It’s considered an autoimmune disease, resulting from an immune system attack on the pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin — a hormone that helps certain cells in the body absorb glucose. And without enough insulin, your blood glucose levels can rise to unhealthy levels, causing a range of health problems. Type 1 diabetes makes up only about 5 percent of all diabetes cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By comparison, type 2 diabetes — which develops when cells cannot use insulin properly — makes up 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases. However, type 1 and 2 diabetes often share the same symptoms associated with hyperglycemia.
Type 1 Diabetes Symptoms
Possible symptoms of type 1 diabetes include:
Excessive thirst or hungerIncreased urinationUnexplained weight lossNumbness or tingling in the hands or feet, or loss of feeling in the feetFatigueDry, itchy skinVision changes, including blurry eyesightSlow-healing sores and increased rate of infectionsNausea, vomiting, and stomach pains (in cases where the disease develops quickly)
Without insulin and the ability to use sugar for energy, the body may start breaking down fat as an alternate source of energy, resulting in high levels of ketones (toxic acids) in the blood. This condition, called diabetic ketoacidosis, may cause:
Dry skin and mouthInability to keep fluids downStomach painShortness of breathFlushed face"Fruity" smell to breath
Diabetes and Hypoglycemia
People with type 1 diabetes must take insulin — usually by injection, or by using an insulin pump — to provide their cells with the necessary hormone. However, too much insulin can cause cells to absorb too much glucose from the bloodstream, resulting in low blood glucose, or hypoglycemia. Symptoms of hypoglycemia include:
HeadacheUnusual hungerNervousnessBody shaking and weaknessRapid heartbeatIncreased sweating
Eating or drinking something high in sugar — such as hard candy or fruit juice — can help to quickly treat hypoglycemia.
Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis
Diagnosis of diabetes — type 1 or type 2 — typically requires one or more blood tests. A fasting blood glucose test measures your blood glucose level after 8 hours of fasting (no food or drink, except water). This test is not always reliable, and tends to be more accurate in the morning. Multiple tests conducted at separate times are generally required for a diabetes diagnosis. If your initial fasting blood glucose test results are normal, but you have some symptoms or risk factors for diabetes, your doctor may conduct an oral glucose tolerance test. For this test, you will drink a special glucose solution, then take another fasting blood glucose test after two hours have passed. A random blood glucose test measures your glucose level at an unspecified time. A high blood glucose level, in addition to having one or more symptoms of diabetes, could indicate that you have the disease. This test is less accurate than a fasting glucose or oral glucose tolerance test. The glycated hemoglobin test, or A1C test, is a different kind of blood test that provides an overview of your blood glucose levels for the past few months, rather than just a snapshot of your current level. Unaffected by recent meals, the A1C test measures the percentage of hemoglobin — an oxygen-transporting protein in red blood cells — to which glucose is bound. A high percentage (more than 6.5 percent) indicates diabetes. After your diagnosis of diabetes, your doctor may also order an autoantibody test, which looks for the antibodies that attack pancreatic beta cells. The autoantibody test can help differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
