Type 1 (T1 – less than 10% of all diabetics) is autoimmune diabetes – the body’s immune system destroys it’s own insulin-producing cells, the pancreatic endocrine beta cells (about 2% of the total organ), and the patient must inject insulin multiple times a day (or use a pump that does so all the time) or they die. If insulin is overdosed (very easy to do – it’s a very fine line between “just enough” and “too much”), the patient is at high risk of dying from hypoglycemia – low blood sugar. It’s estimated that about 5% of all T1s die this way. This disease is genetically based – without the genes, you don’t get it; the average life expectancy for a T1 is about 20 years less than a non-T1.
Comments