What is Diabetes? | Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes Facts | General Diabetes Facts

Diabetes (medically known as diabetes mellitus) refers to disorders in which the body has an insufficient amount of the hormone insulin causing difficulty regulating its blood sugar or glucose levels. It is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting every organ system. There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Taking insulin does not cure either type of diabetes nor does it prevent the likelihood of long-term complications: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, limb amputation, heart attack, and stroke.

Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a disorder of the immune system -- the body's system for protecting itself from viruses, bacteria, or any "foreign" substances. In type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system attacks the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. When the pancreas stops producing the hormone insulin, the body fails to transport glucose from the blood into the body's tissues. Type 1 diabetes usually strikes in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood, however, older adults are being diagnosed with the disease. People with type 1 diabetes have to test their blood sugar levels by pricking their finger many times each day. They must take multiple injections of insulin daily or receive a continuous infusion of insulin through a pump just to survive. Type 1 diabetes lasts a lifetime, and currently there is no cure for the disease.

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which a person's body still produces insulin but it may be in insufficient amounts or the tissues may be unable to use it effectively. Type 2 diabetes is usually diagnosed in adulthood, however, increased obesity has led to a recent "epidemic" in cases of type 2 diabetes in children and young adults. People with type 2 diabetes may take oral medications to increase their body's use of insulin and make lifestyle changes in diet and exercise. People in very advanced stages of type 2 diabetes may take multiple injections of insulin daily.