What is Diabetes?

Diabetes mellitus type 1. This is the somehow intimidating complete name of our (or at least mine!) disease.

Its symptoms, effects and implications are well-known, but are you really aware of what are the biological causes behind it and what could cause the onset of this condition? Throughout this article, I will provide a general overview on them.

First of all, you have to know that T1D is an autoimmune disease: this means that it is caused by an anomaly in the immune system, and namely one which forces cytokines to destroy a large amount of beta cells, located in the pancreas and responsible for the production of insulin, the hormon which phisically allows glucose to access every our cell. Its lack obviously causes a dramatic rise in our blood glucose level, with all the short and long-term negative effects we all know.

But what causes this condition, and how could it be prevented? Unfortunately, the answer to the first question is not univocal yet, as researchers are currently trying hard to discover the trigger of this disease, even though, besides a sure genetic influence in case of diabetic relatives, some hypothesis such as environmental factors or traumatizing events have been made. For what concerns my personal experience, none of my parents, grandparents and even ancestors has ever had diabetes, but exactly one year before my diagnosis I went through a very invasive leg-lengthening surgery, which could have somehow influenced the events, some doctors have said. Some others, instead, totally denied this possibility.

However, the main question which jumps to the head of nearly every newly-diagnosed diabetic is obviously if a cure for their condition actually exists. The answer, at the time when I'm writing this article, is, unfortuntely, no, even though some intersting research progress has been made in the very last years. But the good news is that, at least, we have some treatments which allow us to mantain our disease under control, and they are incredibly better than just few years ago.

Curious to know more about them and willing to become a master in diabetes management? You are in the right place!