On October 23rd, 2001, at the young age of two years old, my life was changed forever. I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. For those of you that aren't as familiar with Type One Diabetes, it is a chronic illness that must be monitored 24/7. Type One Diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person's pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that permits a person to get energy from food. Diabetes is the result of when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys beta cells, insulin producing cells, in the pancreas. There is no one explanation for why people develop diabetes, scientists have concluded that genetics and environmental science is involved. Currently there is no permanent cure for Type One Diabetes, but with modern technology diabetes health care has improved tremendously in the past ten years. Statistics in 2012 show that approximately 1.25 million Americans have been diagnosed with Type One Diabetes and 40,000 new diagnoses are made every year. Type One Diabetes does not only affect the life of the person diagnosed, but also the family and friends in that person's life too. Type One Diabetes is considered the Juvenile type of Diabetes, but research has shown that more adults are being diagnosed as well. People with Type One Diabetes have a full time job of managing their health. Managing includes, five to eight blood sugar checks per day, insulin injections or doses via pump before or after every meal, consistent diet, and monitoring symptoms. Symptoms of diabetes include frequent thirst, urination, hungry, tired, loss of weight, shaky, sweating, etc. These symptoms occur when a person’s blood glucose level is not within normal range. For those of you that are not familiar with diabetes, you probably did not know that there is actually more than one type of diabetes. No pun intended, haha. There is actually four types of diabetes, Type One, Type Two, hyperglycemia, and hypoglycemia. Type One, the most common in juveniles, is when the pancreas completely stops producing insulin. Type Two Diabetes is known as the insulin resistant type, this type usually occurs in people as they age, lose track of diet, poor weight maintenance etc. Once again, there is no one reason for why people are diagnosed with any type of diabetes. Many people have parents, grandparents, or maybe even a pet with Type Two Diabetes. Due to the fact that Type Two is more common, the stereotype of diabetes around the world is that people get diabetes from eating too much sugar. Prepare yourself for what I am about to say, that stereotype is false. People do not get diabetes from sugar. People do not get diabetes from fat. People do not get diabetes from McDonald's. Need I say more? Obesity is a common trait that some people with Type Two Diabetes have. Obesity is not the main cause for diabetes to occur. The main reason is currently undiscovered. So, the next time you see a chocolate cake and think “Oh, this is going to give me diabetes.” Think again. The most it could do is give you a stomach ache from the rich chocolate, so do not freak out over eating sugar. Many people have a misunderstanding of Type One Diabetes because the majority of the diabetes population has Type Two. Type One Diabetes needs to be understood and made aware in the world today. I hope this blog helps those of you that are not informed about diabetes more aware of the illness that a great number of people live with today.
