Type one diabetes is the condition when the pancreas stops producing insulin, which is a hormone that helps food transform into energy. It happens when the immune system destroys the beta cells or the cells that produce insulin.
The reasons why this process occurs can be different. Sometimes environmental factors are to blame, but sometimes even if we are careful and have healthy lifestyle genetics play their role. We cannot get rid of this chronic disease, and the sad news is there is nothing we can do to prevent it too.
This type can affect adults and children as well. It leads to complications or injecting with insulin for the rest of our life.
Living with this condition can be a constant struggle. Insulin doses need to correspond with the activities that we make throughout the day and also with our diet. Even though people with T1D overcome this on a daily basis that doesn’t mean they are not at risk of high or low blood- glucose levels.
We said above that we cannot cure T1D. Insulin injections only help us stay alive. But infusions or injecting with insulin after a longer period can have serious side effects such as nerve damage, stroke, blindness, or kidney failure.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Founding every day strikes for as their motto says ”the world without Diabetes.” Even though T1D is serious, the treatment for this disease is getting better and better. Organizations like this help people to remove the influence that this disease has on their lives.
This life-threatening disease is very difficult, and people who suffer from it are here as our inspiration and show us that nothing can stand in our way to live the life we want and striving to achieve our dreams.
To stay alive, I need to act as physician to check blood sugar, mathematician- to be always factoring, personal trainer- to give myself insulin injections.
Mary Tyler Moore – JDRF International Chairman
I never have the luxury to eat what I want, exercise as much as I want. It is a job that you get for the rest of your life: insulin injections, blood sugar tests, and the impact of stress. For us, every day is a risky adventure.
Mary Vonnegut – Rhode Island
It is hard when you are not like others girls in the school. I have to measure everything I eat, check my blood sugar ten times a day. Too much running or not eating my food is risky. I am too young to have this problem.
Jonathan Platt – California
It affects your life and you are controlled by it that the people who don’t have it can`t see. Right now my heart goes to my three children and hopes they won`t develop these disease.
Nicky Hider – New York
Sources: JDRF