Type 1 is the type of diabetes that people most often get before 30 years of age. All people with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin (IN-suh-lin) because their bodies do not make enough of it. Insulin helps turn sugar from food into energy for the body to work.
Type 2 is the type of diabetes most people get as adults after the age of 40. But you can also get this kind of diabetes at a younger age.
Healthy eating, exercise, and losing weight may help you lower your blood sugar (also called blood glucose) when you find out you have type 2 diabetes. If these treatments do not work, you may need one or more types of diabetes pills to lower your blood sugar. After a few more years, you may need to take insulin shots because your body is not making enough insulin.
You, your doctor, and your diabetes
Most people make insulin in their pancreas. If you have type 1 diabetes, your body does not make insulin. Insulin helps sugar from the foods you eat get to all parts of your body and be used for energy.
Because your body no longer makes insulin, you need to take insulin in shots. Take your insulin as your doctor tells you. The section, l "6", provides more information on insulin.
If you have type 2 diabetes, your pancreas usually makes plenty of insulin. But your body cannot correctly use the insulin you make. You might get this type of diabetes if members of your family have or had diabetes. You might also get type 2 diabetes if you weigh too much or do not exercise enough.
After you have had type 2 diabetes for a few years, your body may stop making enough insulin. Then you will need to take diabetes pills or insulin.
Unlike some traits, diabetes does not seem to be inherited in a simple pattern. Yet clearly, some people are born more likely to get diabetes than others.
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes have different causes. Yet two factors are important in both. First, you must inherit a predisposition to the disease. Sec...