The article by Riva Greenburg, "Type 1 Diabetes Finally Explained" explains everything you need to know about Type 1 diabetes and how its different from Type 2 diabetes.
Here's a link to the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riva-greenberg/type-1-diabetes_b_4869238.html
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition. Your body destroys you pancreas' insulin-producing cells. You no longer produce insulin, or may just produce a very small amount. No one knows what actually causes type 1 diabetes yet, but that doesn't mean they never will. Its most likely genetics or a virus. The only treatment right now is to replace the insulin that your body no longer makes.
Type 1 diabetes is very different than type 2 diabetes. Most people know much more about type 2 diabetes than they do about type 1 because of all the commercials that they have. One cause of type 2 diabetes is that your body doesn't produce enough insulin to be used, the second cause is your body doesn't use the insulin you make correctly.
In type 1 diabetes you have to monitor your blood sugar and based on the numbers you give yourself insulin either with a pump or by giving yourself a injection. Diabetics need to keep their blood sugar levels below 180 mg/dl (9.9 mmol/1) and above 55 mg/dl (3 mmol/1).
If your blood sugar level drops below 55 mg you will experience hypoglycemia, which causes confusion, or you may become irritable. If you sugar level drops below 40 mg you will experience severe hypoglycemia. You may become unconscious and you may need to call 911. If the paramedic doesn't come in time and give you glucose you can die. If you go above 180 mg you have too much sugar in your blood which causes damage to your small and large blood vessels. High blood sugar damages everything in your body, eyes, heart, kidneys, feet... everything.
My cousin was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 13, and she experienced severe hypoglycemia. It was a very scary situation because the doctors didn't diagnose her right away and she almost went into a coma. She now has a pump and must test her blood sugar regularly and makes sure she stays between the lines.
Even though this blog has to do more with type 1 diabetes, we have been learning about type 2 diabetes in class and how it has to do with the receptors defecting in its signaling. Receptors receive chemical messages, they bind to molecules on the outside, change shape and send a message to the inside of the cell. Type 2 diabetes is non-insulin dependent unlike type 1 diabetes. The insulin receptors get signals from insulin but the message never gets to one type of gluT channel to instruct it to open.
Diabetes type 1 and 2 is a difficult disease to live with and must be controlled everyday.
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Great job Angela! Your post really helped me to understand Type 1 diabetes much better. I knew so much more about Type 2, especially now that we've been talking about it in class, and I'm glad to know more about both types of Diabetes. Overall, you did a great job explaining all of the information, and your connection to your own life really made it interesting!
ReplyDeleteAngela,
ReplyDeleteI am very glad you chose this topic to write a blog post about. Because Type 2 Diabetes is more well-known and is developed from a high intake of sugar (and a self-caused result), people often overlook the equally bad Type 1 Diabetes. The words and language you used were very effective, especially how you said: "Diabetes type 1 and 2 is a difficult disease to live with and must be controlled everyday." This language effectively captures the idea of your writing. Overall, really excellent job!
-Travis
Great job Angela! I think this is a really interesting topic that I didn’t know much about. We have talked a lot about type 2 diabetes in class, so it was good to understand what type 1 diabetes is. I also thought that it was interesting that the two types of diabetes aren’t very similar; type 1 occurs because the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, and type 2 occurs because the body’s insulin receptors aren’t working properly. One question I still have is do people with type 1 diabetes have to take medicine to help them replace the insulin that they don’t produce? Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteAngela,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! I learned a lot about type 1 diabetes by reading this post. Your connection to biology class helped me understand the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. I also had no idea the result of your blood sugar level dropping was so severe! The connection you made to your own life helped me realize just how severe it is. Great job!
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ReplyDeleteGreat job! You explained the two types of diabetes very clearly with lots of details. I like how you incorporated both times of diabetes and not just one because it is important to know about both types. Hearing about your real life experience with this topic was very interesting and it made me realize just how severe it is! The connections to class and real life were great and over all this was a very interesting post. Great job!
ReplyDeleteAwesome job! I was really interested in your blog post just from the title because I wanted to know more about Diabetes. This blog post also really helped me connect to other things in Biology class because we talked about type 2 diabetes but not as much type 1, and now I understand it better. I can completely relate to this article as well as your connection because my cousin was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when she was 9. Its interesting to see what she does every time before she eats and what food she chooses to eat. Over all, this blog post really helped me and was very interesting to read, good job!
ReplyDeleteAngela, your title really made me want to read your post, because I wanted to know what you meant by “stay between the lines”. Overall, your post was very informative and I learned a lot from it. As others have said before me, in class we talked a lot about type 2 diabetes, but not as much about type 1 diabetes. The image you included was a good way to show the range that blood sugar levels have to stay in. And, you connection to real life showed how seriously diabetes has to be taken. Overall, good job.
ReplyDeleteNice post Angela, I really liked the title. I think it’s interesting and also a good idea to do your blog post on type 1 diabetes. In school we have learned a lot about type 2 and what causes someone to be diagnosed with it. However we never really looked into type 1. It seems type one is much more serious considering it’s still somewhat a mystery to us on how it’s caused. You did a great job staying on topic and being clear throughout you blog post. I really liked it, and I agree, it must have been very scary when you cousin went into severe hypoglycemia. Again, great job and keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteAngela, I am really impressed by your blog post. I did not know a lot about type 1 diabetes because we did not learn much about it in class as type 2 diabetes. I agree with Connor how we think type 1 is a lot more serious and unknown than type 2. Overall, great blog post.
ReplyDeleteAngela, i really enjoyed the topic and composition of your post. It was a great idea to write about this considering what we have been learning about in class with type 2 diabetes and similar concepts. I had no idea how serious type 1 diabetes was, and how difficult it must be to regulate your blood sugar levels on a daily basis. I am glad to have learned about this in your post since we only briefly touched upon the topic in class. Reading this made me gain alot of respect for the people who have this condition and have to do so much to maintain a healthy lifestyle for themselves. Overall, great job angela!
ReplyDeleteGood job. Your article had many connections to our class, and you described the symptoms of hypo- and hyperglycemia very well. Although you mentioned that we don't know what causes type 1 diabetes, you didn't have any reason that type 2 diabetes occurs. You did, however, explain the symptoms of type 1 diabetes very well, and really brought to light how hard having to monitor blood sugar levels is, which I think would be very hard. Overall, good job.
ReplyDeleteAngela, great job on your article. I really like how you connected your summary to your cousin having diabetes and how she had to monitor her blood sugar levels with a pump. It's very interesting to know how people control having diabetes. You also did a really good job on explaining the differences of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. I had no idea that there was such a large difference between the two. Overall, great summary!
ReplyDeleteThis was very scary to read about but I'm glad I did. You did a great job describing what can happen and what diabetes is. I like how you added the numbers for what your blood sugar needs to be because I did not know that or what could happoen to diabetics if they were above or below that number. I am sorry to hear about your cousin, I hope she is doing well!
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