Type 1 diabetes is also called young-onset diabetes, because it often develops before the age of 35 and accounts for less than 10% of all cases of diabetes. type 1 diabetes is insulin-dependent, which means that patients need to be treated with insulin from the onset and for life. The reason for this is that the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas in type 1 diabetes have been completely damaged, thus completely losing the function of insulin production. In the case of absolute lack of insulin in the body, it causes a continuous increase in blood glucose levels and the development of diabetes.
Clinical practice has proven that all patients with type 1 diabetes and some type 2 diabetes need to be treated with insulin. Depending on the needs of the disease, the dosage, dose and frequency of insulin use vary among diabetic patients. Specifically, there are about eleven uses of insulin: Before the discovery of insulin by Canadian doctor Banting in 1921, there was no better way to lower the blood sugar of diabetic patients, and most of them died from various complications of diabetes soon after the onset of the disease. With the discovery of insulin and its clinical application, type 1 diabetics can enjoy the same health and life expectancy as normal people.
In type 1 diabetes, the pancreatic islet beta cells are destroyed up to 80% or more, and the patient develops diabetic symptoms. Absolute lack of insulin makes the patient prone to ketosis and necessitates treatment with insulin.
The goal of insulin therapy in type 1 diabetes is to ensure good quality of life (i.e., avoiding severe hypoglycemic events as much as possible) and satisfactory control of metabolic levels (i.e., actively preventing diabetic complications). The most appropriate insulin regimen is short-acting insulin injected before three meals to control postprandial hyperglycemia and one (sometimes two) injections of long-acting insulin to maintain blood glucose levels between meals and at night.
Type 1 diabetes is absolutely unable to produce insulin on its own and therefore requires lifelong treatment with exogenous insulin. Type 1 diabetes has been described as an autoimmune disease – the body’s immune system attacks the islet cells in the pancreas and eventually destroys their ability to produce insulin without insulin the body cannot convert glucose into energy. As a result, people with type 1 diabetes must take insulin injections in order to survive.
With current science and technology, there is no cure for type 1 diabetes. At present, the best international treatment for type 1 diabetes is insulin pump therapy. Stem cell therapy has been researched at home and abroad for 30-40 years, but there is no stem cell transplantation technology approved by the Ministry of Health or administrative departments of China that can be used for the treatment of diabetes.
After scientific and reasonable treatment, diabetic patients with good blood sugar control can work normally, study normally, enjoy the same life expectancy as normal people, and young people can get married and have children normally, and can live as long as healthy people.