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.
What is the basic treatment for type 1 diabetes?
Insulin and other medications – Anyone who has type 1 diabetes needs insulin therapy throughout their life. There are many types of insulin, including:
Short-acting insulin. Sometimes called regular insulin, this type starts working around 30 minutes after injection. It reaches peak effect at 90 to 120 minutes and lasts about 4 to 6 hours. Examples are Humulin R, Novolin R and Afrezza. Rapid-acting insulin. This type of insulin starts working within 15 minutes. It reaches peak effect at 60 minutes and lasts about 4 hours. This type is often used 15 to 20 minutes before meals. Examples are glulisine (Apidra), lispro (Humalog, Admelog and Lyumjev) and aspart (Novolog and FiAsp). Intermediate-acting insulin. Also called NPH insulin, this type of insulin starts working in about 1 to 3 hours. It reaches peak effect at 6 to 8 hours and lasts 12 to 24 hours. Examples are insulin NPH (Novolin N, Humulin N). Long- and ultra-long-acting insulin. This type of insulin may provide coverage for as long as 14 to 40 hours. Examples are glargine (Lantus, Toujeo Solostar, Basaglar), detemir (Levemir) and degludec (Tresiba).
You’ll probably need several daily injections that include a combination of a long-acting insulin and a rapid-acting insulin. These injections act more like the body’s normal use of insulin than do older insulin regimens that only required one or two shots a day. A combination of three or more insulin injections a day has been shown to improve blood sugar levels.
Can diabetes type 1 be cured?
Can Type 1 Diabetes Be Cured? – Currently, there isn’t a cure for type 1 diabetes. However, what we know about the condition is constantly evolving, new technologies and medicines are being developed, and researchers are making important breakthroughs. Right now, people of all ages are leading full, healthy lives with type 1 diabetes. You can too!
What causes type 1 diabetes how can it be treated?
Causes – The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown. Usually, the body’s own immune system — which normally fights harmful bacteria and viruses — destroys the insulin-producing (islet) cells in the pancreas. Other possible causes include:
Genetics Exposure to viruses and other environmental factors
What happens if type 1 diabetes is not treated?
What’s the Difference Between Untreated Type 1 Diabetes and Untreated Type 2 Diabetes? – Type 1 diabetes is when your pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin at all. If left untreated, it can cause atherosclerosis (narrowing of blood vessels), heart disease, stroke, and eye and kidney diseases.
Does diabetes shorten your life type 1?
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 one live with diabetes?
Life expectancy can be increased by 3 years or in some cases as much as 10 years. At age 50, life expectancy- the number of years a person is expected to live- is 6 years shorter for people with type 2 diabetes than for people without it. People with type 2 diabetes can reduce their risk of complications and live longer by achieving their treatment goals.
Does stress cause type 1 diabetes?
How stress can affect diabetes – If you’re feeling stressed, your body releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. This should give you an energy boost for a ‘fight or flight’ response. But the hormones actually make it harder for insulin to work properly, known as insulin resistance,
As energy can’t get into your cells, your blood sugar levels rise. If your blood sugar levels go too high, it’s called going hyper (full name hyperglycaemia). We’ve got more information about hypers, how to avoid them and how they’re treated, If stress doesn’t go away, it can keep your blood sugar levels high and put you at higher risk of diabetes complications,
It can also affect your mood and how you look after yourself, which can start to affect your emotional health. But there are things you can do to take the pressure off,
Does type 1 diabetes affect the brain?
The Connection Between Diabetes and the Brain – Your brain is your body’s command center. It’s made up of nerve cells that keep your body functioning—even while you sleep. It also controls how you feel, learn, and remember. And in order to do all this work, your brain uses sugar in your blood for energy.
- The brain is the most energy-demanding organ—needing half of all the sugar energy in the body to function properly.
- If your blood sugar levels fall outside of your normal range, it can throw your command center off balance.
- In the same way that diabetes can cause nerve damage to your eyes, feet, and hands, it can also affect your brain by damaging nerves and blood vessels.
This can lead to problems with memory and learning, mood shifts, weight gain, hormonal changes, and over time, other serious problems like Alzheimer’s disease, Since both high and low blood sugar levels can cause these harms, it’s especially important for people with diabetes to keep their blood sugar at target levels.
Can type 1 diabetes affect sleep?
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From Research to Practice | February 01 2016 Sarah S. Farabi Center for Narcolepsy, Sleep and Health Research, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL Search for other works by this author on: Diabetes Spectr 2016;29(1):10–13 IN BRIEF In people with type 1 diabetes, sleep may be disrupted as a result of both behavioral and physiological aspects of diabetes and its management. This sleep disruption may negatively affect disease progression and development of complications.
This review highlights key research findings regarding sleep in people with type 1 diabetes. Recent research has increasingly identified sleep as a key process for the maintenance of good cardiovascular and metabolic health. Disturbed sleep patterns (i.e., restriction, deprivation, and fragmentation) in healthy young adults produce alterations in both metabolism and cardiovascular disease risk markers.
Sleep restriction refers to reduced amount of total sleep (i.e., sleeping 5 hours instead of 8 hours); sleep deprivation refers to total sleep loss or prevention of sleep; and sleep fragmentation refers to sleep periods that are broken up by multiple awakenings throughout the night.
Can type 1 diabetes be managed without medication?
Type 2 diabetes – For this type, the answer is more complicated. Your healthcare provider may first advise both meal planning and exercise. If you are overweight, you may need to lose weight. These things can lower blood sugar. Your sugar level may go down near the normal range.
- Then these lifestyle changes alone may manage your diabetes.
- But over time that may change.
- When type 2 diabetes first starts, your body often makes plenty of insulin.
- But your body has trouble using it.
- As time goes on, your body may stop making enough insulin.
- Then you may need medicine.
- Over time, many people with type 2 diabetes need medicine to manage their disease.
But a healthy lifestyle is also important. This is done through diet, exercise, and weight loss. This is true even if you are taking medicines to help manage your diabetes.
What are the basic treatments for type 1 and 2 diabetes?
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. |