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Difference between type 1 and 2 diabetes?

You are not so far wrong most T1's do not produce insulin though some have a honeymoon period in which they will continue to produce insulin to some degree for a while but will have very high blood sugars unless treated with inulin. T2 is more about insulin resistance where you are producing insulin but it is not utilized very well your insulin levels for this reason can become very high and also you can have prolonged high blood sugars because of this as the resistance stops the glucose from being pushed into cells by the insulin.
 
Type 1 - Pancreas stops producing insulin so it needs to be injected.

Type 2 - Pancreas produces a little insulin but it is not utilized properly so medication is needed to stimulate the panreas to produce more. A bit like whipping a horse towards the end of a race to make it run that little bit faster.

Thats keeping it very simple..
 
They should be called different things IMO.
Type 1 is caused by the immune system creating antibodies that attack the beta cells in the pancreas rendering the unlucky person unable to produce their own insulin - nobody knows how/why... hopefully will one day.
Type 2 is hereditary but severity controllable with good diet and healthy life style.
Hate it when T1s are tarred with with the "you've eaten too much sugar" brush.
T1 and T2 are both related to insulin use in our complex chemical reactors (bodies) but very different things... not enough people get it, lots of GPs are unfortunately not that knowledgeable on it either, speaking from experience
 
May be worth mentioning there actually another LADA.(late onset type 1 diabetes also called type 1.5)
Type 2 can be misdiagnosed as Type 1 and every other combination of getting a wrong diagnosis
 
kevinfitzgerald said:
Type 1 - Pancreas stops producing insulin so it needs to be injected.

Type 2 - Pancreas produces a little insulin but it is not utilized properly so medication is needed to stimulate the panreas to produce more. A bit like whipping a horse towards the end of a race to make it run that little bit faster.

Thats keeping it very simple..
Click to expand...

I would agree with the definitions except for the Type 2 "medication is required" part. Lots of us manage purely through diet to keep blood sugar levels down...which can be hard work but in most cases is achievable.
 
andybraith said:
They should be called different things IMO.
Type 1 is caused by the immune system creating antibodies that attack the beta cells in the pancreas rendering the unlucky person unable to produce their own insulin - nobody knows how/why... hopefully will one day.
Type 2 is hereditary but severity controllable with good diet and healthy life style.
Hate it when T1s are tarred with with the "you've eaten too much sugar" brush.
T1 and T2 are both related to insulin use in our complex chemical reactors (bodies) but very different things... not enough people get it, lots of GPs are unfortunately not that knowledgeable on it either, speaking from experience
Click to expand...

Type 2 is not necessarily hereditary.
 
andybraith said:
Tends to be then...
Click to expand...

No it doesn't!
It can be, but putting it in to one paragraph barely does it credit!

T2 can be caused by so many different ways, so I won't list them!

There are other conditions that are symptomatic with diabetes, that is why it is not a T1, T2 forum.

I agree about our GPs, there is a lot of them that don't understand how individual diabetes and other endocrine or hormonal conditions can be.
 
andybraith said:
They should be called different things IMO.
Type 1 is caused by the immune system creating antibodies that attack the beta cells in the pancreas rendering the unlucky person unable to produce their own insulin - nobody knows how/why... hopefully will one day.
Type 2 is hereditary but severity controllable with good diet and healthy life style.
Hate it when T1s are tarred with with the "you've eaten too much sugar" brush.
T1 and T2 are both related to insulin use in our complex chemical reactors (bodies) but very different things... not enough people get it, lots of GPs are unfortunately not that knowledgeable on it either, speaking from experience
Click to expand...

Hate it when T2s are tarred with the "you've eaten too much sugar" brush too ;)
 
andybraith said:
They should be called different things IMO.
Type 1 is caused by the immune system creating antibodies that attack the beta cells in the pancreas rendering the unlucky person unable to produce their own insulin - nobody knows how/why... hopefully will one day.
Type 2 is hereditary but severity controllable with good diet and healthy life style.
Hate it when T1s are tarred with with the "you've eaten too much sugar" brush.
T1 and T2 are both related to insulin use in our complex chemical reactors (bodies) but very different things... not enough people get it, lots of GPs are unfortunately not that knowledgeable on it either, speaking from experience
Click to expand...
Andy, I don't think type 2s should be tarred with that brush either. Eating too much sugar does not cause type 2, I think of it more as a body not being able to cope with carbs so therefore any carbs ingested do not get processed properly - that is a condition/failure of the body, (otherwise all people who eat loads of sugar would be diabetics), having said that, a healthy lifestyle and diet does help a type 2 to minimise the effects of their diabetes and may have kept it at bay before diagnosis.
 
This subject often comes up and due to the rather silly global definitions of T1 and T2 by the medics it adds to the confusion. T1 definitely means a serious lack of insulin and typically thru antibody action BUT there are other causes of islet cell death apart from antibodies and the end result is the same with the same treatment. This it typically called LADA and often comes on slowly in later life. Even LADA assumes antibodies but things like viruses have the same effect. T2 is usually caused by insulin resistance thru a build-up of stored fat thru eating too many carbs or possibly other causes. As others have said the body can't use the insulin due to the stored fat and the pancreas creates ever more. The c-peptide test can help measure insulin production. The whole subject is more complex than this but essentially you are right.
 
steveis36 said:
Hi all
I just made a complete ass of my self
I thought type 1 was were by that person was not producing enough insulin and type 2 was u have too much

Am i wrong as im t2...help
Click to expand...
Seems right enough to me. Certainly for type twos in the early years/decades, they can be overproducing insulin to try to overcome the cellular resistance to it.
 
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