Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that destroys cells that produce insulin in the pancreas. When the body can no longer regulate blood sugar levels, daily injections of insulin are required to sustain life. While the cause of type 1 diabetes is not known, it is generally believed that environment and genetics play a key role.
Type 1 diabetes, a disease that affects over a million people in the U.S. alone, can create severe medical complications like heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and circulation problems leading to amputation of limbs. Therefore, it's mandatory that those with the disease develop a good diabetes self management program.Symptoms of type 1 diabetes include: excessive thirst, frequent urination, weight loss, excessive hunger, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue and absence of menstruation.
For those with type 1 diabetes seeking help with their diabetes self management plan, educational programs have been developed to aid patients in this endeavor. Dietitians and certified diabetes educators who are experts in diabetes management, staff the best of these programs. Topics like blood sugar control, tracking carbohydrate intake, exercise and diet recommendations and insulin self-injection are covered. These healthcare professionals put together a regimen of diabetes self management that is suited to their particular requirements. When these plans are followed closely, patients tend to have fewer complications and they feel better too. Patients are typically sent to them by way of physician referral.
It is usually easier to implement a type 1 diabetes self management plan for people who maintain a consistent schedule in their lives. Those who have jobs that require traveling, work different shifts, or have others that they have to care for like children or elderly relatives have a more difficult time.
Learning to inject oneself with insulin daily is a key part of diabetes self management. However, another option exists. This involves the use of an insulin pump. This pump, about the size of a mobile phone and worn around the waist, automatically injects insulin into the body twenty four hours a day in small quantities as required. This process is more like the natural working of a healthy pancreas. The pump is easily removed for exercise or bathing and the dose is easy to adjust when needed. This comes in handy if you miss a meal or overeat.
Women who are pregnant and have diabetes must take extreme precautions to avoid their child having a birth defect. Blood glucose levels need to be monitored without fail. Successful diabetes self management is of benefit to all who have the disease, including the unborn.
Having a comprehensive diabetes self management program is essential for the control of type 1 diabetes. As medical science continues it's pursuit of new ways to treat and manage the disease new methods are continuing to show up on the horizon. While these methods are being developed those with type 1 should continue to do everything possible using current knowledge to keep it a bay and guard their precious health.
