Complications of Type 1 Diabetes
The heart, nerves, blood vessels, kidneys, eyes and other organs can be negatively impacted by uncontrolled diabetes. The goal is to keep the blood sugar normal most of the time to avoid these complications.
Complications include:
Neuropathy (nerve damage) - Extra sugar builds up in the tiny vessels that provide circulation to your nerves. When sugar builds up, the diabetic begins to lose feeling in extremities, usually lower limbs, starting with tingling and leading to complete nerve damage. Nerve damage to the stomach can cause constipation or diarrhea as well as erectile dysfunction in men.
Heart disease - uncontrolled diabetes can put the diabetic at a high risk for stroke, heart attack, and high blood pressure.
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Causes of Type 1 Diabetes
The cause of type 1 diabetes is not known, though through research has been speculated to be genetic or exposure to a virus. Eating too much sugar does not cause diabetes. In most people with type 1 diabetes, the immune system mistakenly destroys the islet cells, which produce insulin in the pancreas. Therefore, sugar builds up in the bloodstream, leading to life-threatening complications.
Risk Factors for Type 1 Diabetes
Though the cause of type 1 diabetes is not known, trends for risk factors include:
Age - Trends of two age ranges have been noticed to be risk factors, children between 4 and 7 years old, and the second is in children between ages 10 and 14 years old.
Family history - Those with an immediate family member with type 1 diabetes may have a higher risk of type 1 diabetes.
Genetics - Certain genes can lead someone to have a higher risk of type 1 diabetes
Geography - Those in Finland and Sardinia have the highest incidence of type 1 diabetes.
These risk factors have not been proven, but investigated
Exposure to certain viruses, like the Epstein-Barr virus, Coxsackie virus, mumps virus and
Accompanying genetics, environmental factors, such as lack of exercise and obesity, play major roles in causing type II diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of diagnosed diabetes in the United States.
Type 1 is characterized by the body’s inability to produce insulin. It is caused by autoimmune-mediated destruction of pancreatic beta cells, which are responsible for producing insulin. There appears to be a hereditary link in people with Type 1 diabetes. Other factors have been known to cause Type 1 diabetes such as viral infections, toxins, and other environmental factors. Type 1 diabetes is the rare form, affecting about 10% of the diabetes population. Its onset usually occurs in people less than the age of 20.
Most patients who have diabetes for an extended amount of time may end up with diabetic neuropathy, which is damage caused to the nerves; it affects the peripheral nerves, autonomic nerves, and focal nerves. From the high blood sugar, it can destroy parts of the patient’s blood vessels, heart, and kidneys. If diabetes is not treated, it will almost always cause heart disease or kidney disease.
Diabetic neuropathy can occur with long-term diabetes, usually after several years of uncontrolled high blood glucose. Glucose proteins, called glycoproteins, form in the nerves primarily those in the legs and feet. When the nerves in the feet are damaged, the brain cannot recognize pain in that area. Nerve damage from diabetic neuropathy can lead to weakness in the muscles in the legs and feet. Since the muscles work as a system, neuropathy can lead to other foot problems, such as hammertoes, calluses, bunions, and other foot deformities. These deformities are dangerous because of the risk of infection. A simple blister from a tight shoe can spell disaster
But if it’s not taken care of, uncontrolled diabetes can damage a persons’ vision, cause nerve damage and infections to the feet. Also, it can cause poor blood circulation and kidney disease. Many of these problems can be prevented by having a low fat, low alcohol diet, maintaining a reasonable body mass, and working out thirty minutes five days a week. Performing these activities can also help reduce the risk of getting diabetes.
Another theory on the cause of type one diabetes is environmental factors. Researchers have found that combined with genetic factors, exposure to certain environmental influences, such as climate, may increase the risk of developing T1D. However, there is no definite link between environmental factors and the diagnosis of type one
The growth of type one diabetes has been increasing over the past decades. The rise of this disease could be contributed to many factors such as, environmental factors, hereditary, lifestyle choices, and etc. The United States and Finland are rated among some of the highest counties experiencing high growth of type one diabetes. Children of the age range anywhere from ages one to sixteen have been contributing to the increase of type one diabetes within the United States and Finland.
Researchers have still not been able to identify whether type 1 is hereditary or not. However, it is known that almost ninety per cent of type 1 diabetics have had no family members with the illness (AMRC 2016). Even though certain genes can make someone pre disposed to the condition, it has been found that an extra environmental trigger causes the disease to form (AMRC 2016).
There are many types of diabetes. The two I will be discussing are type 1 and type 2. Type 1 generally affects young people and requires treatment with insulin. Five to ten percent of Americans with diabetes have this type. People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin and need regular shots of it to keep their blood glucose levels normal. People who are at risk for type 1 are those who have a family history of the disease,
Another possible environmental cause of Type 1 diabetes is early diet. Breastfeeding for at least three months has shown to decrease the risk of Type 1 diabetes, and a diet including cow’s milk before the age of one year old may increase the risk of diabetes.
Diabetes type one can be the result of genetics. “In most cases of type 1 diabetes, people need to inherit risk factors from both parents. We think these factors must be more common in whites because whites have the highest rate of type 1 diabetes.”(Diabetic American association) A lot of people who are at risk with genetics do not get diabetes, researchers want to find out what the environmental triggers are. In many people, the development of type 1 diabetes seems to take many years.
Long-term effects of diabetes can cause many serious complications: heart disease, stroke, blindness, amputations, and kidney disease and nerve damage. These complications are usually progressive and develop over time due to poor control of blood glucose levels. High blood glucose levels cause a narrowing of all the vessels, blockage, and high blood pressure.
Although the cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown, a number of explanatory theories have been put forward, including genetic susceptibility, a diabetogenic trigger, and/or exposure to an antigen. The largest contribution to the pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes comes from a single locus called IDDM1 comes from several genes located in the Major histocompatibility complex on the 6p21.3 chromosome. This is believed
According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, there are 15,600 new cases of Type I Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) each year (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). Boys and girls are at relatively equal risks for developing T1DM up until fourteen years old, with risks peaking around puberty. Following puberty, incidences tend to be higher in white males than women (Soltesz, Patterson, & Dahlquist, 2007). When looking globally by region at incidences, they tend to be higher in European countries, such as Finland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. This could be related to the genetic susceptibility people in these areas carry around, such as a certain gene associated with the autoimmune response of T1DM