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Type 1 diabetes often has common symptoms
By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com
The pancreas of a person with Type 1 diabetes produces no insulin.
Without insulin, a person’s body is unable to convert glucose into energy. In other words, food — especially carbohydrates — eaten by an undiagnosed Type I diabetic is useless. As a result, the body switches to starvation mode to break down its fat stores for energy.
However, that fat is converted to ketones, with the ketones used more slowly than the body produces them. Extremely high ketones, which spill into the urine, can poison the body. At its worst, ketoacidosis can lead to diabetic coma or even death.
All that useless glucose also spills into a person’s urine. Just as bad, the spilled glucose pulls water from the body, resulting in dehydra-
tion.
These reactions to having no insulin production are why there are some common symptoms for people with undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes.
They can include dehydration and a raging thirst. Because the body’s fat stores are being broken down for energy, weight loss is not unusual. With the body starving itself, other symptoms can include fatigue and drowsiness. A person also can experience abdominal pain or vomiting.
Barr Middle School teacher Kurz said no one knows exactly what causes Type 1 diabetes. But genetics plays a role. Apparently, so does an environmental “trigger.”
The trigger for her son, Conner, may have been the influenza and pneumonia that hospitalized him almost three months to the day before his diagnosis. Conner had blood work done because of his hospitalization and his blood sugars were normal at that time.
Type 1 diabetes is believed to be an autoimmune disease, in which the body’s immune system attacks beta cells, the pancreas cells that make and release insulin.
Kurz said she and her family are considering getting Conner an insulin pump. Over the longer term, they hope for a cure through stem cell research that will one day result in the manufacture of insulin-producing beta cells.
The goal is producing such beta cells without a person needing immunosuppression drugs that can cause their own health problems.
Without insulin, a person’s body is unable to convert glucose into energy. In other words, food — especially carbohydrates — eaten by an undiagnosed Type I diabetic is useless. As a result, the body switches to starvation mode to break down its fat stores for energy.
However, that fat is converted to ketones, with the ketones used more slowly than the body produces them. Extremely high ketones, which spill into the urine, can poison the body. At its worst, ketoacidosis can lead to diabetic coma or even death.
All that useless glucose also spills into a person’s urine. Just as bad, the spilled glucose pulls water from the body, resulting in dehydra-
These reactions to having no insulin production are why there are some common symptoms for people with undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes.
They can include dehydration and a raging thirst. Because the body’s fat stores are being broken down for energy, weight loss is not unusual. With the body starving itself, other symptoms can include fatigue and drowsiness. A person also can experience abdominal pain or vomiting.
Barr Middle School teacher Kurz said no one knows exactly what causes Type 1 diabetes. But genetics plays a role. Apparently, so does an environmental “trigger.”
The trigger for her son, Conner, may have been the influenza and pneumonia that hospitalized him almost three months to the day before his diagnosis. Conner had blood work done because of his hospitalization and his blood sugars were normal at that time.
Type 1 diabetes is believed to be an autoimmune disease, in which the body’s immune system attacks beta cells, the pancreas cells that make and release insulin.
Kurz said she and her family are considering getting Conner an insulin pump. Over the longer term, they hope for a cure through stem cell research that will one day result in the manufacture of insulin-producing beta cells.
The goal is producing such beta cells without a person needing immunosuppression drugs that can cause their own health problems.
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