Type 1 and type 2 differences – Below is a guide to some of the main differences between type 1 and type 2.
| Type 1 | Type 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| What is happening? | Your body attacks the cells in your pancreas which means it cannot make any insulin. | Your body is unable to make enough insulin or the insulin you do make doesn’t work properly. |
| Risk factors | We don’t currently know what causes type 1 diabetes. | We know some things can put you at risk of having type 2 like weight and ethnicity. |
| Symptoms | The symptoms for type 1 appear more quickly. | Type 2 symptoms can be easier to miss because they appear more slowly. |
| Management | Type 1 is managed by taking insulin to control your blood sugar. | You can manage type 2 diabetes in more ways than type 1. These include through medication, exercise and diet. People with type 2 can also be prescribed insulin. |
| Cure and Prevention | Currently there is no cure for type 1 but research continues. | Type 2 cannot be cured but there is evidence to say in many cases it can be prevented and put into remission. |
How can type 1 diabetes be managed?
Managing Diabetes – Unlike many health conditions, diabetes is managed mostly by you, with support from your health care team:
Primary care doctor Foot doctor Dentist Eye doctor Registered dietitian nutritionist Diabetes educator Pharmacist
Also ask your family, teachers, and other important people in your life for help and support. Managing diabetes can be challenging, but everything you do to improve your health is worth it! If you have type 1 diabetes, you’ll need to take insulin shots (or wear an insulin pump) every day.
- Insulin is needed to manage your blood sugar levels and give your body energy.
- You can’t take insulin as a pill.
- That’s because the acid in your stomach would destroy it before it could get into your bloodstream.
- Your doctor will work with you to figure out the most effective type and dosage of insulin for you.
You’ll also need to do regular blood sugar checks, Ask your doctor how often you should check it and what your target blood sugar levels should be. Keeping your blood sugar levels as close to target as possible will help you prevent or delay diabetes-related complications,
Stress is a part of life, but it can make managing diabetes harder. Both managing your blood sugar levels and dealing with daily diabetes care can be tougher to do. Regular physical activity, getting enough sleep, and exercises to relax can help. Talk to your doctor and diabetes educator about these and other ways you can manage stress.
Healthy lifestyle habits are really important too:
Making healthy food choices Being physically active Controlling your blood pressure Controlling your cholesterol
Make regular appointments with your health care team. They’ll help you stay on track with your treatment plan and offer new ideas and strategies if needed.
Can type 1 diabetes be controlled?
Overview – Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition. In this condition, the pancreas makes little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone the body uses to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy.
How can I reverse type 2 diabetes permanently?
Here’s how healthier habits may help some people reverse or better manage the disease. – Diabetes is a very common but serious medical condition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 34 million Americans have it, with about 90-95% of them having type 2 diabetes. About 88 million people have prediabetes, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
There is no cure for type 2 diabetes. But it may be possible to reverse the condition to a point where you do not need medication to manage it and your body does not suffer ill effects from having blood sugar levels that are too high. Making positive lifestyle changes such as eating a well-balanced diet, exercising regularly and getting down to a healthy weight (and maintaining it) are the key to possibly reversing or managing type 2 diabetes.
Other lifestyle changes may also help, including not smoking, getting enough sleep, limiting alcohol and managing stress. However, for some people this is still not enough and medication is needed to manage the condition.
Does stress affect type 1 diabetes?
When you have type 1 diabetes – When you have type 1 diabetes, insulin reactions or low blood sugars are a common cause of stress. The hormonal response to a low blood sugar includes a rapid release of epinephrine (and glucagon for a year or so after diagnosis), followed by a slower release of cortisol and growth hormone.
These hormonal responses to the low blood sugar may last for 6-8 hours – during that time the blood sugar may be difficult to control. The phenomena of a low blood sugar followed by a high blood sugar is called a “rebound” or “Somogyi” reaction. When you have type 1 diabetes, stress may make your blood sugar go up and become more difficult to control – and you may need to take higher doses of insulin.
During times of stress, individuals with diabetes, may have more difficulty controlling their blood sugars.
Do parents cause type 1 diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes – In most cases of type 1 diabetes, people need to inherit risk factors from both parents. We think these factors must be more common in white people because white people have the highest rate of type 1 diabetes. Because most people who are at risk do not get diabetes, researchers want to find out what the environmental triggers are.
