Type one diabetes isn’t like type two diabetes. It’s not as easily quantifiable as some other diseases are, it’s not just treatments and it’s not just changes that you’re going to have to make. It’s a condition which generally sticks with you from a very young age which requires you to change how you live, learn to self-medicate and accept that that is going to be your lot in life for good. Unlike type two diabetes which has the potential, all be it a miniscule, of going into full remission, type two is with you until you die and if you ignore it then your condition could well be a major factor in your dying.
A type one diabetic will require daily doses of insulin as their bodies do not produce the hormone thanks to an autoimmune disorder which is actually the root cause of type one diabetes. This is usually done by hand with a ‘pen’ which has a small needle and is easily operable by the patients themselves. They’ll also need to learn to monitor their own blood-sugar levels. This can be done with a glucose meter by taking a small sample of blood or a continuous glucose meter which sits just beneath the skin and checks blood-sugar levels continually.
There’s another way to treat yourself, with insulin, and it’s recently been linked with the continuous glucose meter, the two together have become known as the artificial pancreas. Essentially the meter continually reads the blood-sugar levels of the patient. When it senses a rise, a new algorithm goes into action. This was developed in Montreal and essentially activates an insulin pump which will give the patient the necessary dose of insulin without them needing to worry about it at all. The whole system would be autonomous and is going into full production soon.
This could be a massive increase in the quality of life of type one diabetics as they’d no longer need to constantly worry about their blood-sugar levels. They’d still be a concern but the level of stress and fear which diabetes can cause will be dramatically lessened.
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