One or Two

What's the true differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

I think at times people can get confused at what the difference is between the two different types of diabetes. It is easy to get confused and honesty, before being diagnosed I was unsure about the differences as well. But part of my dedication to my blog comes with giving people the knowledge and awareness of both types of diabetes. In this blog I wish to achieve a simple understanding about diabetes and the differences between type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 diabetes is the disease that I was diagnosed with on March 13th 2009. Sometimes this type is called Juvenile diabetes, simply because it usually occurs in people that are under twenty years old; however, people older than twenty can still be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The myth here is type one only happens to young people, this is false.

A type 1 diabetic's pancreas is attacked by antibodies which leads to the individual to be insulin dependent for the rest of their life. Out of the entire population of diabetics, only 10-15% are type 1.

The most common type of diabetes is type 2. These individuals are usually heavy set or older, usually people are diagnosed with type 2 when they're over thirty five but like mentioned in my last note, the age is becoming lower and lower. Causes of this type of diabetes is much different from type one. Type two diabetics may be producing a lot of insulin in their system but their body is not using it properly, but this is often controlled by diet and exercise. Eventually type two diabetics will need to take either oral medications or insulin, the myth being, if you take insulin you're type one. This is incorrect.

There are many confusions about both types of diabetes and they are often crammed all together under the big word of diabetes. I realize that both of the diseases are similar in some ways but being a diabetic, I want to ensure that people are aware of the absolute differences.

As cancer has many different areas so does diabetes and it's important for the distinction to be made, not only for personal knowledge but also to be aware since many of us know and love many diabetics in our own lives.

Kayla