One trigger might be related to cold weather. Type 1 diabetes develops more often in winter than summer and is more common in places with cold climates. Another trigger might be viruses. It’s possible that a virus that has only mild effects on most people triggers type 1 diabetes in others. Early diet may also play a role.
For example, type 1 diabetes is less common in people who were breastfed and in those who first ate solid foods at later ages. In many people, the development of type 1 diabetes seems to take many years. In experiments that follow relatives of people with type 1 diabetes, researchers have found that most of those who later got diabetes had certain autoantibodies, or proteins that destroy bacteria or viruses (antibodies ‘gone bad’ that attack the body’s own tissues), in their blood for years before they are diagnosed.
How long do healthy type 1 diabetics live?
Challenges of Aging with Type 1 Diabetes – Dr. Prieto explained that people with diabetes have similar issues of aging compared to others, “but with the potential added burdens of heart disease as noted above, as well as an increased risk of kidney disease/kidney failure, life threatening hypoglycemia (dangerously low blood sugar), and loss of vision due to retinopathy.” These risks can be minimized with the best treatment and close monitoring.
Narayan KMV, Boyle JP, Thompson TJ, et al. Lifetime Risk for Diabetes Mellitus in the United States. JAMA,2003;290(14):1884–1890. doi:10.1001/jama.290.14.1884. Livingstone SJ, Levin D, Looker HC, et al. Estimated Life Expectancy in a Scottish Cohort With Type 1 Diabetes, 2008-2010. JAMA,2015;313(1):37–44. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.16425. Heald, A.H., Stedman, M., Davies, M., Livingston, M., Alshames, R., Lunt, M., Rayman, G., & Gadsby, R. (2020). Estimating life years lost to diabetes: outcomes from analysis of National Diabetes Audit and Office of National Statistics data, Cardiovascular Endocrinology & Metabolism, 9(4), 183-185. https://doi.org/10.1097/XCE.0000000000000210, Tran-Duy A, Knight J, Clarke PM, et al. Development of a life expectancy table for individuals with type 1 diabetes. Diabetologia,2021 Oct;64(10):2228-2236. doi: 10.1007/s00125-021-05503-6. Epub 2021 Jul 26. PMID: 34309688; PMCID: PMC8310903. Secrest AM, Washington RE, Orchard TJ. Mortality in Type 1 Diabetes. In: Cowie CC, Casagrande SS, Menke A, et al., editors. Diabetes in America,3rd edition. Bethesda (MD): National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (US); 2018 Aug. CHAPTER 35. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK567986/ Lung TW, Hayes AJ, Herman WH, et al. A meta-analysis of the relative risk of mortality for type 1 diabetes patients compared to the general population: exploring temporal changes in relative mortality. PLoS One,2014 Nov 26;9(11):e113635. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113635. PMID: 25426948; PMCID: PMC4245211. Ioacara S, Lichiardopol R, Ionescu-Tirgoviste C, et al. Improvements in life expectancy in type 1 diabetes patients in the last six decades. Diabetes Res Clin Pract,2009 Nov;86(2):146-51. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2009.08.012. Epub 2009 Sep 23. PMID: 19783316. Writing Group for the DCCT/EDIC Research Group. Association Between 7 Years of Intensive Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes and Long-term Mortality. JAMA,2015;313(1):45–53. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.16107. Diabetes Report Card: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/reports/reportcard.html
Notes: This article was originally published November 16, 2022 and most recently updated December 12, 2022, 
Margaret M. Burke, PharmD, BCPPS, is a pharmacist, medical writer, and educator with 30+ years of clinical experience.
How long can a Type One diabetes live?
People with type 1 diabetes are living longer – Harvard Health Better blood sugar control may be the key to longer survival Ninety years ago, type 1 diabetes was a death sentence: half of people who developed it died within two years; more than 90% were dead within five years.
- Thanks to the introduction of insulin therapy in 1922, and numerous advances since then, many people with type 1 diabetes now live into their 50s and beyond.
- But survival in this group still falls short of that among people without diabetes.
- Shows that at the age of 20, individuals with type 1 diabetes on average lived 12 fewer years than 20-year-olds without it.
showed that people with type 1 diabetes with better blood sugar control lived longer than those with poorer blood sugar control.