What is Type 1 Diabetes?
In type 1 diabetes, your pancreas no longer makes insulin. That’s because your immune system is attacking your beta cells, which are the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. The symptoms of type 1 diabetes are having to pee a lot (called polyuria, which means increased urination), being very thirsty (called polydipsia, meaning increased thirst) and eating a lot (called polyphagia, which means increased eating). The weird thing is that even when you’re eating more and feeling hungry a lot, you could be losing weight. Another weird thing is that some kids may actually start to wet their bed because of the need to go to the bathroom so badly. These symptoms usually happen quite quickly. Type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed at any age, but most often starts in younger people, which is why it is sometimes called juvenile diabetes. About 10% of the people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.
What is Type 2 Diabetes?
In type 2 diabetes, either your pancreas can’t make enough insulin to keep up with your body’s needs or your body doesn’t use the insulin that is made very well. For people with diabetes, type 2 is the most common type of diabetes. While type 2 diabetes is more common in adults, kids can get it too. It’s related to family history, being overweight, lack of activity, and race or ethnicity. Of all the people with diabetes, about 90% have type 2 diabetes.
Making a Diagnosis
Diabetes is diagnosed by one of the following and confirmed, if needed, on a separate day.
- Fasting plasma glucose of 7.0 mmol/L or more. This is the morning blood sugar before having anything to eat or drink.
- Two-hour plasma glucose following a 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test of 11.1 mmol/L or more. This is a blood sugar taken two hours after drinking 75 grams of glucose.
- Random plasma glucose of 11.1 mmol/L or more plus symptoms of diabetes, such as urinating a lot, excessive thirst and excessive eating with unexplained weight loss.
Source: Canadian Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.ca)
