Type 1 or Type 2? The "low down"

So, you're a friend/partner/co-worker or relative of someone that just said to you "I'm diabetic". What does that mean? Better, yet..... what do you say?

Well, let me give it to you from an insider's point of view..... and, yes, take this with a grain of salt that I am a Type 1 (aka) Juvenile Diabetic of 27 years (note: I AM biased/pretty empathetic towards Type 1 people)....

In layman's terms (meaning, you are not an endocrinologist/ diabetologist or any other kind of medical personnel), Diabetes is really two different diseases. The common idea/ thought is that sugar is a big no-no for anyone diabetic and that's how we all got lumped together as one big happy family.

From the "diabetchik's" perspective, this is my "low down"( for legal purpose-- I AM NOT A DOCTOR, don't pretend to be one, nor have I ever played one on TV) : With Type 1 diabetes, your little pancreas (some organ you've never heard of before that now becomes the organ between life and death) decides it will produce little or no insulin, a hormone needed to breakdown the carbs/sugars we eat in every day food for our cells to use properly. So, without this hormone, we become sluggish, tired, drink too much (of any type of beverage we can get or hands on) and visit the bathroom WAY too much! Once diagnosed, your only option to live is to inject insulin with a needle or go on an insulin pump (meaning you are constantly connected to a little beeper sized device that will continuously pump insulin into you--- act as an external pancreas). In short, you HAVE to give shots with Type 1 diabetes.

With Type 2 diabetes, it used to be that it only affected "older" people...... however, with the ever-expanding waist line of our youth, it's now the phenomenon that children are diagnosed with Type 2. The diabetchik's "low down" on Type 2..... for example, say you are a five foot two woman and weigh roughly 130 pounds (pretty average)...... that's ok for your body frame. However, this same five foot two woman gains 40 pounds for a myriad of reasons, but her body focuses in prime condition at a weight for 130 pounds, meaning that only enough insulin will be released by her pancreas for 130 pounds. Well, when you weigh more, you tend to eat more and there's just not enough insulin being produced........ solution here typically is the doctor advising one to go on a diet and lose the weight and if that doesn't work, then they prescribe pills to take. If the person cannot lose the weight or if the variety of Type 2 medications that exist out there doesn't work for the individual, they MAY have to go on shots.

Hmmmm..... same disease????? Ya think? Behind door number one...... diet/exercise. Behind door number two................ 1-2 pills a day. Behind door number three.......... 3-4 shots a day or constant connection to a beeper-sized device. Which would you chose????

In later posts, I'll go into the expense of it all...... bet you can't wait, can you?!