Type 1 diabetes is not the same as type 2: Know how to tell the difference

According to the World Health Organisation, ‘diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (or blood sugar), which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves’. According to this premier organization, in 2014, there were around 422 million diabetics worldwide and in 2016, it was the seventh leading cause of death worldwide.

Type 1 vs type 2 diabetes

This disease is of two types, type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, which is also known as adult-onset diabetes. Your body becomes resistant to insulin or it does not make enough insulin. Your pancreas produces insulin, but your body is not able to use it as it should. Over time, it affects your pancreas’ ability to produce insulin. This condition is usually diagnosed in adults.

In type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, your pancreas produces little or no insulin by itself. Insulin is a hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels. If you have this condition, your immune cells attack and destroy the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Therefore, you are entirely dependent on insulin injections for your survival. This is mostly seen in children, which is why it is also called juvenile-onset diabetes.

Causes

It is not yet clear as to what causes type 1 diabetes. But type 2 diabetes is the result of an unhealthy lifestyle, obesity and sedentary life. Genes also play a role here. You can reverse type 2 diabetes with lifestyle modifications, but this same is not the case with type 1 diabetes.

Symptoms

Type 1 diabetes can strike suddenly, and symptoms are immediate. Wildly fluctuation sugar levels, increase in urination, excessive hunger and thirst, sudden weight gain or loss, are some of the symptoms of this condition. It is most common in children and teenagers.

In type 2 diabetes, you may go for years without exhibiting any symptoms. Most people find out they have this condition when they visit a doctor for some other reason. The symptoms are subtle at first, which is dangerous. Increased thirst, urination, excessive hunger and thirst, sudden weight gain or loss, vision problems and tingling in feet are some symptoms, which may get worse as the disease progresses.

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