Edited By - Pharmacist DC Srivastava (B.Pharm)

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which your pancreas does not produce insulin properly, your body needs insulin to maintain blood sugar levels. When you eat foods, the small intestine chemicals break them down into single sugars molecules called glucose. The cells of the small intestine then absorb glucose, which then passes into the bloodstream.

When the blood reaches your pancreas, the beta cells inside the pancreas detect increased levels of glucose, and the beta cells secrete insulin, which causes glucose levels in the bloodstream to decrease and your blood sugar reaches to a healthy limit.

Most cells of the body have some receptors on the surface that bind to circulating insulin. Insulin acts like a key to open the cell so that circulating glucose can enter the cell. Now body cells can utilize the glucose to produce the energy it needs to function properly. If you have type one diabetes, your pancreatic beta cells lose their ability to produce insulin, resulting in high blood sugar levels and other complications.

In type 1 diabetes, your immune system begins to mistake your pancreatic beta cells specifically for your white blood cells, foreign invaders. As a result, in an auto immune response, your white blood cells secrete auto antibodies that destroy your own beta cells.

Because of which your pancreas is unable to produce very little or no insulin. Without insulin, glucose cannot get into your cells, so they starve for the calories they should have gotten from glucose.In addition, the level of glucose in your bloodstream increases, resulting in a condition called hyperglycemia. This disease usually occurs in children and young people, so it is also called juvenile diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes.