What are Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes?
Diabetes is a condition in which the body cannot use food properly. To understand diabetes, you need to know how your body uses food. The food that you eat turns into sugar in the stomach and intestines. It enters the bloodstream where it is carried to your body's cells. Insulin, a natural hormone made in the pancreas, is needed to help the sugar enter your cells. Insulin is like a key, opening up the cell so it can let sugar in. After entering the cell, the sugar is used for energy. If your body produces little or no insulin, or does not properly use the insulin it does make, you have diabetes.
In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas makes little or no insulin. All people with type 1 diabetes must take insulin, either by insulin injections or from an insulin pump. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas makes some insulin, but not enough, or the body does not properly use the insulin it does make, which is known as insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes can sometimes be managed with exercise and a meal plan. People with type 2 diabetes may also need to take diabetes pills and/or insulin. The characteristics of type 1 and type 2 diabetes are shown below.
Type 1 Diabetes
- usually diagnosed under 35 years of age
- not overweight (slender)
- quick start of symptoms (acute)
- frequent urination
- increased thirst
- increased appetite
- rapid weight loss
- tiredness or fatigue
- ketones in urine
- 10% of all people with diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes
- usually diagnosed over 40 years of age
- usually overweight
- slow start of symptoms or no symptoms at all (chronic)
- blurred vision
- slow to heal cuts
- tingling/ numbness in hands/feet
- recurring skin, mouth, or bladder infections
- any of the symptoms listed under type 1 symptoms
- 90% of all people with diabetes