What is the difference between type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes?

TIFFANY YEH, M.D.

(NEW YORK) – Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States. Nearly 30.3 million people have difficulties managing their blood sugar.

It is the seventh leading cause of death and the leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness and lower limb amputation.

Most people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, which is often associated with lifestyle choices and genetics. This is the type of diabetes that results from the body having trouble using insulin properly or can not produce enough.

About 1.25 million people have type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease. This is the type of diabetes resulting from the non-production of insulin by the pancreas.

These two conditions lead to difficulties in regulating the glucose – or sugar – levels of the body, but for very different reasons.

Since November is Diabetes Awareness Month, now is the time to answer frequently asked questions about the disease.

What is diabetes?

So let's start with what happens in a normal non-diabetic person. When you eat a meal, your body starts digesting it with protein, sugar and fat.

An organ called pancreas detects the sugar absorbed and produces a hormone called insulin, which then extracts the sugar – or glucose – from the foods you have just been eating and into different parts of your body in order to use them as a source of energy.

In case of diabetes, your body does not produce enough insulin or can not use it as well as it should. If you do not have enough insulin, there is too much glucose in your blood, which can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, kidney damage or vision loss.

What is the difference between type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes?

Diabetes type 1

In patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM), their pancreas is unable to produce insulin, because of an autoimmune condition through which the body attacks it. People are more often diagnosed when they are children or young adults and the symptoms often develop quickly. They may declare to be very thirsty, go to the bathroom very often, lose weight even if they eat normally and feel very tired.

People with T1DM need to take insulin every day to survive and, for now, there is no known way to prevent or cure T1DM. They must check their blood sugar several times a day and night and give themselves insulin several times a day depending on their body makeup, their blood sugar and what they eat.

Can I get the DT1?

It was previously thought that T1DM only affected children and was previously called "juvenile diabetes", but we now know that young adults and even older adults can develop T1D. This is not something contagious or related to your lifestyle. Rather, it is an autoimmune disease, in which your body develops antibodies against your own pancreas and progressively destroys the pancreas's ability to produce insulin.

Type 2 diabetes

In patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), the body has become resistant and needs more insulin or its pancreas does not make enough insulin. Their bodies struggle to maintain their blood glucose levels at a normal level.

DT2 is not caused by sugar consumption, but by various lifestyle and genetic factors.

Can I get DT2?

This is the most common form of diabetes in adults and, unfortunately, the number of people affected, including children, in the United States continues to grow. This type of diabetes is associated with obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or a family history of T2D.

If you have any of these conditions, it is important that your primary care doctor be regularly screened for diabetes.

Can I find out if I have diabetes? How is he diagnosed?

Most often, they are diagnosed with a blood test – either a high glucose level before eating, or an effect called hemoglobin A1c, which is the average of your blood glucose level over three months.

If your blood sugar is high, you may experience symptoms such as permanent thirst, urination more than usual, weight loss, blurred vision, or tiredness. Sometimes people with type 1 diabetes have a very serious condition, called diabetic ketoacidosis, because of the lack of insulin in their body.

This can be a life-threatening illness requiring hospitalization to help correct the situation.

If you take medications that can lower your blood sugar, such as insulin, too low blood glucose can cause sweating, tremors, unusual behavior or disorientation. If it is very low, it can even cause coma and death if not treated quickly with glucose or a medicine called glucagon.

If you notice any of these symptoms, you should inform your doctor.

How to treat diabetes? Is there a cure?

Unfortunately, diabetes is a chronic disease without treatment. For people with type 1 diabetes, the only treatment so far is insulin. For people with type 2 diabetes, in addition to dietary changes, there are many drug options that range from pills to injections.

Some types of bariatric surgery can help reduce the amount of medication that people with T2D have to take. Many innovative technologies are being developed to improve the lives of people with diabetes.

Although type 1 and type 2 diabetes are invisible to people who do not have it, too much or too little blood glucose can be very dangerous. But with good control and continuous improvement in drugs and technology, many people with diabetes can lead happy and fulfilling lives.

Tiffany Yeh, M.D., is a researcher in endocrinology at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York and Presbyterian and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.