NHS for t1/2 and theories of t1

I feel that perhaps as type 2 is increasing very quickly and that the treatment of complications is long and expensive a focus needs to be made to try and educate people to try and reduce the risk of developing T2. There are probably 2,000,000 known. T2 than there are T1.
T1 occurs because the pancreas is not working at all or is not working at its full capacity and there in no way back from this position. Injected insulin replaces the output from the pancreas.
Hope this helps even if only a little.



Late onset T1, several auto immune issues.
Humalogmix25 twice a day, Methotrexate 25mg once per week, FolicAcid 5mg once per week, prednisolone 5mg daily, Allopurinol 300mg, Calcichew-D3 800iu, Levothyroxine 50mcg, Atenolol 50mg, Losarten 100mg, Aspirin 75mg, Nicorandil 20mg, Nitrolingual GTN spray, Metformin 2000mg, Allimemazine 10mg, Lanzoprazole 30mg, Atorvastatin 20mg, Co Codamol 8/500mg, Depo Medrone (Methylprednisolone) or double Prednisolone for 7 days in case of RA flare.

Hi Beth


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Hi Beth I was a late type 1 at 47 I was told it could have started with a virus infection up to 2 years earlier and it did no show it's self till I ended up in hospital with BG at 33 and high ketones
No one in my family is diabetic so It was a big shock when I got it


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And with the type 2 you just need to look at the amount of people overweight to see why they are more for type 2 than one


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Hi Beth,

In it's simplest terms it is because T1 is caused (usually) by an autoimmune response that kills off the beta cells that produce insulin. In terms of the number of people this will be, as best I understand the science, it is fairly constant as a percentage of the population. It is also something that cannot be fixed with diet or lifestyle changes. The fund raising is not to support people with it but to try and find: 1) What actually causes it and 2) a possible cure.
The thing is the mechanism for T1 is very very complex which is why your googling will not have turned up anything concrete.
The research that has been carried out has pointed to some areas where it is possible there could be the chances of a vaccine for people that are genetically predisposed. Though even this is still experimental.

T2 is something that is more or less a function of where society is headed with regards to waistlines (this is a MASSIVE over simplification so please hold off on flaming me for this statement) so that is what the government / NHS is budgeting additional funds for. The thing is that T2 can present slowly over time so people can live with it for years before diagnosis by which time a lot of damage could already have been done. T1 tends to be pretty much a binary thing where it is often (though not always) fairly clear cut that you have the condition.

As for evidence and theories.. well I have a history of autoimmune issues, for the majority of my life my immune system has been making a spirited attempt at killing me off (****** hasn't won yet, not for want of trying) but I can pinpoint the infections that triggered an immune response that then subsequently caused my last 2 issues. Ok so one of them was stress related but even so the chronology tracks in both cases. I will admit my experience would never stand up to proper scientific scrutiny and so therefore is more or less anecdotal but it all comes down to history and genetics.
In my case I know it is genetic (even though I am the only person in my family with issues, though I am an anomaly in many ways there anyway) as I got involved in some research studies and know that I carry certain genetic markers.

So it is kind of genetic though genes don't mean it is a definite, it is a genetic predisposition.

Unfortunately that is the best you will get for the moment as the science hasn't moved on enough just yet. It is a VERY grey area, there is no black and white answers right now.

Hi Beth .
I know how annoying it is when you try to find answers and can not . I have fount some information in the DAFNE book I have .
Here it goes .

TYPE 1
AGE OF ONSET : mainly under 40 years
BODY WEIGHT : not associated with being over weight
CAUSES : genetic predisposition ; destruction of beta cells by antibodies .
TRIGGERS : viruses ; infection
TREATMENT : insulin

TYPE 2
AGE OF ONSET : mainly over 40 years
BODY WEIGHT : commonly overweight
CAUSES : genetic predisposition ; insulin resistance ; insulin depletion ; lifestyle factors
TRIGGERS : obesity ; not enough exercise ; drugs eg steroids ; surgery
TREATMENT : lifestyle changes ; tablets ; insulin .

Not my words , copied word by word from the DAFNE course handbook .
Hopefully this might help you . Or it might not hehe
Take care.

Cloe-1992 said:

Hi Beth .
I know how annoying it is when you try to find answers and can not . I have fount some information in the DAFNE book I have .
Here it goes .

TYPE 1
AGE OF ONSET : mainly under 40 years
BODY WEIGHT : not associated with being over weight
CAUSES : genetic predisposition ; destruction of beta cells by antibodies .
TRIGGERS : viruses ; infection
TREATMENT : insulin

TYPE 2
AGE OF ONSET : mainly over 40 years
BODY WEIGHT : commonly overweight
CAUSES : genetic predisposition ; insulin resistance ; insulin depletion ; lifestyle factors
TRIGGERS : obesity ; not enough exercise ; drugs eg steroids ; surgery
TREATMENT : lifestyle changes ; tablets ; insulin .

Not my words , copied word by word from the DAFNE course handbook .
Hopefully this might help you . Or it might not hehe
Take care.

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A tad more succinct than my rambling response

AndyS said:

A tad more succinct than my rambling response

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Haha don't be silly , yours I just read is more in depth and a lot more clever .
I literally copied it from the book lol .

Pick a theory;

And the winner theory is



Which no one can explain!!!!!!!!!!

The NHS supports both Type 1 and Type 2 and spends a lot more per patient on Type 1 because it's harder to treat. There are very roughly more than ten times as many T2 as T1 and while both are increasing, T2 is increasing much much faster and so is more of a public health worry / priority.

Diabetes UK fundraises for both types and the JDRF fundraises for Type 1. Both charities focus on the areas the NHS does not, mainly in extended and improving possibilities for treatment, rather than just delivering treatment.

No one really knows what causes autoimmune Type 1. There are theories but nothing proven. It may well have lots of different causes, with the autoimmune response being the only common factor.

Basically T1 is autimmune triggered and T2 is "Not-T1" so T2 is the "catch-all classification" when the docs cannot classify it as T1!

FergusCrawford said:

Basically T1 is autimmune triggered and T2 is "Not-T1" so T2 is the "catch-all classification" when the docs cannot classify it as T1!

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I would have said T1 is "beta cell failure typical at presentation", with autoimmune T1 being the most common T1 but also including pancreatic cancer or other pancreas insult for example. Does that sound right?