While I had gestation diabetes with Autumn, I didn't quite have the knowledge that I needed. My nutritionist with the midwife clinic backwoods Idaho didn't really give me much to go on. In fact, she hardly told me what I needed to do. She gave me this list of certain servings I could have per meal. Such as 3 carbs, 1 meat, 1 fruit, etc. I didn't understand what that meant. AND on top of it, it seemed like a lot of servings. Again, not a lot of information. If she did give me the correct information, then she poorly explained things.
That's exactly how I felt when being diagnosed by Dr. T (not the awesome doctor, but the one that hasn't talked to me for 2 weeks now!). No answers, especially when it came to the diet. I feel like he gave me insulin to cover his butt; not really help me. He got lucky though. He told me to take 9 units in the morning before breakfast and 7 units at night before dinner. I was a roller coast with my blood sugars for about a week and a half until I saw Dr. W. What makes me more frustrated about Dr. T more than him not talking to me is that he wanted to treat me like I was a Type 2 diabetic. Which, if you're type 1 like me, can be very dangerous! Now to the point of my post:
Type 1 diabetics: It doesn't matter if you're over weight, under weight, eat healthy, eat poorly, you exercise or you don't exercise. You're body just stops producing Insulin on it's own. Essentially your body's immune system attacks the cells the produce insulin. Insulin is very important for your body to digest the sugars (or glucose) that you eat. Insulin helps push the sugars into the blood cells so that you're body can use it as energy. Which is why I was so tired all of the time. My body couldn't use the sugars. There is a natural way to help you push the sugars into your blood cells, but for Type 1 diabetics, it helps, but doesn't solve the problem. When you exercise your body uses the energy from the blood cells and burns it, thus forcing the sugars that haven't been pushed into the cells, into the blood cells to be used as energy. Type 1 usually onsets in children and young adulthood. There is no prevention. It just happens and doctors aren't sure what triggers it.
Thus taking us to Type 2: While Type 2 is somewhat preventable, it is not always. Type 2 diabetes is when your body produces low insulin and/or doesn't use the insulin properly. Most people can manage the diabetes with diet and exercise. However, there are people that dependent on pills that help your body produce more insulin, or they are just straight up on insulin. Type 2 diabetes also usually is onset in adults that are overweight. However, Type 2 is beginning to become more common in children as well. This should be concerning for new parents and be a warning to them to not let their kids eat anything they want. Diabetes is VERY serious.
For both types of diabetes though, if it runs in the family, you're risk is MUCH higher to getting it. Specifically the type of diabetes that runs in the family. For me, Type 2 runs in the family-- on both sides. So getting diagnosed as Type 1 was a HUGE shocker!
There are also major health issues other than your body not producing insulin. Higher risk for heart disease, stroke, foot and leg amputations, eye problems, kidney damage, nerve damage, etc. But it could easily be managed so long as I manage my blood sugars. I really don't want to have these issues and am really motivated by it.
So below are the two links that I needed help to fill in the gaps of my knowledge on the difference between Type 1 and Type 2. (which wasn't a whole lot because I have been researching the difference for weeks). I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't giving false information. But here you have it, The difference.
http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-center/diabetes-differences-between-type-1-and-2.aspx
http://www.puristat.com/diabetes/default.aspx
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