How Can Type-1 Diabetes Be Treated and Prevented?

Juvenile diabetes, more familiar called as type-1 diabetes, is a kind of insulin-dependent diabetes. Most patients have and get it for a lifelong condition (chronic condition). In people with this disease, the production of insulin (a hormone that is crucial to help glucose in the bloodstream to enter into the cells of the body) is no longer to be produced optimally. Even some patients don’t have any insulin released from their pancreas. Can it be prevented? How can it be treated?

The number of patients with type-1 is much fewer than the number of type-2 diabetes. But type-1 is more challenging and more difficult to treat.

Although doctors often say that there is no cure for type-1, most patients can cope with the disease and have healthy live with comprehensive, appropriate treatment plan – according to Mayo Clinic.

Does type 1 diabetes run in families – who is at highest risk?

The disease is most often diagnosed in under age of 20 (young adults, adolescents, and children). However it can occur at any age.

According to Diabetes dot Org (the American Diabetes Association), about 1 out of every 400 adolescents and children is diagnosed with diabetes – especially type-1.

If you have a family history of this disease, do you have an increased risk of the same condition? –Yes, you do! But this doesn’t mean that you will definitely have it later in your life!

Additionally, according to an article published on the National Library of Medicine, type-1 diabetes runs in families, can be passed through families.

Can type 1 diabetes be prevented?

Unfortunately, currently there is no exact way of how to prevent it. But some studies are ongoing to find the clearly answer on this.

Is there any vaccine to prevent this disease? No, there is still no vaccine for type-1 diabetes.

In addition, there is opinion that certain vaccines may have contribution to cause this disease. But there is no clearly scientific evidence to confirm this link. So, children and kids who are at risk of developing diabetes still require taking the recommended immunizations – according to an article published on Health Wise in 2010.

How does type-1 diabetes differ from type-2 diabetes?

About 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases are type-2, and the rest (about 5 to 10 percent) is type-1.

The following are major checklists for the differences of both conditions:

Generally patients are diagnosed with type-1 have a total lack of insulin – in other words, the pancreas is likely to not produce insulin at all.

Experts believe that the autoimmune disorder is the most responsible for the disease.

If there is no insulin, cells of the body lose their ability to absorb glucose (sugar) taken from foods. As a result, the production of energy will be affected and there will be more sugar /glucose in the blood (the level of blood sugar increases).

Typically, the symptoms of the disease start in young adulthood or even in childhood. Moreover, patients are also more likely to experience more episodes of hypoglycemia (low level of blood sugar).

And as mentioned before, there is still no clearly answer about the effective ways to prevent type-1 diabetes!

Generally patients with this diabetes still have some insulin, their pancreas doesn't stop producing insulin but the production is not enough to meet the body needs. Or it occurs when the body cannot use insulin effectively, a condition called insulin resistance.

While type-1 is more common in the age of before 20, type-2 diabetes often affects adults.

The symptoms are vogue, likely to become noticeable when the disease has become advanced. And hypoglycemia is not as common as in type-1 diabetes.

How about the chance of preventing type-2? The good news, there are plenty of ways to lower the risk. Doctors say that it can be delayed or prevented with some healthy habits, such as maintaining your healthy weight, eating healthfully (a well-balanced diet), regular exercise, and so on.

Can type 1 diabetes be misdiagnosed?

There is always a chance for a missed diagnosis. But doctors know exactly about this issue and what they will do before making a diagnosis of this disease. If you experience some type-1 diabetes symptoms, there are several tests to find the underlying cause.

There are already available some standard tests (such as A1C test ‘Glycated hemoglobin test’) to help determine the a diagnosis of type-1 diabetes.

Furthermore, there are also certain tests that purposed to analyze autoantibodies to find the presence of autoimmune disorder – this is one of very crucial steps to determine whether you have type-1 or type-2 diabetes.

How can type 1 diabetes be treated?

In general, the goal of the treatment is purposed to keep the level of your blood sugar as close to normal range as possible so the complications of the disease can be prevented.

Typically, the treatment plan is a lifelong commitment to the following crucial points:

Monitoring and maintaining the blood sugar level. This is not only important to prevent the recurrence symptoms but also important to prevent complications from diabetes!
Maintaining your healthy weight. If you are being overweight, it’s more difficult to control and manage your blood sugar levels.
Doing moderate exercise regularly. Getting adequate physical activity a day is important to improve the performance of your body in using insulin. Furthermore exercise is also good for your overall health.
Staying on a well-balanced diet.
Taking insulin! You may need to get some insulin injections – how many times you need them, ask your doctor!
Regularly medical checkups – this is purposed to adjust the treatment if required and to monitor the progress of the disease. This may also involve some tests & screening exams to observe any signs of complications.
And keep far away from unhealthy habits – such as cigarette smoking and abusing alcohol.

In addition, for children with type-1 diabetes, the goal of treatment is also purposed to allow them to get the normal development and growth.

In line with lifestyle measures , doctors may also prescribe some oral medications and insulin therapy,.

There are some types of insulin for people with diabetes. In general, they are classified based on how fast they work and the length of duration of their effect lasts.