Diabetes Type 1: signs and treatment

The diagnosis of diabetes is made quite often. Despite the fact that studies of this disease are constantly being conducted, a medicine has not yet been found that could completely cure patients of it. However, modern medicine has made great strides forward, and today the life of people even with such a serious disease can be full.

What is type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a disease in which the body stops producing its own insulin. Unfortunately, this process is irreversible – there is no such medicine that would cause the pancreas to resume production of the hormone. The cause of type 1 diabetes is considered an autoimmune failure when the cells of the islets of Langerhans are destroyed by antibodies and T lymphocytes produced by the body.

As a rule, the disease begins at a young age of 30 years. Sometimes it can be congenital.   Diabetes   genetically determined, but the probability of its occurrence increases slightly – up to 10% if one of the parents is sick. Stress, acute inflammation of the pancreas, viral infections can provoke the onset of the disease. Some drugs and chemicals can also be a trigger for autoimmune disorders.

For the prevention of diabetes, doctors advise breastfeeding and late feeding of products containing gluten and glucose. This reduces the load on the pancreas, spares the immature gastrointestinal tract of the child. You should also try to avoid infections in childhood and mothers during pregnancy, do not be nervous, do not overeat, give up bad habits.

Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes

Symptoms of diabetes in the first type of the disease are usually pronounced – the diagnosis is often made when the patient is already in the hospital with a hypo or hyperglycemic crisis. But even before such an acute condition, patients notice that they are rapidly losing weight not only with normal nutrition, but even if they begin to eat more and more nutritious. They are haunted by a constant feeling of hunger, sometimes nausea and vomiting begin, the smell of acetone is felt in the mouth. The body is poisoned by the breakdown of ketone bodies – they are produced by the liver in response to glucose starvation, since   glucose   with an insufficient amount of insulin or its absence can not penetrate into the cells.

Other signs of type 1 diabetes are associated with elevated glucose levels:

  • The feeling of immoderate thirst, and in connection with this – a large amount of urine.
  • Poor healing wounds and scratches on the skin, fungal skin diseases.
  • Feeling weakness and chronic fatigue.
  • Long-lasting infections.

Diabetes diagnosis

You can diagnose type 1 diabetes with the help of several tests and studies:

  • The amount of blood glucose on an empty stomach.

It should be no more than 6.1 mmol / l in the plasma of venous blood. The interval 6.1–7.0 mmol indicates prediabetes, and all figures above 7.0 speak of diabetes.

  • Blood glucose with a load (glucose tolerance test).

This ­ The analysis shows how quickly the breakdown of glucose in the blood occurs after ingestion of carbohydrate foods. One hour after eating in a healthy person, the indicator should not exceed 11.0 mmol / l, and after two hours – 7.8 mmol / l. If the sugar after two hours is 7.8-11.0 mmol, it is a violation of glucose tolerance. And if after 2 hours the sugar exceeds 11.0 mmol / l – we can talk about diabetes.

  • Glycated hemoglobin.

Indicator of the number of erythrocytes changed under the influence of glucose. The more of them, the longer the person has high blood sugar. This analysis allows you to determine how long the disease arose before the patient turned to an endocrinologist.

  • General urine analysis.

If the kidneys do not cope with excessive carbohydrate load, glucose may appear in the urine. This study is not highly accurate – it is possible to determine urine glucose in the case when its level in the blood is already greater than 9.0 mmol / l.

  • C-peptide.

Insulin secretion rate. Its decline suggests that the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas produce less insulin than the body needs.

  • Antibodies to GAD.

Antibodies to pancreatic beta-cell antigen. Their presence suggests that diabetes has an autoimmune nature.

Treatment for patients with type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes cannot be cured radically, so treatment comes down to ensuring that the body needs insulin. Insulin is injected into   human blood   and performs various functions:

  • “Long” – imitates the background secretion of the hormone, which occurs regardless of the meal. It needs to be put in the morning and in the evening.
  • “Short” is needed to ensure the utilization of carbohydrates eaten while eating. It is administered at each meal, as well as in the case when you need to urgently reduce the amount of glucose in the blood (this happens, for example, with SARS and a rise in body temperature).

The purpose of insulin therapy is to ensure that the patient is not disturbed by the signs of diabetes, and the body does not suffer from an excessive level of glucose in the blood.

More recently, diabetes delivered a lot of inconvenience to the patient. I had to put injections with ordinary syringes, picking up medicine from a large bottle. The drugs had side effects and were not as effective as modern ones. Regular measurement of blood glucose at home was problematic, because glucometers and test strips then remained inaccessible. Today, the disease does not interfere with an active lifestyle. Drugs appeared in convenient dispensing syringes, portable blood glucose meters with a spare built-in block of strips, so you can keep glucose under control anywhere, and you do not have to stay at home at all. Insulin pumps are widely used – these devices allow insulin to be administered in small doses around the clock, regardless of the patient’s sleep and wakefulness mode. A built-in glucose meter allows the device to calculate the amount of insulin needed for injection. If a pump is installed for a patient with type 1 diabetes, he can use only “short” insulin, because its accumulation in the subcutaneous tissue for gradual absorption becomes unnecessary, and the problem of uneven absorption of the drug disappears.

Nutrition and lifestyle

Patients with diabetes adhere to a special diet. It should provide the body with the necessary calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates, so that the patient does not lose weight, as it happens in diabetics of the first type. Since patients need artificial injection of insulin, in   nutrition   you need to consider the number of bread units (XE). One bread unit is equal to 10 grams of “pure” carbohydrates, or 20-25 grams of bread. Depending on the planned amount of XE during a meal, the amount of short-acting insulin needed is calculated. It is administered before meals, so that the action falls on the period when the eaten carbohydrates will be processed. The condition of the patient directly depends on how correctly the amount of HE and the required amount of insulin are calculated – with adequate insulin therapy there is no risk of hypo- and hyperglycemia.

For patients with diabetes mellitus of the first type, it is very important to control their physical activity, because any load triggers the “burning” of blood glucose reserves, and this can lead to severe hypoglycemia. Therefore, diabetics need to exercise with caution.

Another important part of treatment is regular blood sugar control. Patients with diabetes who do not need an insulin pump should independently measure glucose with a portable home appliance several times during the day. This allows you to adjust the dosage of drugs and the menu on time, add or remove exercise if necessary.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *