — mistakenly destroys the insulin-producing (islet, or islets of Langerhans) cells in the pancreas. Other possible causes include:
Once a significant number of islet cells are destroyed, you’ll produce little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone that comes from a gland situated behind and below the stomach (pancreas).
Glucose — a sugar — is a main source of energy for the cells that make up muscles and other tissues.
In type 1 diabetes, there’s no insulin to let glucose into the cells, so sugar builds up in your bloodstream. This can cause life-threatening complications.
Some known risk factors for type 1 diabetes include:
Over time, type 1 diabetes complications can affect major organs in your body, including heart, blood vessels, nerves, eyes and kidneys. Maintaining a normal blood sugar level can dramatically reduce the risk of many complications.
Eventually, diabetes complications may be disabling or even life-threatening.
Nerve damage (neuropathy). Excess sugar can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves, especially in the legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain that usually begins at the tips of the toes or fingers and gradually spreads upward. Poorly controlled blood sugar could cause you to eventually lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs.
Damage to the nerves that affect the gastrointestinal tract can cause problems with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation. For men, erectile dysfunction may be an issue.
There’s no known way to prevent type 1 diabetes. But researchers are working on preventing the disease or further destruction of the islet cells in people who are newly diagnosed.
Ask your doctor if you might be eligible for one of these clinical trials, but carefully weigh the risks and benefits of any treatment available in a trial.
Our patients tell us that the quality of their interactions, our attention to detail and the efficiency of their visits mean health care like they’ve never experienced. See the stories of satisfied Mayo Clinic patients.
When complications from diabetes threatened his vision, eye surgery and laser treatment at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire restored Brad Stevens’ sight. Brad Stevens, a 37-year-old from Boyceville, Wisconsin, has Type 1 diabetes. Often diagnosed in childhood, the disease is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. As […]
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Type 1 diabetes
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