What I Learned

I knew very little about diabetes. I knew that there are three different kinds, Type 1 (formerly Juvenile Diabetes), Type 2 (formerly Adult Onset Diabetes), and Gestational. I also knew that some kinds of diabetes are insulin dependent, and some kinds can be regulated with diet and exercise.

But recently I’ve learned a few things about Type 1 diabetes. It affects .04% of the population, or about 700,000 people in the US. I’ve learned that it is an auto-immune disease in which the body’s protective immune system is turned inward and begins to attack the pancreas, rendering it incapable of producing insulin. No one knows why the auto-immune system does this.

I learned that insulin is necessary for allowing the cells of the body to convert glucose into energy. Glucose is the food of the cells and that leads to a great irony: without insulin, glucose levels in the body simply build, and build, and build while the cells starve--surrounded by food! These increased glucose levels eventually harm the eyes, the nerves in the extremities, and the renal system. Left untreated, diabetes can result in blindness, loss of limbs, and kidney failure. Until insulin was isolated and purified in the early 20^th century, a diagnosis of diabetes was a death sentence: a 100% mortality rate.

I’ve learned that Type-1 diabetics are insulin dependent for the rest of their lives. They do not outgrow it. They do not control it by exercise or by eating a particular diet. If they do not take insulin daily, they will die.

A few months ago , I learned something else about Type-1 diabetes.

I learned that my 12 year old daughter Skeeter has it.